Indigo Girl and Billy G.

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Author: Hilliard, Juli Cragg

One might assume a book co-written by Emily Saliers, half of the pop-folk Indigo Girls, would reach a different generation than one by George Beverly Shea, 90-something Billy Graham Crusades vocalist. But both have fans of all ages, and both books consider music's spiritual power. In A Song to Sing, a Life to Live (Jossey-Bass, Aug.) Saliers and her father, Don Saliers--Emory University professor of sacred church music and theology--explore music as a spiritual practice and a force for good. "This isn't theology," says Sheryl Fullerton, executive editor of J-B's Religion in Practice line. "It's very much storytelling and opening up to the experience of spirituality and music and faith." She says it will find general readers with an interest in spirituality as well as mainline Christians. Shea's How Sweet the Sound (Tyndale House, Mar.), reflecting on 52 hymns and gospel songs, is more squarely aimed at evangelical Christians. Says Janis Long Harris, Tyndale senior director of acquisitions, "I see the audience as being anyone who loves gospel music, music of the church, beloved hymns--not just fans of George Beverly Shea, although if the readers for the book were just fans of George Beverly Shea we could still sell a million."

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By Juli Cragg Hilliard