From an early age, singer/ pianist/songwriter Tori Amos wanted to be open to all cultures.
"Half of my family was Methodist and the other half was Mormon," Amos said during a phone interview from Missouri. "We would have our family gatherings and each side would try to convert each other. It wasn't anything like drawn-out screaming arguments, but there were times when I would try desperately to put on a Beatles song, namely `Happiness Is a Warm Gun.' "After chuckling a bit, Amos said she picked up a lot of theology from her father, who was a Methodist minister, but as she grew, she began yearning to find balance within herself.
"I got deeply into mythology in my teens," she said. "And my grandfather was a Cherokee who was Christian. He believed in both cultures and taught me a lot about existence and the spirit world."
Amos will bring her intricate insights to the E Center on Wednesday, Sept. 2. The Devlins will open the concert at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at all Smith'sTix outlets.
"My grandfather taught me that we all have characteristics that we share with icons - whether it's Christ, Lucifer or Zeus and Venus," Amos said. "The trick is to find where each of those characteristics lie inside of you.
"We all have good and bad inside," she said. "That's what keeps us well rounded. The problems begin when we try to tell ourselves and others that we are only like Christ or Buddha and attempt to bury our Lucifers."
That philosophy has emerged in her music. Amos' latest album, "From the Choirgirl Hotel," is on a different plane than her other piano-laden releases
"I felt I had exhausted one side of the piano, she said. "This album was a different part of me trying to come out."
Amos said "Choirgirl Hotel" isn't a victim album.
"There is a violator inside of me, too," she said. "And I felt like I kept my part of the bargain with the piano muse and she's allowing me to venture off toward my other personas."