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Amy Grant Makes Music Again After Traumatic Brain Injury
The singer, 65, says her 2022 bike accident changed her memory, balance and timing. AARP research shows head injuries are common among adults 50-plus
.jpg?anchor=15,70&q=80&color=ffffffff&u=k2e9ec&w=375 "Amy Grant Makes Music Again")
Amy Grant attends the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women benefit concert in New York City on Jan. 29, 2026. The singer is making new music after sustaining a traumatic brain injury in a 2022 bike crash.
CJ Rivera/Invision/AP
Key takeaways
- Amy Grant says her 2022 traumatic brain injury left her uncertain about her recovery.
- AARP research found that 43 percent of adults 50-plus have injured their head.
- Head injuries in older adults can be overlooked because symptoms may resemble other conditions, including dementia.
Amy Grant says the traumatic brain injury she suffered after a 2022 bicycle accident affected her memory, balance and response time, leaving her with questions about her future.
During a new interview on NPR’s Wild Card with Rachel Martin, the singer, 65, recalled a difficult moment in the fall of 2022, months after the accident. Grant said she asked her husband, country singer Vince Gill, a question that captured the uncertainty of recovery: “What if this is all I get back? What if this is it?”
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Grant described the feeling as being separated from the pace of everyone else.
“To me, it’s like the world is in a conversation, and I am down the hall and in a back bedroom [when it comes to] my response time,” she said on the podcast.
In the NPR interview, Grant, who is known for hits including “Baby, Baby,” said Gill, 69, helped her face the uncertainty.
“He just said, ‘Amy, life happens to every one of us every day,’ ” Grant recalled. “ ‘A virtuoso musician could have a stroke and never be able to pick up their instrument again. All you do is you just take the hand you’re dealt that day and live the life that you get.’ ”
Grant said the injury also affected her timing in conversation.
“I love people making me laugh. I love delivering a great one-liner,” she said. “But that doesn’t happen when you’re, like, three steps behind the rest of the room.”
Amy Grant and Vince Gill perform at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Dec. 13, 2021. Grant has said Gill helped her face the uncertainty of life after her brain injury.
Jason Kempin/Getty Images
Her account may sound familiar to many older adults and families dealing with recovery from a head injury. AARP research found that 43 percent of Americans 50 and older have injured their head at some point in their lives. About one-third of those incidents were likely traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, which can have lasting consequences for physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioral health.
The same AARP research found that falls are the most common cause of head and neck injuries among adults 50 and older, followed by automobile or other vehicle accidents. TBIs can be missed in older adults, because their impact may come on slowly, sometimes days later, or because symptoms may resemble other conditions, including dementia.
The effects of a TBI can extend beyond balance, memory and stamina. Adults who have had a TBI are more likely to feel anxious or depressed than those who have not, according to AARP research, and the likelihood increases for people who have had multiple TBIs. More than 1 in 5 adults 50-plus have had two or more TBIs.
Grant’s story also underscores the role spouses and family members may play after a brain injury. She has spoken before about Gill’s support, telling People in 2024 that he was “steady” during her recovery and helped her take the process one day at a time.
Grant’s comments come as she is starting a new creative chapter. She is releasing The Me That Remains, a 10-song collection, on May 8. The new music, Grant told NPR, grew out of returning to the stage and seeing her own life reflected back at her from the audience.
“And I think I started writing because, you know, I went back on tour and toured in 2023,” Grant said. “But I’m just looking at all those people in the audience ... and they’re my contemporaries. At some point I thought, Am I doing us all a disservice by not writing about what life feels like now?”
The key takeaways were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.
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