10 Questions with ... Ellie Holcomb

1. Brief History/Synopsis

I was born in Nashville, TN. I'm the oldest of five kids and it was NEVER boring at our house. We had an open door policy, so there was always company, games, food, and activity. We also loved to sing and listen to music in my family, so it often felt like a real live musical (a crazy musical). I worked at Sonic for six summers (YES! I was on skates!). I graduated high school from a small private school in Nashville called Christ Presbyterian Academy, and got my undergraduate in English Literature and masters of Secondary Education at The University of Tennessee, in Knoxville. I married my best guy friend, whom I swore I'd never date, and we now live in Nashville with two precious kids. I taught for two years before Drew, my husband, asked if I would quit teaching to be in his band, Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors. We thought it would be a year long diversion, but here we are 10 years later, still in Nashville, still making music and still traveling all over the place to sing our songs.

2. What does a normal day at home look like for you?

There is never a "normal" with this job, which is hilarious because I thrive on routine, so I'm constantly reminded that Jesus is my home whether I'm home with the kids or out on the road playing shows. When I am at home, my hope is to rise early and feed my soul a bit with a good cup of coffee in hand (this does not always happen though), then breakfast and our "morning book" aka The Jesus Storybook Bible with my kids, then there's the normal stuff of every mom's day, heading outside or meeting up with friends & their kids at some point, feeding, cleaning up, naps, grocery shopping, laundry, feeding, cleaning up, bedtime books and baths and songs. Throw in some spontaneous dance parties or song writing during the day, and you've got a pretty good picture of what our life looks like here in Nashville. During naptime, I'll try to write or work, and often when the kids go down we enjoy having company over. Our preference would be good conversation around the fire pit in our backyard or on the porch swing in the front.

3. What's the song that you just can't get out of your head right now?

"Too Good" by Jess Ray. It feels like an invitation to the beautiful mystery of grace. "It may be too good to be understood, but it's not too good to be true." Jess has become a friend in the past year, but I am such a fan of her heart and her music.

4. How much do you travel, what are the challenges? How do you juggle life on the road with wanting to be home?

The hardest part of this job is the travel. At the end of the day, even though it's often very hard to leave my kids, I feel called to this, and as long as God is asking me to be both a mom and an artist, I want to say "yes" to wherever He leads, even though it's often crazy and I don't know how to balance it all some days.

5. What artist & pastor have had the greatest impact on you?

Amy Grant. She and my mom were friends in high school and my dad has worked with her from the very beginning, so I got a behind the scenes perspective on her life. I have always loved her voice and her songs, but the way she loves other people and understands that life is not all about her has had a major impact on me. I had the privilege of touring with her this year, and just spending time with her and watching her make connections with the audience each night marked me in a powerful way. She has also taught me the art of being still, which is an incredibly useful skill to learn in the midst of keeping such a crazy schedule.

My greatest soul-teachers have been my counselors who are at the ministry of Porter's Call in Nashville, Al & Nita Andrews, and Beth Barcus have spoken truth over and over again into my soul. It was Nita that first invited me into walking in the light. She helped me learn how to be honest with myself and God and everyone else, and the freedom I've experienced in light of the gospel as I've learned to stand up in my own story, even in the broken parts, has been transformative. Beth continues to invite me out of shame and into the truth of God's love for me. They have been kind and compassionate guides as I walk into the calling God has on my life.

6. What's the last book you read? Give me a short summation. How did it impact you?

Brene' Brown's Rising Strong. Brene' has been a soul teacher for me. She calls herself a researcher/storyteller, and she is a doctor who studies shame and it's impact on peoples' lives. Rising Strong challenged me to not be afraid of falling or making mistakes, because it's how you respond after a fall that really counts. This book taught me that unless we stand up and own our mistakes, we don't get a chance to re-write the end of the story or grow after making mistakes. It's been transformational for me and for our family.

7. Funniest or most embarrassing moment on the road?

The first time my daughter came on stage to sing with me is my absolute favorite story from the road. I was playing for an adoption benefit, so it was a family friendly event, and Emmylou, who had just turned 3, kept asking if she could sing a song on stage with me. So we walked her through when and where she would come on stage to sing. We had a little stool set up in front of a mic for her and the plan was for her to sing the first song of the night with me. As I was introducing her and getting her all set on the stool, she leaned up to the mic and said, "Actually mom, I'm gonna drum." She had seen a little step stool as she was walking on stage, went to grab it, carried it behind the drums, and my precious drummer, Elizabeth Chan, handed her some soft mallets. I could barely get through the song because I could NOT stop laughing! My drummer kept perfect rhythm as my 3-year-old girl hammered on the drums alongside her. When we finished the song, she came back around to the front of the stage and grabbed my hand for a bow! I love her independence and confidence. Ever since, she's referred to herself as "a drummer". I don't know that I will ever laugh that hard through a song again!

8. Take us through a couple songs on your latest project.

The past two years for our community have been heavy, full of suffering and loss. Red Sea Road is a record full of songs about how I've seen God show up in the middle of all the pain. I know now more than I did two years ago that He is faithful, no matter what we are facing. I've seen Him draw near to our broken hearts and make a way to keep going when there seemed to be no way. There's an Ann Voskamp blog post where she describes it like this: "...we believe that an unseen Hope makes a Red Sea Road when there seems to be no way."

This record is celebrating the unseen Hope we have in Jesus, and the way I've seen Him make Red Sea Roads through some of the most difficult & heartbreaking years of my life.

"Find You Here"

I wrote "Find You Here" to remind myself that God shows up in the middle of our most desperate and broken places. It's about the profound peace my family and I experienced in the face of a cancer diagnosis for my dad, and it tells the story about God drawing near to our breaking hearts, bringing comfort into our chaos & covering our deepest fears with His faithfulness. It's grounded in this beautiful promise from God's word.

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." -Phillippians 4:4-7

"Red Sea Road"

When the Israelites had an army behind them and the ocean in front of them, an impossible situation, God says this through Moses in Exodus 14:14 , "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." And He opens up the Red Sea, making a way where there is no way. We have walked through two years full of sorrow and heartache, and just like the Israelites, we have seen God draw near to our breaking hearts and make a way for us to carry on, even when the grief and the pain have felt unbearable. I wrote this song because I needed to remind myself that no matter what we are facing, God is faithful and He is with us.

"He Will"

This song comes from Isaiah 61, one of my favorite passages that beautifully describes the ministry of Jesus. I started writing this it in the middle of a radio tour up North. We were visiting 3-4 stations a day, and I came down with strep throat in the middle of the crazy travel schedule we were keeping. I felt TERRIBLE, but as I started shifting my perspective from how bad I felt to the promises of God, something started shifting in my spirit. My eyes were fixed the mountain in front of me, but as I began looking to the One who made the mountains and can move them anytime, I found comfort and peace. That trip turned into a beautiful memory for me. I was so weak and so sick, but I felt so carried and sustained by the Lord.

I've heard it said that our work as believers is to remember. And my prayer is that this song will help me remember, "whether I'm in want or plenty, whether I'm in health or ill," that God promises He will be who He says He is, a faithful healer and redeemer.

9. What organization/service group are you affiliated with?

My husband and I have spent most of the past 10 summers volunteering to play music at Young Life camps. We love what Young Life does because they believe that every kid, everywhere deserves the chance to get to hear about Jesus in a way they can understand. They go where kids are, love them, and share God's love with them, and we've had the privilege of watching God transform the hearts and lives of thousands of teenagers through this incredible ministry. We also love the work that Compassion, World Vision, and Show Hope do with children all over the world, and I've recently discovered the powerful ministry of International Justice Mission, setting slaves free all over the world. It makes my heart beat fast to think that we'd get to partner with the incredible work that these organizations do all over the world for the sake of the gospel.

10. Person you'd most like to have a discussion with, living or dead... Deities are excused from this question

Shakespeare or Beth Moore :)

1. Favorite Bible verse and life verse?

"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." -Psalm 73:26

I spent so much of my life trying to live perfectly, thinking that the gospel was just about me being "good enough", and this verse acknowledges both the probability of failure and the promise of God's love, strength, and presence even in the midst of our mistakes and failures and doubts.

2. How & when did you become a believer?

I was in the 1st grade when my teacher invited us to ask Jesus into our hearts and lives. The invitation felt irresistible even as a little kid, but my understanding of the gospel, of my deep need for Jesus and His deep love for me, began to unfold in my high school/college years. My favorite thing about walking with Him is that He loves enough to not leave us like we are, so I am ever growing on this adventure of following Him.

3. What's the biggest "God moment" you've ever experienced? Personally or professionally, when has God shown up in a powerful way?

This year has been an incredibly broken one for our community. We have walked through heartache of all kinds with some of the people we hold the most dear over the past two years, and we have seen Jesus draw near. My dad was diagnosed with cancer this year, and I had the privilege of watching my mom and dad walk into all the unknowns the come with that journey with their hands raised in the air, just praising God. They even hosted a praise and worship night at their home for some of their friends and our family, and it was that night that I encountered the peace of God in a way that I never have before. We didn't have any answers. We were scared of the road that was ahead of us, but we also encountered the peace of God. When it didn't make any sense to have peace, as we raised our voices and our hands to praise Him, we experienced that Philippians 4:4-7 "peace that surpasses our understand." My dad is now in remission, but our family will be forever marked by the nearness of God in the midst of one of our scariest seasons. I'm so grateful that I know after walking through 2 years of pain and heartache in my own family and in our community, that God is always the same. Ever faithful. Ever near. Ever merciful. And because of what He did on the cross, we have a reason to hope that no matter what suffering we are facing, the suffering isn't the end of the story because our hope is grounded in an empty grave.