DES MOINES, Iowa (WordNews.org) Jan. 26, 2013 – Christian music artist Jamie Grace conducts an interview with Word News from her parked car.
She laughs.
“I just need to be out of my room, away from my guitar,” she explains, “because I will end up playing  it. I’m kind of sitting really weird. My feet are on my seat — my mom probably would not be too happy knowing my feet are in my seat—because the twitches do get annoying and distract me sometimes.”
Jamie, who is part of the Winter Jam Tour with the liks of tobyMac and Sidewalk Prophets, says her Touretts isn’t as severe as when she was a child, when she had to give up her dream of being a gymnast.
But she’s still had to learn to live with it.
“I’ve had to keep really disciplined,” she said. “It’s not nearly as severe as it was when I was a kid. Also, it’s really exciting because music can just make it so much better, something that you love can make it better. It’s such a blessing that I’m a full time musician.”
Her songs come out of those struggles she’s experienced, and the experiences of friends and acquaintances.
“There’s a song on my new album, I say that very loosely because it’s not finished yet, but the song I’m writing now is one that is very blatantly about a kid of a friend of mine. I’m very excited to share,” she said. “The very last song on my last album was one that I wrote to a friend of mine whose son is very ill, the song is ‘I’m Not Alone.’”
She loves songs that tell a story.
“I’m a big country music fan but I love writing story songs,” Jamie said, “but because I like to sing pop music, I kind of generalize some of it. I love to write songs to people that mean something to me.
“My inspiration comes from the older lady in my church who’s trying to raise her grandkids or from the little kid I met at a show with cancer who just wants to have a night out with her parents. That’s where my songs come from—and key moments of prayer, those sincere moments.”
Songwriting helps her get the words out.
“I think of my Touretts and my OCD, I have a very difficult time explaining what’s in my brain,” she said. “So, I refer to my songs a lot or I sing a lot. It’s not to say, ‘Listen to my radio single,’ but that’s how I communicate and express myself.”