The True Tunes Podcast

On this "impossibly short version of the ongoing conversation you'll find at TrueTunes.com" we revisit our conversation with Kevin Max . About The True Tunes Microdose Episodes: As we look back on our first 100 episodes we have gathered some of these "greatest hits" - never more than 5 minutes long - to remind long-time listeners of where we've been and give new folks a chance to check us out.  If...

On this "impossibly short version of the ongoing conversation you'll find at TrueTunes.com" we revisit our conversation with Michael Gungor. About The True Tunes Microdose Episodes: As we look back on our first 100 episodes we have gathered some of these "greatest hits" - never more than 5 minutes long - to remind long-time listeners of where we've been and give new folks a chance to check us out....

On this "impossibly short version of the ongoing conversation you'll find at TrueTunes.com" we revisit our conversation with poet, teacher, chaplain, and music industry veteran, David Bunker. This clip comes from the "Sacred Psychedelia" sidebar in the episode that featured Eric Earley of Blitzen Trapper. Bunker also joined us for a 45 RPM episode on Creativity and Artist Care. About The True Tune...

In the mid-nineties, it seemed to many of us that Luxury might be the band most likely to find real success in the wider alternative rock market. Their three-decade journey, however, has defied all expectations. From their early days of alt-punk abandon through a harrowing and deadly car crash and onto a very different path that found three of the members embracing Eastern Orthodoxy and eventually...

This 45RPM episode features a look back at over 30 years of the music of a relatively obscure but critically acclaimed indie rock band, Luxury. We will go back to the beginning, when the band was known as The Shroud, playing with jangly punk abandon at their college in Toccoa, Georgia. We launched this podcast five years ago - when Luxury reconvened to record and release Trophies, their first new...

Randy Layton has been a tireless advocate of some of our favorite artists since the 1980s. He was also an early influence and encourager of all things True Tunes. His "Alternative Records" imprint helped to define the indie / DIY approach long before it was common, and his current campaign to reissue yet another incredible (and obscure) album by Robert Vaughn and The Shadows is one more example of...

Dr. Leah Payne, author of the new book God Gave Rock and Roll To You, joins us to talk about the roots - and fruits - of the contemporary Christian music subculture. From the Pentecostal and Holiness movements of a century ago to the January 6th riots, Payne and host John J. Thompson wrangle with the odd and sometimes troubling history of the scene. You'll hear an amazing collection of historic an...

Even with champions like Peter Gabriel, U2, Jim Kerr, and others singing their praises, and songs like “The Walls Came Down,” “I Still Believe” and “Let The Day Begin” scratching out a presence on college and alternative radio, The Call never lived up to the commercial potential their fans knew they deserved. And when frontman, vocalist, and primary songwriter Michael Been passed away in 2010 whil...

On this "impossibly short version of the ongoing conversation you'll find at TrueTunes.com" we revisit our conversation with rapper, author, and activist PROPAGANDA!  About The True Tunes Microdose Episodes: As we look back on our first 100 episodes we have gathered some of these "greatest hits" - never more than 5 minutes long - to remind long-time listeners of where we've been and give new folks...

On this "impossibly short version of the ongoing conversation you'll find at TrueTunes.com" we revisit our conversation with Steve Hindalong, Derri Daugherty, and Dan Michaels of The Choir . Few bands embody the spirit of spiritual yearning, artistic exploration, emotional risk, and impressionistic ambiance as completely as this veteran crew.  About The True Tunes Microdose Episodes: As we look ba...

On this "impossibly short version of the ongoing conversation you'll find at TrueTunes.com" we revisit our conversation with Eric Marshall , who has been releasing some of our favorite alternative worship music for well over a decade under the moniker YOUNG OCEANS. About The True Tunes Microdose Episodes: As we look back on our first 100 episodes we have gathered some of these "greatest hits" - ne...

On this "impossibly short version of the ongoing conversation you'll find at TrueTunes.com" we revisit our conversation with Prog Rock legend Neal Morse (of Spock's Beard, Transatlantic, Flying Colours, and The Neal Morse Band.) Morse took us on a journey through the history of progressive rock and his own artistic and spiritual discoveries.  About The True Tunes Microdose Episodes: As we look bac...

On this "impossibly short version of the ongoing conversation you'll find at TrueTunes.com" we revisit our conversation with Pianist, songwriter, and filmmaker Phil Cook . Cook - who cut his teeth as a member of Bon Iver - has been releasing some incredible solo material lately AND has been chronicling some of the best North Carolina roots Gospel music through his label Spiritual Helpline. His fil...

On this "impossibly short version of the ongoing conversation you'll find at TrueTunes.com" we revisit our conversation with the Third Man Records artist Natalie Bergman . Her story, and her music, captivated us as she added her humble (but seriously impressive) offering to the Jesus Music repertoire.  About The True Tunes Microdose Episodes: As we look back on our first 100 episodes we have gathe...

On this "impossibly short version of the ongoing conversation you'll find at TrueTunes.com" we revisit our conversation with songwriter, worship leader, artist, and hymnist, Sandra McCracken . Having recently joined forces with Taylor Leonhardt , Jess Ray, and Leslie Jordan to form The Paper Horses, Sandra continues to evolve and innovate.  About The True Tunes Microdose Episodes: As we look back...

On this "impossibly short version of the ongoing conversation you'll find at TrueTunes.com" we revisit our conversation with songwriter, artist, and pioneer, Terry Scott Taylor . Between his solo work, his groundbreaking work with the band Daniel Amos, his collaboration with The 77s' Michael Roe , The Choir's Derri Daugherty, and Adam Again's Gene Eugene as The Lost Dogs, and even his more experim...

On this "impossibly short version of the ongoing conversation you'll find at TrueTunes.com" we revisit our conversation with artist, poet, author, and theologian STEVE SCOTT - who also served as the Arts Editor of the original True Tunes News magazine back in the 90s. Scott just released The Way of the Sevenfold Secret, a collection of poetry with accompanying music and ambient sound, that he desc...

On this "impossibly short version of the ongoing conversation you'll find at TrueTunes.com" we revisit our conversation with the always impressive and effervescent singer, songwriter, and producer, Taylor Leonhart. Taylor - who has recently joined forces with Sandra McCracken, Jess Ray, and Leslie Jordan to form The Paper Horses - continues to bring old-school songwriting soul to a new generation....

On this "True Tunes Microdose" (an impossibly short version of the ongoing conversation you'll find at TrueTunes.com) we revisit a short bit of our chat with Michael Roe of The 77s and The Lost Dogs. The episodes with Mike proved to be some of the most popular in the history of our show, with many long-time fans chiming in and some new fans joining the tribe as well.  About The True Tunes Microdos...

Welcome to the True Tunes Microdose, an impossibly short version of the ongoing conversation you'll find at TrueTunes.com. As we look back on our first 100 episodes we have gathered some of these "greatest hits" - never more than 5 minutes long - to remind long-time listeners of where we've been and give new folks a chance to check us out.  Amy Grant's music may be a bit more "mainstream" than mos...

Welcome to the True Tunes Microdose, an impossibly short version of the ongoing conversation you'll find at TrueTunes.com. As we look back on our first 100 episodes we have gathered some of these "greatest hits" - never more than 5 minutes long - to remind long-time listeners of where we've been and give new folks a chance to check us out.  Charlie Peacock is one of the hearts, minds, and voices w...

Mylon LeFevre was an award-winning, genre-defining, trailblazing artist and songwriter who had a song cut by Elvis when he was just a teen, got kicked out of his family's legendary Souther Gospel band for wearing his sideburns too long, and released on the earliest and most significant Gospel Rock albums ever ("We Believe" circa 1970.) He went on to work with a Golden Rolodex full of mainstream ro...

The Choir 's 1988 LP Chase The Kangaroo is a classic, and when we heard that they had launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise the necessary funds to remaster and re-release it on vinyl and CD, we decided to pull together this special episode to lend some support. We spoke to primary songwriters Steve Hindalong and Derri Daugherty about the album a few years back but never used most of the recordi...

John Pantano’s rock and roll roots go back to the 1960s psychedelic rock scene and the very genesis of the Jesus Movement. He and his friend, the late Ron Salsbury, were the core of JC Power Outlet - one of the earliest Jesus Rock bands on the scene. After two albums for Myrrh Records, the two signed with Larry Norman ’s vanguard Solid Rock label and changed their creative moniker to “Pantano Sals...

On this episode we are joined by veteran artist and author Allan Aguirre (Scaterd Few, Spyglass Blue) to explore the artistic legacy of the late – and truly great – David Bowie. We’ll also crank up the Jukebox to listen to some of Allan’s music, which was clearly inspired by the Thin White Duke, but took that inspiration in many different directions.   For full show notes, including a list of all...