Five-time Grammy winner Sandi Patty has a particular reason for wanting to begin her Christmas tour in Greenwood Saturday night.
"You always want to go somewhere first that's friendly and forgiving if you make a mistake," said Patty in a recent interview. "We like a good audience and enthusiastic people, and the people down south seem so friendly."
Patty will be returning to Greenwood for the start of a 12-stop holiday tour. She performed two concerts in Greenwood last year to a packed house at North Greenwood Baptist Church, which is again sponsoring this year's concert.
Patty, who is married with eight children, including an adopted son, is one of the most popular contemporary Christian artists of all time. She has sold more than 11 million recordings, and, in addition to her five Grammys, Patty has also won 39 Dove Awards. She also has three platinum and five gold albums under her belt.
She has performed at such venues as Billy Graham crusades, the Liberty Bowl, presidential inaugurations, several Republication National Conventions, The Tonight Show, the Indianapolis 500, several network Christmas specials, Walt Disney World's 25th anniversary at Epcot Center in Orlando and much more.
Some of her Dove awards include Gospel Artist of the Year for many years, 11-time Female Vocalist of the Year and her albums have been named as Inspirational Album of the Year many times. Grammys include Best Pop Gospel Album and Best Gospel Performance.
But being down to earth is Patty's specialty, and she's a very traditional kind of person. For her Christmas concert, she hopes to have her entire audience feeling the holiday spirit by the end of the evening.
"We will be celebrating Christmas with some of the more traditional songs, as well as some fun ones and some quiet and reverent ones," Patty said. "If we don't feel Christmas by the end of the concert, there's probably something wrong."
"We have to complete the story for Christmas, and in order to do that, we have to go from the manger to the cross to the grave to get the true meaning," Patty said. She plans to present a "passion play" medley of songs to help achieve that goal.
Patty has her favorites, and they are mostly sentimental tunes.
"Some really special ones to me are some of the praise songs like 'How Majestic Is Your Name,'" Patty said. "And the good old camp medley songs, you know, the ones that say 'Yes, God is real!' kind of songs."
Patty recently produced a live video in which her parents are performing with her, and this has been a special moment for her.
"I didn't want to do a 'Best of…' type album, so I decided that a live video would be fun, and it would give me a chance to remember some of the fun moments in my life.
"My daddy and I have sung together all my life, and my mom is a great piano player," Patty said. "And my oldest daughter, Anna, dances in the video, so it's just very special to me."
Fans know Patty best for some of the more powerful ballads and traditional religious tunes, and they are always requested at every concert she performs. Some of those include "How Great Thou Art," "Via Dolorosa," "We Shall Behold Him," "I've Just Seen Jesus," and "The Name of the Lord."
Following her concert tour, Patty plans to begin work on a new album that will take her back to the roots of her earlier music.
"This album will definitely be geared toward the church," Patty said. "My old friend and long-time producer Greg Nelson will produce this record for me. It will be mostly for the church choir and soloist, and it will be all new music."
Although she is beginning a Christmas tour, Patty plans to be at home with her family for the holidays.
"We are moving into a new house," Patty said. "We have kind of a large house right now, and it's just a little too much. We are downsizing and moving into a newer house. This Christmas will be a little different, but we will all be together, and we will attend a midnight service on Christmas Eve. And Sam, my youngest son, who is 5, will probably determine how early we get up on Christmas morning."
The Greenwood concert will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Leflore County Civic Center. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Tickets are available at North Greenwood Baptist Church office on West Cleveland Avenue behind the church. For more information, call 453-2801.
