By Amber Weigand-Buckley
T
he first time I met Franny she was a few weeks shy of her 23rd birthday and introduced as “the new girl” on Fervent Records. It was an insta-friend connect as she sat across the couch from me in Nashville during Gospel Music Week chatting about her memories as a Fine Arts participant and hanging out with friends at nationals. “I don’t think I even advanced in songwriting when I went to nationals. Now I am a professional songwriter. I have a publishing deal. That blows my mind. I never would have foreseen that.” Now less than three short years later— BOOM. God’s plans were bigger than contracts, recording deals and even chart-topping success. He’s taken that girl across the red carpet at the Grammys, put her in the center stage spot as Dove 2011 Artist of the Year and two-time Female Artist of the Year and allowed her voice to be one to influence—steering this generation toward God-purpose. But
14 ONCOURSE MAGAZINE | oncourse.ag.org
for Franny, the most incredibly mindblowing title of the past three years is wife to Matt Goodwin (former drummer of Newsong) and mother to 7-month-old Matthew Elijah. The new mom took time during a Winter Jam 2011 tour stop to talk with me about her latest project A Hundred More Years, which debuted at No. 1 spot on the Christian SoundScan Album Chart and No. 16 on the Billboard Top 200 chart. Listen in:
Amber: What do you see as the common thread stitching A Hundred More Years? Franny: The record really has a theme of just God’s love. I didn’t really do that on purpose—it just sort of happened that way. It is a snapshot of the many different ways God shows us His love for us. We’re never too far away from it. He’s always there waiting for us. It is so simple, but definitely something that we