JT & the CO Booklet
For those of you that have already downloaded the new record. The digital booklet is available for download here: DIGITAL BOOKLET.
For those of you that have already downloaded the new record. The digital booklet is available for download here: DIGITAL BOOKLET.
Jesus. I know that name makes people uncomfortable. Religious and un-religious alike. I know that for some, seeing the song title “In Jesus” in the 9th spot on our new record means it’s a gospel record, songs written for Christians and about Christian things. I’ve decided the reason that name makes people uncomfortable is more complex than I have been willing to admit. I might have stood inside the church walls and declared that the name Jesus makes people uncomfortable because, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, Jesus came to “Comfort the troubled and trouble the comfortable.” People’s discomfort with Jesus, I would posit, comes from the realization that the things he said, the way he lived, his very existence are a direct challenge to a comfortable, self-centered way of living. The name Jesus makes people uncomfortable because it inspires guilt in us. Perhaps this self-righteous view is true for some.
A more troubling realization came last week. Association. The name “Jesus” has become associated with a complex list of things, people, political views, and actions that bare little resemblance to the person of Jesus or to the God He made manifest among us.
Recently I was driving through downtown in a southern college town with two friends that are not followers of Jesus. We passed a man holding up a sign on a busy street corner with John 14:6 on it; not the words, just the reference. A silent man with a Bible address that meant nothing to my friends beyond “that’s from the Bible.” It might as well have been a street address in Ohio. “I can tell it’s from Ohio but I have no interest in finding out whose house it is.” Moments later we passed another man outside of a bar with a megaphone announcing judgement to the students wandering the street in front of him. Fear and shame swept over me. I wonder if having a song on my new album entitled “In Jesus” makes people outside of the church associate me with these two men. Being a follower of Jesus means that I am painted with the same brush as the very best AND the very worst of those who claim the same followship.
Then a deeper question flooded my anxious heart. Can I speak (or sing) the name of Jesus without the humiliating associations that come with it? If I longed for my songs to ONLY BE HEARD by those with an evangelical Christian background, I could freely use whatever RELIGIOUS language I wish. But there would be other words, pains or doubts that I might freely share among friends but that must stay out of my songs. With an evangelical Christian crowd, using the name of Jesus in your songs (or casual conversations) is safe. If I long for a wider audience to hear these songs and walk with me through the narrative that unfolds in these lyrics, then I should probably choose more innocuous faith-speak. I have learned well from other writers and artists what language it is acceptable to use when singing about issues of faith, words that are free of the ASSOCIATIONS I fear.
But that would be dishonest for me. As an artist and a songwriter I need to be (LONG to be) honest. I need to be transparent with the deep pain and resentment I’ve faced. I also need to be forthright about the source of hope I’ve found along the way in my journey. I’ve found ONLY ONE consistent source of peace in the middle of life’s chaos. I found it in Jesus. Not in reading about Jesus. Not in simply trying to imitate Jesus’ way of living. Not in faith or spiritual experience. I mean that I’ve found hope in the ebb and flow of an ever-deepening love relationship with the historical and eternal person of Jesus.
Does that make “Only Love” a gospel record? I don’t know. Labels like that have never been very helpful to me. Hopefully it makes “Only Love” an HONEST record. That’s my hope. This is my journey and “In Jesus” is a chapter of the story I found myself in.
If you’re not too offended, you can buy a copy of the album from ITUNES HERE or stream it on SPOTIFY HERE.
In the near future I think we’re going to see a huge variety of fan-funding platforms for creative projects. KICKSTARTER is the platform we chose this time. Others will come and go.
From my safe and comfy Nashville chair, it appears that one of the things we’ve dismantled in the music industry is the wall of separation between big acts and their followers / family. Call them a “street team” if you’re more comfortable. No one wants to be a FAN anymore. No one wants to stand at a distance and swoon at the mysterious rockstar dripping incoherent lyrics all over an SM58. We want to know what our favorite artists had for breakfast. We want to see video clips of the guys in a van pounding out the miles along I-40 somewhere west of here. We want to know what kind of gear they play. We want to hear them rant on tumblr about their political views. We want to read about why they wrote that song we love. WE WANT TO GET INVOLVED. That’s what fan-funding platforms like KICKSTARTER are all about. It will only grow so start getting comfortable with it.
Don’t sit in your desk at school or in the cubicle jungle and wait for some Marketing Executive to tell you what art will matter next month or next year. Get Involved. Make art happen the way patrons and benefactors of the Renaissance used to do. Not an artist? Find art that you believe in and CAUSE IT TO BE CREATED. Find artists you believe in and become their midwife; help them birth new songs, new albums, new videos. TRUTH – recording music, making videos, and touring all cost money. There’s no way around that. TRUTH – No one seems to want to pay for the music they download. Fan-funding will have to happen SO THAT YOU CAN HAVE MUSIC TO DOWNLOAD.
As a band, we don’t want fans. We want family. We want connection. We want listeners who tell us their story; followers who will join our journey. We don’t just write songs that we hope will sell. We want these songs to matter, to have a life, to have an impact. I believe in the songs on this new record that we are ready to record. I think this might be the most important song-cycle I’ve ever written. SO GET INVOLVED. Make music happen. Be our midwife. Claim an ownership stake in the creative process. Be the record producer you’ve always wanted to be. Click on the KICKSTARTER widget in this post and help us make a new record.
In a few hours I am out the door alone in my father’s car to start a back to back string of 18 house concerts over 19 nights in 7 different states cover 4500 miles. I thought I might use this self-indulgent space to explain a bit because this tour is unlike anything I’ve done before.
Normally, when it comes time for us to make a new record, the band and I disappear into a studio and re-emerge a month later with some songs recorded. Then 4 more months later we start a tour around our familiar stomping grounds to say, “here’s some new music. Please buy a copy.”
This year I’ve reversed the process. Over the next 3 weeks, I am touring around the Southeast playing this brand new set up songs to hear your feedback, work through the story arc, let you help me decide the title of the project, and determine what songs will or won’t be recorded. We started with a list of 22 songs to consider. Then with the wise input of friends, label-types, and the band, we narrowed the list to nine songs. We will probably only release 5 on this next CD.
So this tour is about inviting listeners in on the process. One of the ways we’re doing that is through Kickstarter (that nonsense to the right of this post). It’s a way you can pre-purchase this new project before we’ve even recorded it and pick up some cool bonus features along the way like a live-streaming concert from the studio and video performances of your favorite song dedicated to you or someone you love (or hate).
Most of these 18 concerts will be hosted in the homes of friends I’ve made along the way. The environment will be intimate, risky, maybe even awkward at times. I can’t wait to share these songs with you and I’m most excited about unfolding this narrative along the way.
See you along the road.
I work as a staff songwriter for a music publishing company. That means I’m required by contract to write a huge pile of songs every year. That also means that some of them (okay a lot of them) will never see the light of day. Every few years a handful of these songs force their way into the sunlight on one of the recordings I sell from the back of a U-haul trailer as my band travels the rural byways and major highways that argyle our country.
It’s time for another of these lyrical adventures. We’re using KICKSTARTER to include you in the process
If you’re new to Kickstarter, here’s how it works. Friends and family members join us in funding the record by making pledges toward our budget goal of $4500. In exchange for your financial support you can sign up for a wide variety of premiums and packages. Check out the the project by clicking on the widget to the left.