Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Select engagements
One benefit of not being fully retired is Patty can focus solely on engaging with fans through meaningful work. If anyone has earned the right to be selective, it’s this Indiana native. She was only 2 years old when she first sang publicly and performed nationally with her parents throughout her childhood. Patty continued that path into adulthood and her own commercially and critically successful music career. She is the winner of 40 Dove Awards and was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2004 but she shows no signs of slowing down.
“I still enjoy doing seasonal music, whether it’s Easter, patriotic or Christmas,” she said. “We all love Christmas music. I grew up loving Christmas music so I have about seven concerts this Christmas season and Troy, Ohio will be concert number two. My husband, Don, will be with me and we’re very excited to be at the Arbogast Performing Arts Center.
“Jay and Amy Rouse will be with us and we have traveled together for so long,” she continued. “My son, Jonathan, who lives in Nashville, he’ll be with us in Troy. The gift he has of music is just so beautiful and so special. He’s a teacher of special ed for junior high boys but since this show is on a Saturday, he’s able to be with us. I’m very excited about that.”
Video stars
Patty and her husband host the video series, “Sunsets with Dan & Cindi,” on Facebook Live at 8 p.m. every Saturday. It started as a pandemic project but has become a weekly event for Patty, her family and fans.
“We know we’re Don and Sandi, the Dan and Cindi is a joke,” Patty said. “But, since we both love sunsets for different reasons, and we’re in the sunset years of our lives, it made a good title. Sunset doesn’t have to be a bad thing. The best part of the sunset is after the sun goes down because the sky is more beautiful.
“We’re part of the Boomer Generation, those who are 60 to 70,” she continued. “The pandemic really challenged all of us to understand technology on our devices if we wanted to connect with our families at all. Because we have a very large family, we already understood technology a little bit and we thought it might be helpful for some of our people.”
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Bringing the P.I.E.
Patty admits she was as surprised as anyone at the popularity of “Sunsets with Dan & Cindi.”
“We started doing the show on Saturday nights,” she said. “Low and behold, people started watching it so we just kept doing it. We try to do something practical, inspirational and educational on each show. If you can remember the word, ‘P.I.E.,’ that’s kind of what we try to do. We thought people would stop watching after the pandemic but they keep watching and now our best numbers are when we have any grandkids come on.
“People see how much we love our empty nest season,” Patty added. “I’m happy to be working because we have music to share and kindness and love to give. In that aspect, I think our best years are ahead of us and that’s all part of pre-tirement. That’s a message we can’t hear enough because we forget it the next day so we need to remind each other.”
Contact this contributing writer at 937-287-6139 or e-mail at donthrasher100@gmail.com.
HOW TO GO
Who: Sandi Patty
Where: Arbogast Performing Arts Center, 500 S. Dorset Road, Troy
When: 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 26
Cost: $20-$65
More info: 937-418-8392 or www.arbogastpac.com
Artist info: www.sandipatty.com
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