A good friend of mine, singer/songwriter/musician and actor Randall Franks, has written a piece that spotlights many of our classic Gospel songs that have crossed genre boundaries. He spent quite a bit of time talking with both Gospel and secular artists to get their take on these songs, and during the next several entries, Randall will share those with you.

In the meantime, I've not gone far away. In fact, I'll be making comments from time to time on each entry. So sit back and enjoy this series, Songs Without Boundaries.

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Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Christians and non-Christians alike recognize these now immortal words 226 years after they were penned.

More than 1,100 known recordings of the song have helped to popularize it. Families have played it on Victrolas - one of the earliest recordings is by the Original Sacred Harp Choir in 1922 entitled New Britain on the Brunswick label #5150 - and now one can even download it onto an IPOD.

Folk singer Judy Collins soared to the top of the American pop charts with "Amazing Grace" in 1971, The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards took their bagpipe version to No. 1 in the United Kingdom and Australia in 1972, earning 14 gold records since, according to regimental history.

The Inspirations did the same singing it up the Southern gospel charts.

How does a song appeal across genres? Is it the words? The music? Or an anointing?

All of these thoughts are found in the interviews with the artists, writers and publishers included in this quest. Several songs that have reached across the boundaries of culture, music, and countries' borders to touch the ears and hearts of millions receive focus in this article. By no means does this list encompass all the greatest songs, only a sampling of what are now considered standards originating from various musical genres.

The songs: "Amazing Grace," "I'll Fly Away," "On the Wings of a Dove," "Rank Strangers to Me," and "Will the Circle Be Unbroken."

This journey began several months ago with an aim to talk only about these titles but inevitably the discussion always led to other songs: "Peace in the Valley," "Go Rest High on that Mountain," "One Day at a Time," "How Great Thou Art," "There is a Fountain," "Old Rugged Cross" and "Why Me, Lord."

Most have heard the story of John Newton's "Amazing Grace" - how this slave trader found grace and created those words. While he was inspired with the words it was not until William Walker combined the words with a popular folk melody in 1835 in a hymnbook that it took on the form used today translated in language after language.

National Heritage Fellowship Award winner Doyle Lawson defines the bluegrass gospel sound for many.

"'Amazing Grace'" is the most universal gospel song ever written," he says. "How could any one better explain the mercy of God? Whether in a gospel show or non-gospel, you could do that song."

Lawson also says that it is the combination of lyrics and melody that play the role in helping a song connect with the listener.

"If you look at the lyrics and look at a melody that did not fit the lyrics. 'Amazing Grace's' melody fits," says Lawson.

He adds, however, that from his prospective there is a greater Hand at work that makes a song universal. "It's spiritual projection - the combination of the two coupled with the Holy Spirit."

The Inspirations were very successful with their own version of the song.

Singer Archie Watkins recalls that Singing News founder J.G. Whitfield had suggested they do the song a capella. He says that it became the group's theme song of their Singing in the Smokies.

"What really made it was the natural echo singing it (in the park) in the mountains there," he says.

Watkins says that God anoints writers to give songs as powerful as that one or "There Is A Fountain" or "Old Rugged Cross."

"First it has to come from the right source. It's hard to put your finger on it," he says. "But it's really God's purpose to get that message out."

(Written sources: Amazing Grace: The Story of America's Most Beloved Song by Steve Turner; Amazing Grace - A New Book Traces the History of a Beloved Hymn")