Danny Gokey weaves his compelling stories through song

They can hail from books, including the Bible. Likewise, various forms of spoken word can serve to give us stories in droves.

Then there’s music. Songs and those who sing them oftentimes serve as stellar vessels for the most compelling stories.

Take former truck driver Danny Gokey. The contemporary gospel singer will headline the Christian Storytelling Festival at Providence Academy in Johnson City on Aug. 26.

“Danny Gokey got married. [His wife] encouraged him to go on ‘American Idol,’” said Mark Koscak, Providence Academy’s director of development. “Then his wife got sick.”

A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Gokey married Sophia Martinez, his high school sweetheart, on May 15, 2004. He had started singing in church with his family. He later served as the worship director at his church, Faith Builders International Ministries, in Milwaukee.

Per his wife’s encouragement, Gokey auditioned for season eight of “American Idol” on Aug. 8, 2008 — four weeks after she died. She had just been through her third surgery for congenital heart disease.

“The wound, it’s so, so deep,” said Gokey on the day he auditioned. “She was born with a condition in her heart, and so basically, throughout the years, she had to have surgery after surgery. Man, I remember when the doctors pulled me into the room and said, ‘There’s nothing else we can do for you.’”

He later started a foundation, Sophia’s Heart.

“He was in mourning, but he kept his commitment to her and went on ‘American Idol,’” Koscak said. “His story then came out.”

Gokey auditioned with Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.”

“She was my best friend,” Gokey said of his late wife. “We never got to say goodbye. I was so close to not trying out because of the grief. The grief was so intense. But I decided I’m going to go through it because I really believe that through me people can see who my wife was.”

Moments later and after he auditioned, “Idol” judge Paula Abdul said “I think you’re one of the best we’ve heard.” Through the season’s show, he performed a wide range of material from country’s “I Hope You Dance” to Frank Sinatra’s pop standard “Come Rain or Come Shine.”

“He didn’t win,” Koscak said. “He finished in third place but became a name. It catapulted him to contemporary Christian stardom.”

First came a flirtation with pop-country success. Gokey signed a recording contract with 19 Recordings/RCA Nashville in September 2009. His first album, “My Best Days” and single “My Best Days Are Ahead of Me,” resulted. The album rose into Billboard’s top 5. However, his singles never took off.

Gokey left RCA Nashville and pop-country after one album.

“When it was time to switch over, I think people loved the authenticity because if you look at my country record, there were songs that had strong messages in them and that remained the same when I switched over to Christian music,” Gokey said early this year to Billboard magazine. “I was really thrilled with the reception that people gave me.”

Three years later and with BMG, he made his Christian album debut with “Hope in Front of Me.” The album struck No. 1, as did the title track.

“He’s very popular,” Koscak said. “He’s got great songs. We team up with radio station WCQR every year. They play the best contemporary Christian music. He’s a contemporary Christian musician, somebody you will hear on WCQR.”

Gokey’s latest album, “Rise,” yielded his most recent smash in the title track. His latest single is “The Comeback.” As with his life, Gokey’s music tells stories that touch people with relatable slices of life from a Christian perspective. That’s exactly what Providence Academy seeks from year to year for its annual storytelling festival.

“We bring in Christian singers who will tell a story that will edify the audience,” Koscak said. “It will inspire them. It will encourage them. It’s going to be biblically based.”

Big Daddy Weave lead singer Mike Weaver headlined last year’s festival. Steven Curtis Chapman helmed the Christian Storytellers Festival in 2015. Prior participants included Matthew West in 2013 and The Isaacs in 2012.

“This is our 11th year of the Christian Storytelling Festival,” Koscak said. “Twelve years ago we tried to find something that was unique to Providence Academy to raise funds for our need-based scholarship fund. I had the dream to do a Christian version of the Jonesborough storytelling festival.”

At first, the festival staged as a three-day event.

“We had a world traveler (Robert Cornuke) talk about his search for Noah’s Ark,” Koscak said. “We had all sorts of speakers. Then about six years ago, I heard about Lily Isaacs, the matriarch of the group The Isaacs. Her parents were in the Holocaust. So, we started to have music acts who were hot in the Christian music world who had a story to tell.”

Yearly tuition averages about $8,000 per student. Last year’s storytelling festival raised about $50,000 for the school’s need-based scholarship fund. That’s about a sixth of this year’s goal of $300,000. Consider current enrollment of 467 students at the K–12 school.

“Approximately 20 percent of our students can’t pay tuition,” Koscak said. “Our kindergarten tuition is $6,855. Our elementary tuition, which is grades one through six, is $7,475. Our secondary tuition for grades seven through 12 is $8,180.”

Though pricey, Koscak said the school’s Christ-centered and classically focused method of educating children yields stellar results. He pointed to the school’s mission statement by way of underscoring the school’s 24-year history as a private Christian school.

“Providence Academy equips students to achieve academic excellence and spiritual maturity through a biblically based, Christ-centered, classical education, so they will think and live in a manner which brings glory to God,” he said. “We feel this honors God. That’s important when bringing up our kids, that we honor God.”

As for Gokey, he remarried. He and his wife, Leyicet, have several children. Hope haloes his latest album, “Rise,” which entertains and enlightens.

“Danny has an amazing story,” Koscak said. “He’s a great talent.”