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T
he Oxford Performing Arts Center
hosts a magical night of music Sept.
24 with the Heart Behind the Music
Songwriter’s Showcase, featuring charttopping singer-songwriters in the center’s
intimate setting.
Musicians Beth Nielsen Chapman, Jim
Brickman, Susan Ashton and John Ford
Coley bring their incredible stories to life
through their songs, offering soulful, stirring and deeply personal takes on the material that made them stars and the moving
events that inspire the melodies.
Take Nielsen Chapman as an example; the
Montgomery, AL-based artist’s impact on
modern country music has been immeasurable, thanks to hits she’s written like “This
Kiss” for Faith Hill, as well as songs for Willie
Nelson, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride
and others. But the songs she performs her-
self take the listener deep into her life, like
“Sand and Water,” from the album of the
same name, written after the death of her
husband in 1994. The song expresses a deep
well of pain, but also hope.
Not everything about the show has to be
heavy, though, with John Ford Coley’s hit
“I’d Really Love to See You Tonight” taking
a light, breezy approach to romance, giving couples in the audience a bit of magic
for date night. Coley performed the song
with “England” Dan Seals, younger brother
of Seals and Crofts’ Jim Seals, before taking
off on his own to continue producing music
and take on acting roles.
Susan Ashton and Jim Brickman round out
the evening with Brickman’s evocative piano and Ashton’s Christian-country stylings.
The two share a hit in Brickman’s “The Gift,” a
contemporary-country crossover performed
September 2015
INSIGHT