Beautiful Music
Despite her blindness, Ginny Owens struggles with self-image and, like many women, wonders what it really means to be beautiful.
by Mark Moring | posted 4/26/2004
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Even though Ginny Owens, blind since she was 2, can't see herself in a mirror, she still struggles with self-image and what it means to be beautiful—in the eyes of the world, and in the eyes of God. She's learning to listen more to the latter than the former, but it's a journey. Owens documents some of that journey on Beautiful (Rocketown), her most recent CD. In the song "Call Me Beautiful," she confesses to "waiting for a hero who's brave and strong/Someone to love me, someone to tell me I belong," only to discover that God's love is the key to self-image and inner beauty. Ginny stopped by our office recently to talk about the new album—and about what she's learned about the definition of beauty, inside and out.
You've said Beautiful fits like a comfortable pair of jeans. Could you not say that about your previous albums?
Ginny OwensI think yes and no. With the first two records, even though I wrote the lyrics and the melodies, the production and the whole vision for the record was not my idea. On this one, I had a vision from the beginning, a pretty strong sense of where I wanted to go with this record. And it all just kind of came together really naturally. But I think every record has been a reflection of where I was when I wrote the record.
So maybe they were all comfortable jeans at the time.
OwensMaybe. But this one does feel like the most comfortable because it's the most involved I've been in overall.
I hear you wrote a lot of this record while traveling in a van last spring. Is that true?
OwensYes. I was on tour with Derek Webb and my road manager, just me and a couple of guys. I prefer to write when I'm alone, but I and finally just thought, They're not going to let me drive, so I might as well find something to do. I had some ideas and was doing some studying. I don't know that I wrote any complete songs on the van trips, but I had enough inspiration to get a good majority of them started and then to just kind of continue to craft them when I went home.
Let's talk about Beautiful, and your thoughts behind it. You've said you struggle with the same self-image issues many women struggle with, but for many women, that struggle is complicated by the mirror. For you, what have been the advantages and disadvantages of not being able to look in a mirror?
OwensGreat question. I think the advantage is I don't have to analyze myself every time I walk past a mirror. I'm not faced with images of myself all day long. But the disadvantages are that I am forced to rely on other people's verbal affirmation of me more than other people would have to. I might wonder, Gosh, does my hair look all right? Things like that make me think it'd be a better if I had the advantage of a mirror.
Who are the mirrors in your life?
OwensOne of the things I've learned in this business is that my mirror cannot be everybody. I need selective mirrors—people who will give me their honest opinions. I have a couple of friends who have pretty opposite opinions, so if they agree on something, then it must be right. I've hired a person to help me pick out clothes for wearing on stage and stuff. Then I'll take those clothes to my two friends who have opposite styles, and if they both agree on the clothes, then I know they're good.
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