Amy Grant leaned on faith after heart surgery, brain injury to create new album

Amy Grant has had a difficult health journey over the past three years. But in spite of her hardships, the singer-songwriter leaned on her faith to maintain a positive outlook and continue creating music.

Her new single, "Trees We’ll Never See," is set to come out later this month.

"So much creativity has been put on hold in my life, for all kinds of reasons," Grant said in a statement announcing the single. 

She continued, "This might be one of the best songs I have heard in a long time. I was so glad they [the songwriters] waited for me to heal up and get back to the studio."

The road back to the studio has been a long one for Grant.

In 2020, the "Baby Baby" singer underwent surgery to fix a heart condition called partial anomalous pulmonary venous return (PAPVR). Grant had the condition since birth, but it went undetected until she went to a doctor alongside her husband, country singer Vince Gill.  

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Grant shared images of her scar from the surgery, comparing the experience to being "a non-runner who was signed up for a marathon."

She went on to say people were praying for her — everyone from her family, her fans, her friends — adding that for the metaphorical marathon she had to run, "something supernatural pushed me through it."

Grant also described her healing process, saying, "Prayer changes everything."

"My recovery has honestly felt miraculous," she wrote. "And so I want to say thank you to each person who said a prayer for me. Prayer changes everything. Let’s keep those prayers going for our country and let's turn all the brokenness into love and seeing each other. I love you."

Two months later, Grant spoke with Robin Roberts on ABC's "Good Morning America" about the unexpected discovery of her heart condition on a routine trip to the doctor for her husband.

When Gill’s cardiologist, Dr. John Bright Cage, asked Grant how she was doing, the star insisted she was "fine," but she was encouraged to undergo tests. 

"They were doing an ultrasound of my heart and the doctor came in," Grant said. "He said, 'Vince, this is the kind of situation where Amy would be fine, fine, fine and then one day it would be catastrophic.' And we don’t know when that would be, but it would have to be sooner rather than later."

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Grant admitted she was shocked by the revelation, but was grateful Dr. Cage was able to detect it before it was too late.

"I just think sometimes in all of our jobs, we have what we’re trained for, and then beyond that, there’s an intuition and inspiration," she said. "And I think Dr. Cage did everything that was required for testing for what he thought might be an issue for me because my father had [heart bypass] surgery, but beyond that, I don’t [know]."

Grant concluded in the interview with the outlet that music is a priority for her and that she planned to get back to it soon.

"I’ll sing to the day I die," she said. "Music… that changes everything. Music takes any manual task and suddenly you’ve got a soundtrack and you’re in the movie of your own life and the sun is shining and music changes everything."

The six-time Grammy Award winner returned to performing publicly in February 2021 with a follow-up appearance on "Good Morning America," and seemed back on track to continue her career.

That year, she also celebrated the 30th anniversary of her mainstream breakthrough album, "Heart in Motion, which produced her biggest hit, "Baby Baby."

Then, in July 2022, Grant suffered a nasty fall from her bike after hitting a pothole while riding in Nashville with a friend.

Though a representative for Grant told Fox News Digital the singer was wearing a helmet at the time of the fall, she was hospitalized for two days and treated for cuts, bruises and a concussion. 

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It was later revealed that Grant had been unconscious for over 10 minutes after the accident, and she had to postpone her tour dates for the rest of the year to continue her recovery.

While she was initially recovering, Gill and their daughter Corrina took the stage at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville to honor Grant with Gill's Grammy-winning song "When My Amy Prays." Corinna changed the lyrics to "when my mama prays" in a post uploaded to Grant's official Facebook page.

Gill told the audience at the time he had not performed the song recently because of "her accident and everything she’s been going through." He added, "I thought how sweet it would be for her youngest to sing this song I wrote for her."

Grant credits Gill, her husband of 23 years, with keeping her spirits up after the accident, which ultimately resulted in a traumatic brain injury that impacted her ability to remember names and song lyrics.

"He has just been so patient," Grant told Fox News Digital in December at the 45th Kennedy Center Honors, where she was one of the five recipients of the award. "Vince has a kind of way of grounding the space that we're in even without saying a word.

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"I think early on I said, ‘What if I’m different, what if I'm not the same?' and he said, ‘Hey, every day we wake up a little different, and we love each other, and it’s good.'" 

She added, "I feel like my old rascally self."

The singer-songwriter, who has sold over 30 million albums, had also shared that she had recently returned to performing with her annual Christmas performance, but was still struggling.

"Last week was my first time back on stage, and I can't think of a more gentle way to get back into the limelight than doing a Christmas concert with my dear friend Michael W. Smith," Grant said.

"I was nervous that first day. I forgot lyrics to songs that I wrote. I'm just on a healing journey, but this time here. You know, love and kindness is also very healing, and I'm not kidding — I feel filled up from head to toe."

This month, in a new interview with "Today," the "Every Heartbeat" singer said her faith was key in her healing journey.

"It’s helped me not be afraid. And just to go however this turns out, I believe I’m held by love, just like I believe that about you, and everybody I meet," Grant said.

She also admitted she’s still struggling to remember her song lyrics and has used a teleprompter on stage.

Speaking about the immediate aftermath of the accident, Grant said, "I wrote this long book, in this spiral notebook, and I was just writing to remember. Writing, making sure I could remember everybody’s name in my family, which I couldn’t at first."

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During the interview, Grant also revealed her latest health battle: She had a cyst in her throat removed in January.

"Working with a vocalist, and she said, ‘What is happening in your throat? Lean your head back.’ And I said, ‘I know it’s like I’ve got an Adam’s apple, it keeps getting bigger.’ Unbeknownst to me, I had thyroglossal duct cyst," Grant said.

After it was removed, the singer said her voice was stronger than ever, and she shared that she retreated to a trailer in her driveway to practice her vocals and write new music.

Now, Grant is ready for a 70-date tour and is releasing her new song, "Trees We’ll Never See," written by Michael White and Marshall Altman, on March 24.

In her statement about the song, Grant said, "Marshall Altman and I started talking about songs that we’ve written recently that affected us. I played him one of mine. He played me one of his. His song was 'Trees We’ll Never See.' I loved it immediately and asked him if I could record it, and within two weeks, both songs were mixed & mastered!"

White and Altman also produced Grant's last original album, 2013’s "How Mercy Looks From Here." She also released a Christian compilation album, "Be Still and Know…Hymns & Faith," in 2015, and a Christmas album, "Tennessee Christmas," in 2016.

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Despite the past few difficult years, Grant remains positive.

"To me it’s just been a great reminder that life is dynamic, people are dynamic," she said in her "Today" interview. "Nobody’s all good, nobody’s all bad. Circumstance is not all bad or all good. Even in the worst, awful worst trauma, beauty and goodness are still present."

Faith has always played a role in Grant’s life.

In 2017, the singer-songwriter spoke with FOX411 Country about how her faith guides her through her life and career.

"To me, faith, that's the adventure part of life. So it has nothing to do with how I plan my career and it just has to do with my day in and day out how I live," said Grant.

She added, "I think my faith, the way I understand God's love is only two rules. Love God and love everybody no matter who they are no matter what they say and to me that's the most freeing way to live life."