Jennifer Knapp was on the musical fast track with a Grammy nomination, two Dove Awards, and a host of critical and popular acclaim when she took a hard look at her life.
What she saw was commerce overtaking her creativity and disconnecting her from the musical conversation she had developed with her audiences. Rather than plod on, trying to fit into a certain mold for fear of losing her career in music, she set down her guitar and left the industry.
“I’m getting … back into it now. It’s been interesting because I’ve been the equivalent of a European backpacker for seven years,” she said by phone late last week from a New York coffee shop. “I just didn’t have the energy to get to know the music and the audience, so I swallowed really hard and just stopped.”
In the music industry, of course, such action comes with consequences. Managers warned Knapp that not only would her music quickly be forgotten, she’d likely be unable to rebuild her fan base if she did return. That was no small risk when you consider Knapp was labeled a Christian artist, but many of her fans were not generally followers of that format.
“In a polite way, I was told it was stupid to leave the industry,” she said. “But I really had to because if I didn’t, I might never be able to [write and play] music again. I had to release myself from the pressure to perform or be the artist that helped [industry outlets] survive.”
What Knapp first thought would be a couple years’ break turned into several, but then she felt ready to pick up her guitar again. At first she began to play just for herself but soon found renewed excitement in sharing music with friends. The back-to-basics approach helped her not only regain her musical passion and perspective but prepare to share her music more broadly, to reignite the musical conversations she had halted.
If you go
Jennifer Knapp and Derek Webb
Where: The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria
When: 7:30 p.m. Monday
Info: $25; ticketmaster.com
Soon Knapp had returned to Nashville and began to record “Letting Go,” her first album of new material in nearly a decade. Produced by Paul Moak, the songs on the May release are something akin to a country/pop/indie journey through Knapp’s recent life. Moak, who has produced music for artists ranging from Amy Grant to Hilary Duff, wisely lets Knapp’s full, throaty vocals unwind to fully envelope the passion in lyrics such as “Even though I got convictions/even though I got my pride/I know they’ll bury me/they’ll bury me alive,” from the song “Inside.”
And that genuine passion has once again allowed Knapp to find great comfort and joy in her music.
“Even if no one buys a record, even if nobody shows up [to my shows], I am really happy to play these songs,” she said. “That is a great and wonderful thing to happen.”
