Hillary Scott interviews Anne Wilson on the new episode of Country Faith Radio. Anne opens up about her brother’s sudden death led her to be a musician. The two also discuss Anne’s unique alternate career path – had she not ventured into music – and what she plans to play when making her Grand Ole Opry debut on September 4. Tune in and listen to the episode in-full anytime on-demand at apple.co/_CountryFaith
Anne Wilson Shares How Hearing God’s Voice Helped Her Decide to Sing at Her Brother’s Funeral
My parents were planning a funeral and it was just such a hard time. And we have a lot of musical people in our family, on my mom and dad’s side, both. And so they hadn’t had found anyone yet to sing at the funeral. And so they came in the room and they heard me singing and they were like, “Anne, we can’t find anyone to sing at the funeral. We’re really upset about it. We want someone to sing at our son’s funeral. Would you be willing to sing at your brother’s funeral?” And I was super upset about it at first. I was like, “There’s no way I can do that. There’s no way I can get through that.” And I ended up praying about it and just asking God like, “God, is this what you want me to do?” And he was like, “Yeah, I want you to sing at the funeral.” And so got some friends together and I sang, “What A Beautiful Name” at my brother’s funeral.
Anne Wilson Details Hearing God Calling Her to Be a Musician While Singing at Her Brother’s Funeral
As I’m standing and sitting in front of 1,200 people, the church was packed out. And I’m also grieving the loss of [my brother Jacob], and then, worshiping God at the same time. And as I was sitting on the piano bench about to start playing, I heard God’s voice speak to me. And I was 15 at the time. I had not really heard God’s voice much in my life at all at this point. And so, I heard his voice, and he said to me, “Anne, this is what I’m calling you to do. I’m calling you to praise and worship my name.” And I was like, “What in the world just happened?” I just heard the voice of God, and in front of all these people, and grieving the loss of my brother. And so, I left the funeral that day, having this thing in my heart going like, “Maybe God wants me to pursue music in some way?” And so, that was the first step of me really realizing that God was placing music on my heart, and that he wanted me to do it. So it was a very profound moment, and something that I’ll never forget for sure.
Anne Wilson on “My Jesus” Evolved from Her Journal Entries
I started writing songs two years ago, in Nashville, started going to Nashville and doing writing trips. And one of the things that I started to do when I would go to Nashville is I would bring my journals with me from Lexington, my home, and I would look through them. And one of the days I was writing, I had found something that was pretty profound, and I didn’t ever say it out loud. I just kept it to myself. But, I realized that through all of these pages in the journals, many journals over the past two years, I had only ever written, “My Jesus.” I never referred to God as anything else, but “My Jesus.” I would never say, “Jesus, Lord, God,” whatever. I would always say “My Jesus.” And I remember asking the Lord about that. And I was like, “God, why is it I’ve only written ‘My Jesus?’” And he said to me, “Anne, because that’s the truth. Like, I am yours and you’re mine, and we have a personal relationship with each other.” So that was actually how my first single, “My Jesus,” came about, was through going through my journals and looking at all that.
Anne Wilson on Making Her Grand Ole Opry Debut
I remember when my manager called me to tell me [that I’m making my Opry debut.] I’m like, “Jason, you’ve got to be kidding me. This is not real. This is a dream come true.” And just to get to share my music with all those people and to get to be in the Opry, which is such a legendary place and so much history there of country music. It’s just an honor and a privilege. And I’m so, so, so, so grateful. I’m just blown away.
Hillary Scott on the Importance of the Grand Ole Opry Over the Past Year
The Opry, over this last year and a half, was really one of the only stages that [Lady A] stepped foot on through the pandemic and just with everything in the entertainment world shutting down. So I grew up in Nashville, my mom [Linda Davis] is in country music, so the Opry is kind of… And she would have said she’s from East Texas, like the reason why she moved to Nashville was to step on the Opry and get to play that stage. So it has always been a huge deal in our family, but especially for us in Lady A over this last year. It was just really one of the only places we could do what we are called to do. We are just so grateful that they just stayed open and we were able to keep the music going. And then in January, we actually got invited to be a member, which was like, “I can’t believe it. I cannot believe it.” I still, to this day, as I say it to you, I’m like, “Is this real?” I mean, it was the most unexpected surprise and now it just feels like you’re now adopted into a family, that you always have a stage to perform and share what you do with your fans.
