Interview with Christian Artist Mark Gray of Tender Grace on the Album ‘Odyssey’, his late daughter Amelia & more

MuzicNotez: First off, it’s an honor to be doing this interview with you, thanks for taking the time to sit down with us. What motivated you to start creating music? What age did you begin?

Tender Grace: The motivation started for myself on this journey when I was around 54 years, my daughter Amelia Josefina Gray, who at an early age of 16 years was found to have liver cancer at stage 4, the bottom fell out of our life when the doctor gave us this information, we hit the ground running. Looking for the best in everything to help our daughter.

Who were your musical influences, idols, or bands growing up that have helped mold you into the musician you are today? Or helped mold the music that you create?

Tender Grace: John Courage Mellencamp, Neil Diamond, Brooks and Dunn, This is just a few of so many artist that are great story tellers out there and I find that a song needs to have meaning that the listener can relate too.

What’s the ultimate goal you want your music to achieve, or for you to achieve in your career as a musician? Any particular message you wish to send?

Tender Grace: The ultimate goal for the music would be Someday I would like to get a film deal in order to tell Amelia’s Story, this in my mind would be honoring the Life and Time of Amelia showing all the courage she had during her battle for Life, showing her faith and love that she had a long with that smile and she would always say “Have a good Day” always uplifted even in the darkest hours.

What’s the greatest concert you’ve ever been to or performed?

Tender Grace: : In July 2012, I would have to say Cast & Crowns concert because one of the DJs from “Your Q FM” made it possible for Amelia and myself to have a back stage pass to have a Meet & Greet with Mark Hall and all the band members.

Website: www.TenderGraceMusic.com

Your project is inspired by your daughter Amelia, whom you devastatingly lost back in 2012. Tell us a little bit about her.

Tender Grace: Amelia was just like any other High School girl, liking school and her teachers, with all kind of friends it was on December 14, 2011 when the doctors had discovered that Amelia had liver cancer and that I would have to take her down to the big city were a team of doctors was to meet Amelia and look over everything, they told us that we would have to return, so then it was on December 23 we were back and being given a room and then the nurse came into the room and told Amelia to rest because the following day the doctors were going to do surgery on Amelia. That time had arrived and they were back to get Amelia and take her downstairs for the operation, it was somewhere before noon that they started on the operation and time was frozen for new team members would be going in to replace the doctors that had already been there for hours, this would go on all day and night till it was sometime after midnight and the lead doctor came out to talk with me and he had called my wife back in Grand Forks and talked with her as well. He answer all the questions we had and this is where the doctor told us that Amelia had less than 1% change that she would live, Amelia spend the next two weeks in recovery and then the doctors when to wake her up out of a medical sleep, by now Amelia had missed Christmas and New Years as it was already 2012. Amelia when on to recover for nearly a month before she was released. Amelia went on to adopt a positive attitude about her liver cancer by saying “Kick Tumor Butt” and always giving you a “thumbs-up” Amelia went back to school as her cancer fight when on, over time Amelia traveled thousands of miles and was in and out of the hospital’s and with all the people she would come in contact with Amelia had a way of touching the hearts and changing there life forever with her positive attitude and the way in which she would greet the people and talk with them, everybody loved her and that beautiful smile. One of Amelia’s interest was after she got out of high school she wanted to go on to U.N.D. Medical School and become a doctor and give back to the community that she loved, each new day for Amelia was a gift from God as she would fight on. I would be so bold as to ask everyone to go to Amelia’s website and on the Scholarship page and donate to the ”Amelia Josefina Gray Humanitarian Scholarship” and help to keep Amelia’s dream a live for higher education. Amelia fought the cancer for 682 days before on October 24, 2012 Jesus took her home and in the 18 years making the world she knew a better place.

The latest release you’re pushing now is ‘ODYSSEY’, what inspired this? How would you describe it?

Tender Grace: A long and eventful or adventurous or experience “ODYSSEY” is an album where everything just kind of came together, where you can find the strength, hope and love in every song, no matter where you are in life, you’ll be able to connect with the real meaning behind each song. Some of the key tracks are “Far Side of Heaven”, “Whiskey River” and “Just Don’t Love You Anymore”

What is the process to creating your music?

Tender Grace: At 2am this crazy world is quiet and at peace and there is no movement outside and a person can sit down to start to write, one can think and remember, I would start to write the first verse and start on the second verse then the first chorus line would start to form, stopping to look at what was written seeing how meaningful it is and then making adjustments, slowly moving through the song line by line till I would get to the end of the song. Then I would place the song up for a few days and then come back to it and re-read over and over making any final adjustments then the title for the song would jump out at me.

What else are you working on? What can we expect to see and hear from you in the future?

Tender Grace: I am working on another album to be released in 2025 along with a few more singles, if time would aloud I’d like to get back into video production.

Anything else you wish to say about yourself or your music? Any message for your fans?

Tender Grace: I’d like to thank all of the fans out there for all your support from every corner of the world, for hearing the songs, and standing strong in faith, there would be no Tender Grace without you!

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