North Carolina singer-songwriter Vaughan Penn is scheduled to perform tomorrow morning (Friday, October 16) on "Good Morning America" along with her new recording partner Chynna Phillips.
David Menconi writes over at On the Beat that the two women have joined forces to put out a new Christian pop album. Menconi has more about the Chynna & Vaughan collaboration and about upcoming local performances on his blog.
"Good Morning America" airs from 7am to 9am on ABC.
North Carolina singer/songnwriter Vaughan Penn is best-known as a cracker-jack pop-rock songwriter, whose skill with a hook has landed her on more than 100 soundtracks including "Grey's Anatomy," "The Hills" and "Laguna Beach." But her latest musical venture is decidedly less earthy. Penn is half of Chynna & Vaughan, a Christian pop duo whose debut album "One Reason" (Reunion/Provident Records) has just been released.
Penn's partner in the group is a celebrity, Chynna Phillips, who was one-third of the massively popular early-'90s trio Wilson Phillips. Penn's entree into Phillips' orbit began a few years ago, when she heard from someone inquiring about music for an independent movie. She wound up hanging out with a group of people from the movie, including Phillips' stepfather. He thought they would hit it off, so he took along one of Penn's CDs to pass along. Six months later, Chynna approached Penn about working together on a Christian-oriented record.
"She was starting her own spirt-journey record, and as it turned out I'd also just started a spiritual praise-and-worship record of my own," Penn says. "So we met and hit it off quickly, and the creativity started flowing. A lot of songs came. So I spent the bulk of the last year and a half with her in California. It started out producing and writing, and it evolved into Chynna & Vaughan."
While Penn has previously been known for secular pop-rock, she's always had a streak of spirituality -- including a contemporary Christian group she sang with in college. So she looks at "One Reason" as coming full circle.
"I'm thankful for new opportunities when they come along," she says. "It made sense for this to happen. At the same time, I've always felt like it was God writing songs, not me. Whatever it is, secular or spiritual, it's got a message from God. I don't feel like a writer, I'm a channeler. I'm more plugged into the divine. It's humbling every time something new comes out."
For now, the closest Chynna & Vaughan's tour schedule gets to the Triangle is a free show in Elizabethtown on Oct. 31. But they're playing on Friday's "Good Morning America," at 7 a.m. on ABC.
