Amy Grant Sings in D.C. for Veterans Day, Talks Politics and Hair Tips

Amy Grant brought her music, patriotism and frizz-free curls to a rainy Veterans Day in Washington.

Grammy Award-winning Grant performed three songs outside the American Red Cross headquarters, in the rain, as part of the annual "Holiday Mail for Heroes" program, which provides resources for the public to send holiday cards to the military and their families around the world.

In an interview after the performance, Grant, 49, said she became involved with the program because her "family has served in the military for generations."

She said she was extremely moved by one of the speakers at the press conference, Captain Daniel Zinder, the deputy commander at the National Naval Medical Center, who choked up when he talked about what Grant calls the "impact of mail for service men and women for their 'alone hours.'"

When asked about her political beliefs, Grant -- who donates money to Republican candidates and organizations – said that "I never use my music platform for political issues. Of course I vote like all Americans, but I think music should bring people together."

Pushing further, I asked how she thought President Obama was performing so far. She paused for almost a minute, then said: "I've been praying hard for him for health care reform." Asked if she agreed with the specific reforms in Congress now, she said that she thinks that "health care reform is eventually going to be a good thing."

Still, she hadn't answered the question about Obama. How does she think he's doing as president? Grant answered, "I think he'll do a great job."

Grant said she has enormous respect and gratitude for veterans. She has been to burials of several relatives at the veterans' cemetery in Nashville. Recently her cousin, Rueben Logan, an elderly vet, was buried with a 21-gun salute, which she described as very "emotional."

She has been to Washington many times to perform for presidents (Democrat and Republican), but realized that two of her four sisters had never been to the nation's capital, though all their children had come on field trips.

With her husband, singer Vince Gill, they organized a trip with the four sisters and their husbands and asked Grant's close friend, author Stephen Mansfield, to plan which historical sites to visit. Mansfield started the trip by bringing Grant and her family to Arlington National Cemetery, where he told them "to understand America, you need to understand this sacrifice."

Last question: How did she keep her hair so perfectly curled and not frizz in the rain? (Amy Grant has GREAT hair.)

"Oh, do you have curly hair too?" she asked, looking at my frizzy mop pulled into a messy pony-tail during the earlier concert outside.

"What I do is blow-dry it really straight," she explained, "then, when it gets wet in the rain, it gets curlier on the ends."

There had to be more to this story -- some Hollywood-via-Nashville secret weapon?

"Well, actually, my hair changed a lot from having babies; it used to be much frizzier," she said as she was being pulled away for her next appointment.

She turned back suddenly and said, "Actually, before my hair changed, I used Bumble and Bumble Straight, which has this silicone in it that really smoothes down the curls. I also used a flat iron a lot, but I don't need a flat iron anymore."

And with that, Amy Grant went to sign holiday cards for soldiers with her perfectly frizz-free brunet curls.

Click play below for a brief video from Amy Grant's performance: