From the Great American State Fair to national parks, Jenny Oaks Baker brings message of faith and peacemaking across the country
Jenny Oaks Baker performs on the violin during "The Redeemer: Music on the Life of Jesus the Christ” at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 30, 2026. The concert was put on by the SoulFill Music Foundation. Brian Nicholson, for the Deseret
For years, Grammy-nominated violinist Jenny Oaks Baker felt inspired to create an album and tour dedicated to the United States.
On Monday, Baker will perform that album, “American Mosaic,” in the nation’s capital at the Great American State Fair, five days before America’s 250th birthday.
“I’m just so thrilled to be able to present these shows that really bring people together and unify,” Baker told the Deseret News Tuesday. “That’s one of the purposes, is to unify the people of this nation, which is something that I know God — he wants us to be peacemakers.”
Baker’s Great American State Fair performance with the Heritage Youth Choir at American Heritage School marks the second stop of her “American Mosaic: Celebrating God, Country and Culture” tour, which began Tuesday in Utah.
The six-city tour will take her to some of the country’s most iconic landmarks, including Mount Rushmore on Aug. 22 and Zion National Park on Sept. 5.
The stops in D.C. and Baltimore will be a homecoming of sorts, as Baker and her husband raised their four children in Virginia. The tour will also mark her first visit to Mount Rushmore and first performance in Zion National Park.
To make Baker’s message more accessible, the majority of the shows are free to the public, including the performance in D.C., but attendees will have to register to enter the Great American State Fair.
‘The story of our nation is a story of faith’
Jenny Oaks Baker performs on the violin and soprano Lisa Hopkins Seegmiller sings during "The Redeemer: Music on the Life of Jesus the Christ” at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 30, 2026. The concert was put on by the SoulFill Music Foundation. | Brian Nicholson, for the Deseret
Throughout the tour, Baker will perform alongside her three daughters — Laura, Hannah and Sarah — who make up a third of Baker’s Family Four music group.
The fourth member, Baker’s son, Matthew, is serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Chile and will not join his family on tour. But he was able to record the album with them before he left for Chile.
Together, they’ll perform music from the album, which was composed by Kurt Bestor. Ben Lomu, the host of BYUtv’s “Come Follow Up,” will narrate the show’s script that was written by New York Times bestselling author Jason Wright. The production also includes folk and ballroom dancers.
“Hopefully, we’re able to bring people closer to God and help them remember that we’re all children of God in the process,” Baker said.
For Baker, the story of the United States cannot be told without faith, and that’s why it’s an integral part of her “American Mosaic” album and tour.
“The story of our nation is a story of faith. I hope we don’t forget that,” Baker said. “We know that God instituted this land in order to have people have the opportunity for religious freedom because it’s part of his plan.”
That’s why the album and tour setlist include the hymns “Israel, Israel God is Calling,” “How Great Thou Art,” “Come, Come Ye Saints,” and “Amazing Grace.”
“There’s really fun tunes, but there’s also really inspiring tunes and tunes that really have God’s spirit,” Baker said. “That is hopefully going to inspire a lot of peacemaking feelings within each of us.”
‘We need love’
Jenny Oaks Baker performs on the violin during "The Redeemer: Music on the Life of Jesus the Christ” at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 30, 2026. The concert was put on by the SoulFill Music Foundation. | Brian Nicholson, for the Deseret
The title of “American Mosaic” comes from a quote by former President Jimmy Carter calling the United States a “beautiful mosaic,” rather than a melting pot.
“We’re all different but we all matter, and we come together and America is better for all the diversity,” Baker said.
Baker pays tribute to some of those groups that make up America’s mosaic with music representing the history of Native Americans, African Americans and those who came seeking religious freedom.
She shared the mosaic idea with Wright to help him write the show’s script. The result left Baker in tears.
“I hope this show just helps us remember that yes, we are different. But that’s OK. We can joy in these differences,” she said.
With “so much infighting in our nation,” Baker believes a message of unity and peacemaking is needed now.
“We really can’t move forward if we’re fighting, and our nation needs to move forward,” she said. “We need compromise. We need moderation. We need love.”
Despite our differences, we all have something in common, according to Baker, and that’s the lesson she wants to remind people of during her tour.
“We’re all children of God, and he wants us to love each other and get along. And he loves each of us, and we’re supposed to work together and come together and joy in each other,” she said.