Super Funny Christian Comedian That Sang in Gather Vocal Band
One popular songwriter-comedian has vowed to sing an area audience into a laughing state next month.
Mark Lowry, a Christian songwriter, humorist, storyteller and former baritone singer with the Grammy Award-winning Gaither Vocal Band, will perform part of his solo "Unplugged and Unplanned Tour" at 8 p.m. Feb. 1 at the Alma Performing Arts Center, 103 E. Main St. in Alma. The lyricist and co-writer of the church staple song, "Mary Did You Know?," promises to make people think about life, faith and more while they enjoy family friendly comedy.
"I kind of just go out there on stage and wing it, because if I could put together a show properly, I would end up forgetting where I put those plans," said the 55-year-old Lowry during a recent telephone interview. "You can read an audience when you are out there, so the show will change. I just look at the audience and then say whatever pops into my ADD head. It's fun."
A member of The Gaither Vocal Band for more than 20 years, Lowry left the group to focus on his solo activities, but remains on friendly terms with the band. The Houston native is still considered a member of "the Gaither Family," capable of sitting in with the group for future concerts and TV shows.
"I learned a lot from The Gaither Vocal Band, like how to put a show together," Lowry said. "Bill and Gloria Gaither both are teachers – that's how they met. They were both schoolteachers, and they still live in the same house they did back when they were teachers."
Lowry's "Mary Did You Know?" has been recorded more than 400 times by artists such as Reba McEntire, The Gaither Vocal Band, Cee Lo Green, Clay Aiken, Wynonna Judd, Michael English and Kenny Rogers. He first wrote the song's lyrics in 1984 after he was asked by a pastor to write the music for a Christmas program at church.
"Being young then, I said I would write all the music," Lowry said with a laugh. "Once I realized I couldn't write the whole program, I took Christmas classics and did monologues between them."
Lowry also began composing "Mary Did You Know?"
"Mary was 13 – just a child – when the angel of the Lord came to her and said, 'You are the birth of this baby,'" he said. "So you have Mary holding baby Jesus on Christmas morning, and I started asking her questions. I asked, 'Are those the same hands that scooped out the ocean?' and, 'Are those the lips that spoke things into existence?'"
Lowry then laughed.
"You know, if I were really good, I would have written two of those songs," he said while still laughing. "Well, I am still working on 'Joseph Did You Know?' and 'Jesus, I Know You Knew.' And I'm working on a song for Moses, too."
Lowry credits his life experiences for his comedy and music. A fan of Bill Cosby and The Singing Rambos, he said he feels blessed to have lived through a tornado.
"Yep, I was on a houseboat when a tornado came through," Lowry said. "It was on Center Hill Lake, and I saw everyone at the coffee shop the next morning. Those guys were just all laughing and carrying on as usual, because they had lived through it before.
"But me, it was my first time to be on a houseboat in a tornado," he added. "I told them, 'Guys, I would have enjoyed that tornado a whole lot more had I known that I was going to live through it.' That's kind of like life, isn't it? I think we'll all look back and say we should have enjoyed life a lot more while it was happening."
Source: https://www.swtimes.com/story/entertainment/2014/01/25/mark-lowry-to-leave-them/26258605007/
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