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A woman at a recent concert by singer-songwriter Jennifer Daniels approached her after the show to ask the young artist if she was a Christian.

At one time, the answer would have been clear — early on, Daniels was easily classified as a Christian artist. The older she get, however, the more the things that make up who she is as an individual — a woman, a musician, a Christian — begin to meld together.

“She wanted to know because she said she heard a lot of themes of loving people and helping people and redemption,” Daniels told The Daily Times this week. “I told her I was, but I don’t wrap it up in a 3-minute gospel song. She was cool with that, and said she liked what she heard because she didn’t feel like she was being preached at.

“That’s the crux of my whole life right there — being a Christian is the most important thing in my whole life, but I want my career and my music to be about making really great art. Having those kinds of values obviously shapes what I deem as art, but I don’t try to put any propaganda in there.”

If anything, Daniels hopes her music provides comfort and solace. She’s a nurturing spirit, and while her slant on the folk genre is best described as having a Southern gothic touch, it’s also filled with underlying messages of hope and love.
Creative Loafing, Atlanta’s regional music magazine, has praised her repeatedly, and — in addition to other critics — the magazine Paste describes her musical style as “a sound that wanders from alt-country to haunting folk rock, delivering her poetry with an urgency to match its message.”

Her 2002 release, “Dive and Fly,” was hailed by critics and deejays alike and has been added to the playlists of more than 200 radio stations. Her latest album, “Summer Filled Skies,” is a mixture of new songs and old ones that date back to her very first release, “Fists of Flood.”

“The nighttime sky was really what I was thinking about at the time,” she said. “Looking back on childhood, I remember how we used to play for so late. We felt like we were scoring on playtime, because mom wouldn’t call us in until 9! All that energy and warmth and freedom was what I had in mind when I made this album.”

She’s been in pre-production for a new record, which she hopes to put out as early as next year. She has all of the songs; now it’s a matter of cutting away the fat and finding the ones that resonate with Daniels personally, as well as the ones she feels will make the biggest impact on her fans.

“I wrote this song called ‘Every Single Day’ recently, and it’s a love song, but it’s all right there — it’s concrete and accessible, instead of my usual abstract way,” she said. “It’s right there, and it’s all about being in love and realizing that our strength is going to decay, that our hair is going to turn gray, that our faces are going to change, but that love is stronger than that, and ultimately stronger than death.

“The thing that I always have done is to gather other people’s stories. I’ve been able to listen and to figure out where they’re coming from, and if someone is kind enough to let me into a vulnerable place in their lives, then I’m honored.”

The new album, she said, appears to be taking a more organic path than its predecessors — as well as “a little more creepy,” she added, “but in a good way.” More than anything, she finds herself wanting to embrace all of the things that she is, all of the things that bind her to God and the earth and other people, and incorporate them into her music.

Southerner. Woman. Christian. They’re all a part of who she is, and rather than showcasing each one, she wants to be each one on every song.

“Being a woman is like being a Christian — obviously I am, and I can’t help but be influenced by what I am,” she said. “I love having that Southern rock sound running through some of the songs. And, I feel like being a believer is just as intrinsic as being a woman, if not more so, because I don’t know what will happen to my body when this life is over, but I do know what will happen to my soul.

“I just want it to be about great songs, and all of those things inform what I do. And if someone finds something in them that resonates with them, then I feel incredibly honored.”