Featured Artist: Gretchen Keskeys
Singer/songwriter Gretchen Keskeys released her acclaimed debut album 'Walking In The Spirit' (Creative Soul Records) in 2016 and followed it a year later with the album 'Pure Hope'.
In addition to concerts and women’s conferences all across America, the California-based artist became quite an online sensation, sharing her songs alongside an inspirational testimony that spoke of miraculous deliverance from anxiety and depression. It’s no wonder why her rapid-fire sophomore release “Pure Hope” can not only boast such an optimistic title, but also resonate with an increased artistic confidence and additional confirmation of this God-ordained calling for the wife and mother of three children whose unique media-centric upbringing (more on that later) could have very well led her down an entirely different path.
“When I write a song, the ideas and words come out of my conversations with God in simply talking or praying through the day,” explains Keskeys, who got her start as a worship leader with Warehouse Christian Ministries (which many CCM luminaries such as the late Keith Green have appeared). “Take for instance the new song ‘This Time,’ which looks back at the places I’ve fallen or worried about what other people were thinking rather than simply saying ‘this time I will trust you God.’ And then there’s the song that inspired the title, ‘Running On Pure Hope,’ which came to me before I even started thinking about doing another album, basically from the excitement of what God was doing in my life.” I do believe the songs are very encouraging because they are inspired by scripture and the hope that we have in Christ. He has made my ministry possible.
And what an amazing ride it’s been from from the overwhelming and downright life-changing responses on social networking for her previous project’s lead single “Then I Met Jesus,” to appearing on nationally syndicated television shows “Babbie’s House,” CTN’s “It’s Time for Herman & Sharron,” Cornerstone Television Network’s “Real Life,” CTN’s “Bridges,” Dove Broadcasting’s “Nite Line,” WATC-TV’s “Magnify,” WREG-TV’s “Live at 9” and “Christian Music Spotlight,” plus prominent radio programs such as “Game Changers with Lisa Faulkner,” “The Long Version with Fletcher Long,” “Kingdom News” and “Debra Evans in the Morning” (amongst many others). However, if it wasn’t for stepping up to the microphone in church throughout the 2000s or giving her life entirely over to Christ earlier in life, chances are Keskeys could’ve ended up on an entirely different path.
“I know what to expect this time, I’m at a stronger place spiritually and I’m in a place where I’m happy with whatever comes of it,” she says of “Pure Hope.” “When you first do something, you can get a little feeling like ‘this could be a total failure,’ but even from the couple of songs I’ve snuck out from the new project, a lot of people seem to be excited. Those ‘uncertain months’ also inspired the song ‘Adversity,’ and though they were difficult times, I am thankful for them because it has caused me to look even more to Jesus and He can use all of it for good!”
Credit: gretchenkeskeys.com
