Jennifer Knapp liked to party. "I spent a lot of my life doing things that weren't in my best interest," Knapp said during a telephone interview from a hotel room in Marion, Ind. "I contend with that every time I go on stage."
Knapp, a Grammy Award- nominated singer/songwriter, found the courage to change her life and is now busy with her career as an inspirational/Christian rock singer.
The change began in college. "I changed the crowd I was in and found my true calling," she said. "My music that I had turned to as a hobby turned into a ministry."
Knapp will perform at the Dee Events Center tonight at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at the door. Bebo Norman and Justin McRoberts will also perform.
Before turning her life around, Knapp did play with the idea of becoming a musician, but not too seriously. "I actually played my guitar as a joke," she said with a laugh. "I covered a lot of Cowboy Junkies tunes and sang love songs that I never believed in. But as I began evolving as a person, I realized there was something more that I desired."
While attending Kansas State University, Knapp found peace of mind by turning to Christianity. "It all happened by accident," said Knapp, who cited R.E.M., the Indigo Girls, B-52's and country radio as her main influences. "I began putting some of my thoughts and insecurities into my music. Then, as I began finding answers to my questions, I started putting those into my music."
Knapp's songwriting hit a nerve with listeners, and after playing a string of shows with Sarah McLachlan's "Lilith Fair," her 1998 album "Kansas" was awarded multiple Dove Awards (Christian music's Grammy).
Her recent album "Lay It Down" was nominated for Rock Gospel Album this year.
"I was afraid, though, when I started consciously doing inspirational/Christian music, that I would lose my identity," Knapp confessed. "I thought that I needed to become a 'Jesus Freak' in order to play my music. But it wasn't until then that I realized that I had some of my own ideas of what gospel rockers are like. So, I had to break my own ideas of those stereotypes."
After struggling and working at her craft, Knapp realized that it didn't matter what a person looked like. It all came down to whether or not she felt comfortable playing and singing Christian music.
"I think a lot of early Christian musicians were able to open the door wider for newer artists like me," she said. "I mean DC Talk really paved the way for us."
Although Knapp admits she did some dangerous things as a youth, she says it's important now to play as honest as she can. "It doesn't matter what I did in the past. All that matters is keeping my integrity in the future and letting people know that salvation is out there."
E-mail: scott@desnews.com