Heart In Motion 30+ Years Later

Why this Grammy Album of the Year-nominated pop album is still as fun as it was transformational

Heart In Motion: Host Charlie Peacock interviews the Grammy Award-winning producers behind Amy Grant's pioneering, record-breaking hit album.

Who doesn't want to sing "Baby, Baby" in the shower or dance around the kitchen to "Every Heartbeat?" Even the most cynical among us must remember the poppy zeitgeist of the era (assuming you were born and listening to Top 40 radio). It was the crest of the 1990s, but still early enough in the decade that you could do your arm-swinging 80s dance—which Heart In Motion allowed for—maybe even insisted on. These pop hits could be your guilty pleasure while the hipster in you was waxing on about Nirvana and “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

I was there, “in the room where it happens” or happened (thank you Hamilton). But I wasn’t the producer (yet). Instead, I was working for one—Brown Bannister. It was the highly-decorated Brown, Michael Omartian and Keith Thomas that produced this 5-Million-selling hit. I made beats, played keyboards, and wrote the horn parts. And, I had the good, life-changing fortune to cowrite “Every Heartbeat” with Amy and Wayne Kirkpatrick. A song which our mutual friend, screenwriter Alan Heinberg (Wonder Woman, The Sandman) fondly remembers as “a gloriously produced three minute and thirty-five second blast of pure pop joy.”

So, holding some of the story and knowing the producers, I thought, why don’t we get in a studio together and push rewind? Brown, Michael, and Keith were all up for it. They had stories to tell—some never whispered before. We met at Sound Emporium Studios in Nashville and rolled the tape on our lives and how Heart In Motion was made—and how it made us. Together with my CT Media team we turned the conversation into a Music & Meaning podcast for your enjoyment.

Note, this episode is as "behind-the-scenes" as it gets. For example, did you know that "Baby, Baby" almost didn't make the album—that Aretha Franklin was going to record it instead? Yep, that sort of stuff.

Enough introduction, listen in, and sing along, as the producers behind Amy Grant's groundbreaking hit album, break it down—all the way down! Laughter, confessions, minor groveling, profundities, secrets, and gratitude all prevail. And thank you for the stars and comments on previous episodes. Keep 'em coming. It's very helpful to us as we interact with the podcast providers.

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