LDS singer's music goes beyond Mormon market

Vanessa Joy has always believed in the power of music to move and uplift. "It has always been an important part of my life," she says. "It inspires in ways that speaking can't."

So when Joy decided to go to a singer/songwriter workshop being held in her hometown of Phoenix, she knew she would find ways to make music more meaningful in her life. She didn't know that she would be swept into a course of life-changing events that would take her all over the country — and the world.

One of the instructors at the seminar was Marvin Goldstein, a Florida-based musician who has been active on the LDS music scene for the past 50 years. "He asked me if I'd like to do a project together," Joy said on a recent visit to Salt Lake City, where she are Goldstein were doing LDS firesides and other programs. "We began looking for music," she said. "I wanted to start with inspirational music, so our focus was on some of the old traditional hymns that have such timeless, beautiful messages. Many of them were new to me, but I had such an exciting time learning them."

The result has been a CD, "Sweet By and By," as well as a DVD, titled "Expressions of Christ," where Joy's singing has been paired with Greg Olsen paintings of the Savior. They feature such songs as: "Softly and Tenderly," "Blessed Assurance," "Be Thou My Vision," "In the Garden" and "Just As I Am."

Arrangements and piano accompaniment are done by Goldstein.

They have hit not only the LDS market, but the Christian market "in a big way," Goldstein says. They were invited to perform in an evangelical Baptist church in Cocoa, Fla., for one thing; even more exciting was an invitation to perform at Peace Concerts in Egypt and Israel.

The concert in Egypt was sponsored by the deputy ambassador there, before the recent troubles broke out, and took place in the Coptic area. In Israel, they performed at the Sea of Galilee and in Tiberius. In both places, they performed with local orchestras that comprised Arabs, Christians and Muslims. Bringing them all together for the concert was an amazing experience, Goldstein said. "It was music, not politics. It was religion on a different level."

Goldstein has been doing such Peace Concerts for a number of years, but it was a new experience for Joy. It has all been very exciting, she said, and she loves the universal appeal of the music. "These are songs that appeal to a lot of denominations, to any people that believe in Christ."

There have also been performances in places such as San Antonio, Las Vegas, Idaho, as well as many in Utah.