Christian singer-songwriter Hilary Weeks sets out on first tour since 2016

Christian singer-songwriter Hilary Weeks sets out on first tour since 2016

Christian singer-songwriter Hilary Weeks has written exactly one love song in her musical career.

Well, unless you count all those songs about God’s love.

Weeks, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who with her family lives in Woodland Hills in southern Utah County, has spent her entire career writing songs of charity, faith, hope, belief, service and more. It’s been her singular focus.

“I never even for a second wanted to write about anything else,” Weeks said. “That’s where my heart is — centered on the Savior and helping others feel the Savior’s love.”

Weeks wrote her first song when she was just 14 years old. A friend had written a poem about friendship and sent it to her, and Weeks put it to music.”

Ever since then, Weeks says her goal has been to write uplifting songs that help people when they’re down and discouraged.

“They’re happy songs, but faith-based,” she said.

The artist with 11-albums-and-counting under her belt says she had no intention of becoming a recording artist.

“I never set out to be someone who made CDs or produced music,” she said. “But that’s the path God wanted me on.”

And as for that one straight-up love song Weeks tried? It came to her about a dozen years back, written for her husband. She recorded it for him, but never released the track.

“The song sort of told the story of how we met, which was slightly scandalous,” Weeks joked. “I grew up in Alaska, and he was on a mission there. The song talks about meeting there, and some of the things I love about him.”

Weeks doesn’t even remember the title of the tune — some love song, huh? But that’s OK, because she’s pretty sure hubby wouldn’t remember it, either.

“His answer would be the same,” she said.

Later this week, Weeks embarks on her first tour since 2016. The “Live All In 2020” tour kicks off Thursday, March 12, in Arizona, and concludes March 28 in Cedar City.

In between, Weeks will make stops Saturday, March 14, at Mountain View High School in Orem, and March 27 at Ogden High School in Ogden. She’s also making a swing through Idaho, visiting Boise and Idaho Falls.

Weeks called the upcoming dates “a powerful concert full of awesome music.” She said they’ve also got some surprises planned — it won’t just be an evening of music.

Although Weeks isn’t planning any additional concert dates, she said she’ll hit these six cities and then “see how it goes” from there.

“It’s been years since our last tour, so we’ve got all-new songs we’d love to show people, plus we’ll be singing a lot of fan favorites,” Weeks said. “These are songs they’ve known and loved for years, as well as songs we’ve been releasing through the subscription service.”

Ah, the subscription service.

At the beginning of 2019, Weeks launched a relatively innovative way of sharing her music. For $59 a year, fans can enroll in Live All In Today, a subscription service that, each month, provides them with a new Hilary Weeks song. They also get the song’s sheet music, a karaoke track, a study guide — even a coloring page. Members also have access to a Facebook page where monthly online concerts are performed.

All of the content can be accessed through the liveallintoday.com website, or through a Live All In smartphone app.

“To my knowledge, we’re the first ones to do it — not just here, but nationwide,” Weeks said. “I couldn’t find anyone to pattern this after, so I was sort of blazing my own trail.”

Weeks said she believes listeners are experiencing music in different ways than in the past, and she wanted to tap into that.

“CDs are still relevant, but it’s not the only way to consume music,” she said.

Weeks, who just turned 50 years old, said she thinks coming up with the subscription-based model — which began in January 2019 — had a lot to do with approaching her half-century mark of life on earth.

“The music industry has changed so much in the last few years, people have had to reinvent themselves,” she said. “That’s why we came up with this subscription-based plan — we had to disrupt ourselves.”

Weeks says her music is “not strictly LDS,” but that its “very much Christian, inspirational and faith-based.” She’s heard that other Christian faiths “have taken well to it,” and she’s seen several albums on the Billboard Christian music charts.

Weeks’ own favorite song from her catalog is “Even When.”

“It’s just a beautiful reminder the God loves us right where we are, for who we are, in this very place and very moment,” she said. “He loves us right now. Sometimes we think that we’re not good enough, or that we need to change to become worthy of his love. That’s not true.”

Such are the sorts of affirmations that Weeks’ music centers around.

Weeks admits that there are only so many more years that she can be onstage as a performer. As a singer-songwriter ages, Weeks says people are “ready for something young and new.”

And Weeks is OK with this. Apparently, she’ll have no problem transitioning out of the limelight, as evidenced by her answer to the question of where she sees herself in 10 years.

“Ten years from now, hopefully I’m playing with my grandkids,” said the mother of four daughters, ages 15 to 25. “And I probably won’t be doing music anymore. As hard as it is to let go of that part of my life, it’s inevitable that I have to evolve. … I think it’ll take some reinventing of myself, since music can’t be something I do forever. And part of me feels it’s scary, but part of it is exciting — what will be this new phase of my life?”

Besides, Weeks says she never really had much interest in fame anyway.

“It was something my husband and I had to deal with early on when I recorded my first couple of CDs,” she recalls.

Suddenly, people were asking Weeks to come and sing or speak to their groups. She and her husband had to find the right balance for their family — a certain number of events per month — and then learn to say “No” in order to keep family first. Weeks says she’s become comfortable with having to turn down singing and speaking engagements.

“Stephen Covey said it’s easy to say ‘No’ when there’s a deeper ‘Yes’ burning inside,” Weeks explained. “I am first a wife and a mother, and I never want to look back and see that my career takes priority over my family.”

Weeks says she has absolutely no regrets about her musical career.

“I hope that’s not a sign that I’m an underachiever,” she laughed. “But I’m really pleased and satisfied where my career has taken me.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Top

Login


Create an Account!
Forgot Password?

Create an Account!


Username
Want to Login?

Forgot Password?