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You move me...You give me courage I didn't know I had...I can't go with you and stay where I am so...You move me...

So opens "A Distant Call," the first offering of new material from one of contemporary Christian music's supreme vocalist, Susan Ashton. And what a fitting opener it is, for it so aptly describes the life of its performer.

Picture this:

It's standing room only at the Palau San Jordi in Barcelona, Spain. In the stands, thousands of fans scream for country superstar Garth Brooks. Backstage, a petite redhead sits in her dressing room, trying to collect her thoughts as she prepares to open the show. All she can think is, "How did I get here? Why am I here? And what do I do now that I am here?"

How Susan came to share the stage with country music's biggest name says as much about her willingness to take risks as it does about her powerful voice and string of number one hits. The path that brought her to that backstage dressing room may look charmed, but it also took equal measures of hard work, old-fashioned "moxie," and a willingness to trust where she was being led.

"Basically, I'm only where I am today because I said 'yes, God, I'll do this," she explains of her career. "And even from here, whatever I do is only contingent on my willingness and my obedience to God."

Raised in Houston, Texas, one of six children, Susan was singing almost before she could walk. By age 18, she was doing backup vocals for such legendary contemporary Christian artists as Wayne Watson and Dallas Holm. In 1988, at the age of 21, she was offered a major recording contract with Sparrow Records.

Her raw talent opened these doors, but it was pure guts that enabled her to walk through. "When I first started I was so backwards and shy," she recalls. "When Sparrow first signed me, I had never even done a full concert before, and I wouldn't do one until my first record came out, three years later."

Her youth and inexperience showed. "It was really pathetic, it was so bad," she laughs of her first real performing experience. "For the first year or two I got a lot of criticism. People were not very nice about it, either. They would say, 'She's got a great voice, but have you seen her on stage?' For me, I just had to get up there and do it and learn."

Learn she did. Three years later, the crowd at Barcelona's Palau San Jordi gave the young Texan a standing ovation.

On "A Distant Call," she forges new ground yet again, summoning a diverse array of writing and performing talents from the worlds of pop, country and contemporary Christian music: names like Alison Krauss & Union Station, Sheryl Crow, Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith.

It was a brave move. As the first new record in three years, many artists might opt to play it safe. Susan instead saw an opportunity to grow and explore.

She cemented the move into fresh territory by bringing two new producers on board. It was a difficult decision: since her first record, 1991's "Wakened By The Wind," Susan has worked exclusively with Wayne Kirkpatrick (Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Kim Hill), a man she calls her "musical soul-mate." Their work together has yielded 11 number one Christian radio singles, eight Grammy and Dove Award nominations, not to mention a host of fan awards and critical raves.

"It was hard," she says of the decision. "Wayne and I had some hard conversations. It was kind of like, I know we're already married, but can we date other people for a while!" she laughs. "But I told Wayne, I want to do something different on this record, but I can't do it without your blessing." And he said, "OK I'll let YOU have it."

In the end, Wayne Kirkpatrick produced four songs on "A Distant Call," while Brown Bannister (Amy Grant, Twila Paris) produced three songs and Michael Omartian (Rod Stewart, Whitney Houston, Michael Bolton, Peter Cetera, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill) produced four.

Any doubts she may have had about her decision were quickly erased during the recording of "You Move Me."

"Cutting that whole song, for the musicians and for me and for Brown, was really magical," she recalls. "I remember after we did the first full take without any stops, there was just this silence in the studio, everybody felt like it was real special. And then when Dan Tyminski from Union Station came in and put his background vocals on, I was almost crying, it was so beautiful. It's my favorite song on the record."

"A Distant Call" is also noteworthy because it showcases more of Susan's songwriting skills. Indeed, she co-wrote three songs on this record: "Body And Soul," "Blind Side," and "Spinning Like A Wheel."

She had hoped to do more. "I wanted to have five songs on this record, but I didn't get that far, it just didn't happen," she says. "I don't know why it's been this way, but in the past I've only written when it's been time to make a record. Now, I'm actually trying to develop the mentality of a songwriter and start writing all the time."

Recording "Love Profound" with Alison Krauss, the Country Music Association's 1995 Female Vocalist Of The Year, was a special treat. "She was so funny," Susan recalls. "The day Alison came in to do her vocals and viola part was really hectic for her. Her schedule kept getting shifted, she'd been sick all week, she was running late, she hadn't been home in days, hadn't even had time to do laundry or anything. And on top of all that, her bus was leaving an hour earlier than she had thought."

"She starts singing and she said, 'I sound terrible! I'm awful!' And Wayne just kind of looked at me and said, 'Sounds like someone else I know!' Because I always do that to myself. For people that are perfectionists, you just have to beat yourself up a little bit before you can feel good about what you do."

The final record "was everything I'd hoped it would be, and more," Susan says. "Any time you do something different, you never know if people are going to move with you or reject it. I'm really proud of it, and I hope people like it."

The past three years have been stunningly busy for the artist. In addition to opening the Garth Brooks European tour in 1994, she headlined her own 50-city tour, then joined Margaret Becker and Christine Dente for the Along The Road trio project and 'alltogether" Tour.

1995 saw the release of her greatest hits package, "So Far", which included two new songs. She also lent her vocal talents on Garth Brooks' new release, "Fresh Horses," and contributed material to the compilation projects, "Come Together: America Salutes The Beatles," and the Grammy-award winning "Amazing Grace:" A Country Salute To Gospel. During 1996, it's been a steady stream of live concerts, plus writing for and recording "A Distant Call." She's also been learning to play guitar.

As if all that weren't enough, she and her husband of three years, producer/ musician J.D. Cunningham, have been settling into married life. The couple bought and have begun refurbishing a turn-of-the century farmhouse outside of Nashville. They share their home with three dogs and three cats.

"The last couple of years have been hard for us," she says, "in that even though I didn't have a new record out, I was working so much and on the road so much, we were just never having fun. So right now we're trying to learn to take breaks and have fun, get some 'alone time' out together. Like anything else in life, it's learning to find the proper balance."

She shuns the notion that her life is glamorous. "I'm just a regular person, basically, who's been given a great opportunity to do something I love to do."

"My whole approach is to be honest and real," she continues. "You know, I'm a person who's married, I have cats and dogs, I live in a house, I want to have children one day-all those experiences make up my life and make up who I am, and so those are things that I have to talk about in my music. And in the midst of ail that, I'm a Christian, so I have hope, I have values that I base my life on."

And those questions that ran through her mind in Barcelona: How did I get here? Why am I here? And what do I do now that I am here? What answers did she find?

"I really think God put the whole together, I think He meant for me to be there. And I'm not sure yet that I know the complete why of it all."

Listening to her struggle for an explanation, one is reminded of the line from "Lonely River," one of the last songs on the record:

You're compelled and you're enthralled....as though you're answering a distant call.