Marty & Patti Elmore on Their Godly Heritages, Songwriting, Their New Album & More

The Elmores, Marty & Patti, are a husband & wife team from West Plains, Missouri.  They have been writing and singing gospel music together for the past 27 years, traveling over much of Missouri and several surrounding states. 

The son of a Baptist deacon who traveled and sang for 40 years with the Harmoniers Quartet, and the daughter of an Assembly of God pastor of some 50 years, Marty and Patti grew up singing in the church.  Desiring first and foremost to see lives changed through the blood of Jesus Christ, the Elmores place a high priority on ministry when in service.

The Elmores' presentation is strongly influenced by southern gospel, with a touch of inspirational to middle-of-the-road.  In addition to their original songs, the Elmores draw upon other writers and the great hymns of the church in their musical presentation.  Their concerts include the use of both custom soundtracks and piano, guitar, & bass guitar.

Hallels:  Congratulations on the release of your new album "Hand in Hand."  On this record you've got to work with Roger Talley of the Talleys, how did you get to work with him?  What do you think Roger brings to the record that you really appreciate? 

Thanks Timothy!  We are very excited about this recording!  Actually, we have known Roger for over 25 years, and he has produced four other recordings for us over that span of time, as well as published our songs since 1991.  We started working with Roger in the early days of his career as a producer.  Roger is a joy to work with!  He takes our pretty rough demos and works his magic on the songs.  We joke that we write the songs, but Roger teaches them to us!  He brings so much to the table - he is a superb pianist who takes a backseat to no one, and he has a great ear for arrangements and harmonies.  It has been a great honor to work with him.  We hope the collaboration continues for as long as the Lord allows us to do this!

Hallels:  Both of you came from families deeply rooted in the faith.  Do such Godly heritages helped you as songwriters? 

From Marty:  Absolutely!  I am so grateful for my parents, who took me to church from the time I discovered America, on!  I came to faith in Christ as a nine-year-old, and I thank God for parents who set a godly example for me to follow.  As far as the music goes, my dad has sung in a very talented southern gospel quartet since before I was born. He is 87 years old and still travels and sings in today's iteration of that group and he still sings great!  I have many memories as a child of going to Tuesday night quartet practice with my dad.  They practiced at their piano player's house and I would sit on the couch facing them and listen and make faces and generally be an obnoxious kid!  But, even then, God was teaching me a lot about the power of a song with a message! We lost my mom just before Christmas in 2013, and I find that the blessed hope we have as believers in Jesus Christ becomes more and more precious as you see your loved ones go on to be with the Lord! 

From Patti:  Oh I believe so! My dad prayed with me at five years old to receive Jesus as my Savior.  I was very concerned about going to heaven with the rest of my family!   I have a wonderful heritage and great foundation in the faith but ultimately I had to come to a place in my mid-twenties that I surrendered my life completely to the Lord and trusted Him with all of my heart before I really found the joy of serving Him.  Although my parents lived a life of faith before me, only God could work that in my heart and He has been faithful to do that!  He has given me a deep love for His word ,and the songs always come from things He has spoken to my heart as I spend time with Him and in His word.  My Godly heritage has definitely impacted my life in every area, especially songwriting. 

Hallels:  For the songs on this new record, I notice that both of you do tend not to write together.  Rather, each of you tend to write on your own.  Why is this so?

From Marty:  Actually, we each write individually, but we also write together.  Many of our previous projects include songs that we co-wrote.  It just so happened that, on this project, we chose a collection of songs where we didn't really collaborate to the point that we would take a co-write.  There are songs on this project where each of us offered a suggestion for a small lyric or melody change to the primary writer - we just didn't feel that it warranted taking co-writing credit.  Sometimes, one of us has the basic inspiration for a song idea, and the other one actually writes it.  Sometimes, one of us writes a chorus, and the other one writes the verses, and so on.  It seems that we approach every song differently.

Hallels:  What lessons do you want listeners to grasp after hearing the album? 

From Marty:  I think the thing that I would most like for them to grasp is that it's all about Jesus!  Jesus is faithful even when we're not, and he cares for every detail of our lives, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant!  I am grateful that I know that I can put my trust in Him - when I close my eyes for the last time, and take my last breath, it will be His righteousness and His alone, applied to my life through His precious shed blood that I will be counting on!  

From Patti:  We went back and forth a little on titles for the album.  I kept coming back to one thought over and over...There is Hope!  Although we went with "Hand in Hand"  It still comes back to that for me.  No matter where we find ourselves in life,  there is Hope in Jesus and I hope that message comes through in every song!  

Hallels:  I absolutely love "Better There."  What's the inspiration behind this song? 

From Patti:  Like all families, our family has gone through some really hard things. I wrote Better There in the weeks following my brother's death.  He was on vacation in Wyoming and on an attempt to climb the Grand Teton, fell some 2500 to 3000 feet to his death.  The only thing that brought comfort to me was the thought of heaven.  We have a better hope waiting!  Heaven became very real to me!  I began to write and the song came quite easily.  We sang the song a few times but then laid it aside.  I can't really explain why except that it was deeply personal and I felt like I was falling short in my delivery of the song.  It was probably two years later and one day I was at Marty's mom and dad's house trying to help out during his mom's illness.  She had been such a vibrant lady!  Her home had always been kept in perfect order, in fact, everything in her life was in perfect order!  She was strong and organized and took care of everything and everybody in a tireless fashion.  She had become ill  though,  quite ill.  She had around the clock nursing care and the way Marty's dad cared for her was incredible.  On that particular day, the nurses were not able to be there and so I had gone to the house to try to help.  I was in the kitchen at the sink washing some dishes and I looked into the living room at the chair where my mother-in-law was sitting.  She was propped up by pillows and covered with a white blanket.  She could barely speak or move.  She was not even protesting that I was washing dishes which was unthinkable!  When I looked at her sitting there I realized that the words were going through my mind...It's better where there is no night, no darkened shadows, only light.  It's better where we live forever!  We can know...it's better there!  The song was ministering to me.  I knew it was the Lord and I knew He was reminding me of what He had assured me of two years before!  It was then that I knew I wanted to sing the song to everyone else that needed to hear.  When we looked for songs for this project, Better There was at the top of my list.  

Hallels:  If you have a chance to showcase three songs off the new record, which would you choose?  And why? 

From Marty:   Man, that's tough!  It's kind of like picking a favorite child........you can't!  I guess if I was going to pick one of mine it would be By the Book.  The wife of a very prominent, godly man told us that when he came to the Lord, he dropped to his knees by the bed and literally held a bible aloft and said something to the effect of, "From this day forward, come what may, I'm living my life by this book!"  His wife will tell you that he meant what he said, and that is very evident in his life.  One Sunday morning while traveling to sing, I started to think about that story and it spoke to me, inspiring the song.  Secondly, I love the message and the musical feel of We Will Bless the Lord.  Roger's piano and Milton Smith's Hammond B3 work really give it a soulful feel to me.  I love that track! 

From Patti:  For me,  one would be "Once for All".  I love that this song preaches the gospel so clearly.  This is the hope the world needs straight from scripture that Jesus died..Once for all!  And on a personal note, I love that Marty sings this song!  I have always led on songs I have written so I am so honored that he would lead on this one!  He is my favorite singer after all! 

Hallels:  I believe you have a new addition to your family.  Tell us more about your newest grandchild. 

From Patti:  Oh wow!  Since you asked...!  Asa is our miracle baby!  Adam, our middle son, and Kacey are the proud parents of Asa!  They tell us that Asa means healer and that is most appropriate for this little guy.  Adam and Kacey were married five years ago last May and in those five short years suffered three miscarriages.  We had never experienced loss in that way and our hearts were broken for them at the loss of our little grandchildren.  Adam and Kacey are people of great faith and they hope firmly in knowing our babies are in heaven and we will see them one day.  Still the family was broken-hearted and we wanted so much for them to have the joy of parenting.  When we learned that the Lord had surprised them with another pregnancy, our oldest son, Jared, called the family to prayer and pray we did!  So many friends were agreeing in prayer with us and month by month we watched our sweet daughter-in-law show signs of that baby growing and thriving!  On February 26th at 10:15 pm we heard the most beautiful sound ever as little Asa made his first cry from the delivery room.  He is perfect!  God is so good!  Sometimes His answer is not what we would have wanted but we know His answer is always best!  This time He has answered in a way that has so far exceeded our hopes and dreams we can hardly contain the joy! 

Hallels:  For our readers who would like to purchase your new album or/and find out more about you, where can they go? 

From Marty:  Thanks for asking!  Hand in Hand is available from our website, www.elmoresing.com, from www.cdbaby.com in both CD or digital download, as a digital download from Itunes, now, and from Amazon.com, eventually.  Our new project and our others are also available from our product table at personal appearances, of course.  We also have a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TheElmoresGospelMusic . 

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