Why is it that inserting the word “Catholic” in front of many of the things I like (fiction, movies, music) often goes hand-in-hand with an assumption that the quality will be less than what I expect from non-Catholic versions?
So when I heard that Audrey Assad was a Catholic singer, I was intrigued. What people were saying was that she was amazing. Unparalleled. Other adjectives that I usually only see with big names like Taylor Swift and Beethoven.
I was a bit cynical when I listened to my first Audrey Assad song, but I was won over pretty fast. So fast, in fact, that I downloaded one of her albums, put it on constant repeat on my iPod and in my van, and I’m all but emailing her daily in anticipation of the new album she has coming out on August 13.
(Embedded above: Fortunate Fall from William Price on Vimeo.)
She’s a singer, she’s a musician, she’s a songwriter. She lists her influences as ranging from Paul Simon and the Carpenters to Feist and Jack White.
What makes her a New Evangelizer? Many things, among them:
- The fact that I can share any of her music with anyone and not have that feeling that I’m sharing a lower quality product while I try to convert them.
- The experience that listening to her music gives me: I’m praying and smiling and experiencing.
- The Catholic nature of her not-apologizing-while-not-shoving-anything-down-your-throat music.
But what makes me love her most is this line from her bio: “More often than not she has her nose in a book—usually something by Tolstoy, C.S. Lewis, Pope John Paul II, or Madeline L’Engle.”
She has a website, just as you’d expect, but I find myself most intrigued by how down-to-earth and non-markety she is on her blog (or do I say “on her Tumblr”?) and on Twitter. Yeah, I’m a bigger fan than I was before.
You should be too. 🙂
Copyright © 2013, Sarah Reinhard
Sarah Reinhard
Sarah Reinhard continues to be shocked and delighted that her life as a grown-up involve horses, writing, and sparkly dress shoes. In her work in the New Evangelization as a Catholic wife, mom, writer, parish employee, and catechist, she’s learned a lot of lessons, had a lot of laughs, and consumed mass amounts of coffee. She’s online at SnoringScholar.com and CatholicMom.com, and is the author of a number of books.
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