The Christian music world is just getting to know Jamie Grace Harper. The 19-year-old acoustic soul singer has a smash hit single in “Hold Me,” a song whose catchy hook bumps around in the heads of fans of all ages.

From her entertaining and creative YouTube videos to her inspirational speaking on the Revolve tour, the Christian music world is learning more about the talents and testimony of Jamie Grace, but we're only just starting to scratch the surface of this up-and-coming artist.

Now, with her first EP under her belt and debut full-length album rapidly approaching, we thought it was time to learn more about the Atlanta-based, instrument-learning, senior in college, and how her life has changed the past couple of years.

Jamie Grace spent time with NRT Senior Editor Marcus Hathcock before her set at Creation Festival NW.

How's it going? Are you doing school this summer? What are you doing?

It's going great! Yeah, I'm a senior in college. For the first time in college, I decided to take two classes this summer, just to lighten up the fall and spring a little bit. It's still going to be full-time.

How do you juggle all that with traveling around?

My mom's my road manager, so that answers that question! [Laughs.] She keeps me in check. My sister, actually came with me this weekend – the first weekend Mom hasn't been out with me in a while. But yesterday, I was editing a video and putting it on Facebook, and my sister goes, “Aren't you supposed to be doing homework?” And I just kind of gave her this look like, oh you're so right. [Laughs.]

I take it she's your older sister?

Yeah, she's two years older. She's the boss lady. Mom put her in charge.

So what's life been like the past year for you?

It's been crazy. This sounds so cliché, but it's a dream come true; it's everything that I've could've expected it to be. I definitely want to continue singing and traveling and sharing God's word. I want to meet people and play shows, but at the same time, if God was like, “Hey you know what kid? I think I want you to go to med school tomorrow,” I feel like I've done everything that I want to do. I've felt like I'm on the track of what God had called me to do, so it's been exciting.

So what was life like two years ago?

Um, how old am I? 19 ½, so two years ago, I was was 17 ½. It was between my freshman and sophomore years of college, and you know, I had a pretty typical life. I was living in an apartment with my sister--it was her senior year of college--and we were popping the guitar cases open in downtown Atlanta, hoping for a couple bucks so we could go to a movie. We wanted to pursue the career, but there'd be times where we'd want to go to the movies, and we said, “Hey, let's go downtown and make 20 bucks so we can go to the movies!” So, there were just a lot of shows like that, and singing for youth groups and churches. I still duet with my sister when I get the chance.

So she sings too?

She does. She's the worship leader at our church. I'm actually producing her worship album that'll come out later this year.


What church is that?

It's called Kingdom City Church in Stone Mountain, Georgia. I'm a pastor's kid, so, my parents are the pastor, sister's the worship leader, brother-in-law's a minister. It's all in the family.

And you seem to be fairly well-adjusted!

I know! Yeah, I'm not one of the crazy pastor's kids, I promise you guys! And I'm homeschooled too, but I have friends! I'm just fighting all the clichés.

Two of my kids, ages 2 ½ and 3 ½, are huge fans of your song...

I love that age.

...and I've heard from other people that their toddlers, in addition to other people, love that song. How does it feel to be so inter-generational?

You know, a couple of weeks ago, I was playing somewhere and I said, “This next song is called 'Hold Me.'” And people started cheering, and then when I sang it, they knew it. And I know this is being recorded, so people can't see my face... right now I'm like, “Oh my gosh!” It was so surreal. I mean, I'm a pastor's kid. I grew up going to ZOEGirl concerts. And so to be on the other end with people singing my song back to me, it's humbling, and it's exciting. I'm glad that people are hearing it, because it's positive, and there's a lot of music out there that a lot of young people listen to that's not positive, that's got a lot of inappropriate stuff. I'm just very grateful that God has given me this platform.

That's awesome. So just about everybody knows “Hold Me.” What other song--whether it's one that's on your EP, or one that's coming out, or one you've written anytime--that really represents you?

I think “Hold Me” is really fun and exciting and energetic, but there's those moments where a fast and happy song doesn't cut it. Maybe you have to listen to a sad one, and then come back to a fast one, but there's a song called “Come to Me,” and it's written from Matthew 11:28, that says, “Come to me all you who are weary, and I will give you rest.” And this song is one where the producer, Chris Stevens, and I were in the kitchen, stomping feet and clapping hands to put into the background of the album, and it really just says, “Come to me when you're weary.” And then there's one called “Show Jesus,” like a get up and dance kind of song, hoping to have like some cool dancers and a music video... maybe I'll do auditions on YouTube! I just came up with that in my head right there! [Laughs.] I love the fun stuff. And on that one I don't even play guitar, so that's a new side of me that not many people really know. I just started playing guitar three years ago, so there are definitely moments where I just love to put the guitar down and just kind of rock out. But “Come to Me” is a little bit more of my country side.

“One Song At a Time”--talk about that concept. How did you arrive at that?

The four-song EP called Hold Me that came out a couple months ago had a song on it called “One Song At a Time,” that I wrote with some amazing writers and producers. And I remember that as we were coming to the close of the album, you always have these cliché jokes you make all the time. Like my sister, if she said she liked something, she'd go, “I love, I love, I love, I love” fill-in-the-blank. It happens, it's funny and it's awesome. I'd say things like, “Oh my gosh, are we going to get the album done?” and they'd be like, “One song at a time!” I'd hear that from different writers and things like that. And as we got to the close of what the album would be, we thought, should we put “One Song At a Time” on? We did, and it made sense. It was so cool because there's a lot of things–the cover shot, the order of the songs, all these decisions. That one was like, it makes sense, let's just do it. That was exciting.

Is there sort of a bigger message within that? Is there something in your life you've dealt with, where the concept of “One Song At a Time” rings true?

Yeah, for sure. You know, even in the song “One Song At a Time” it says, “Just give me six strings and I'll sing you the truth.” And I've sang that song, mostly in Christian environments. It is on YouTube, and a couple of random backstage videos and stuff like that. And people who don't know Jesus hear me sing it sometimes, and a lot of times it doesn't really click for them, but then they say, “What do you really mean by you'll sing me the truth?” And that's really cool for me getting to say, “Well, this is what the truth is. It's about Jesus.” It's really my message of saying--whether I'm singing in front of three people for the rest of my life, or whether I get to do arena tours with the biggest of biggest deal people--whatever I'm doing, I'm just going to get my guitar out, and I'm going to sing the truth. I'm going to sing about Jesus, and when I'm doing speaking, I'm going to speak about my Savior. I'm going to show it in my actions, and that's really what it's all about.

The album, One Song At A Time, is going to come out September 20, 2011. What can we expect that project to be like?


I'm so excited! It's going to be very diverse. One of my favorite songs on the album is called “1945”... They're all my favorites. “1945” has got a banjo, which is the instrument I learned this year, so I'm really happy about that.

So you play the banjo!

Yes, I try to learn an instrument a year, so I'm not really good at it, but there's a video on YouTube of me signing and playing a NEEDTOBREATHE song on the banjo. “1945” is about poodle skirts, it's about the '60s and eight-tracks, and that's the one I hope parents and grandparents will hopefully really like. We've also got a song on there that makes me cry, actually. I really do feel like it's straight from Jesus' heart. It's talking about not being alone, and just me and a piano and a cello. I hope that changes lives or hearts or something. And then there's songs like “Hold Me,” with my little cheesy self playing my guitar, you know, just singing the happiest, go-lucky little melodies. There's a lot of different stuff on the album, and I can't wait for people to hear it.

As you've been traveling, what's something God's been showing you or teaching you?