The True Tunes Podcast

On this second installment of our conversation with Terry Scott Taylor, we take a deep and careful listen to his expansive new solo project, This Beautiful Mystery. Over two discs, and 21 songs, we uncover a wide range of thoughts, metaphors, emotions, and sounds - but what are the guiding images and ideas behind it all? Taylor has been perfecting his craft as a writer, musician, and producer, for...

On the eve of the release of his long-awaited and almost overwhelming 21-song solo masterwork, This Beautiful Mystery, singer/songwriter Terry Scott Taylor gives us a remarkably transparent and vulnerable look into his creative and spiritual formation as an artist. It’s impressive enough for any musician to be producing the best work of their career in their seventies, but what keeps a “restless c...

The successful indie folk/pop group The Gray Havens, originally from the Chicago area, have built their entire new album around a 66-year-old autobiographical reflection by a British theologian and children’s author. Blue Flower is the band’s most literarily specific, and yet accessible, project yet – and that’s saying something! We visit with songwriter, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist David...

Lately, it seems Jesus not only rocks, but He’s also a movie star too. The Jesus Music , a documentary written, directed, and produced by The Erwin Brothers (“I Can Only Imagine,” “I Still Believe,” “Woodlawn,”) traces the roots of Contemporary Christian Music back to the Jesus Movement of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s via archival footage and new interviews with Amy Grant , Michael W. Smith, Kirk...

Gospel writer, producer, artist, and worship pastor, Myron Butler shares his amazing story – from getting his first cut with Kirk Franklin as a teenager to being a part of Kirk’s smash crossover hit, “Stomp,” all the way through to his recent tribute to the songs of the amazing trailblazer, Andrae Crouch. Myron guides us not only through the essence of Andrae's influence but of Gospel music in gen...

On this unexpected Part 3 of our exploration of the music behind the first episodic drama about the life and ministry of Jesus, we get to hear from Dallas Jenkins himself. Jenkins created "The Chosen" after a devastating failure as a filmmaker. He didn’t know if he’d ever get to make another project again. We’ll hear about how that failure prepared him to approach "The Chosen" with a certain punk...

When Dan Haseltine agreed to score The Chosen, a new episodic drama based on the life and ministry of Jesus and his disciples, he immediately turned to his friend and frequent musical collaborator, Matthew S. Nelson for help. Nelson, an accomplished cellist, guitarist, and songwriter had backed up Jars of Clay, Michael W. Smith, and other Christian artists in the past, but is currently more associ...

Dan Haseltine ( Jars of Clay ) joins host John J. Thompson to talk about musical roots, finding a mission, and how past experiences prepared him for his current work scoring the massively successful and critically acclaimed television drama The Chosen. From the technical and creative challenges inherent in this kind of work to spiritual and theological concerns, this in-depth conversation is about...

Listen to better music, and listen to music better.   After a twenty-year break – True Tunes is back! The tools are different this time. There’s no store, no venue, and no sponsored stages at a major festival. What we have now are lots of stories to tell about lessons learned, visions caught, questions articulated, and community embraced. Join host John J. Thompson and his wide range of guests as...

The Choir has been crafting their own unique brand of otherworldly alternative rock for nearly four decades now. While it’s not uncommon for big-time acts to keep at it – playing their hits and cashing in on nostalgia – most artists who have endured the perpetual uphill climb that guitarist/vocalist Derri Daugherty, drummer/lyricist Steve Hindalong, and sax/lyricon/atmosphericist Dan Michaels have...

Call him a creative polymath or the quintessential Soul Man, but Jimmy Abegg ( Rich Mullins' Ragamuffin Band , Steve Taylor & The Perfect Foil , The Charlie Peacock Group, Vector , etc) has been a reliable source of musical and visual beauty and coolness for over forty years. And now, with his vision fading, this veteran side-man and accomplished craftsman is settling into his new role as a blind...

Through countless slings and arrows, and her own mainstream pop superstardom, Amy Grant has remained the defining face and voice of contemporary Christian music for over forty years. She was the first CCM artist to have a platinum record, (followed by five more platinum albums, three multi-platinum albums, and four gold albums.) She was also the first CCM artist to have a #1 pop single and has pla...

Third Man Records artist Natalie Bergman joins host John J. Thompson to talk about her stirring, vulnerable, and exceptionally cool new album, Mercy , and the heartbreaking tragedy that inspired it. Bergman, who until recently was best known as one-half of the alt-pop band Wild Belle, has crafted a collection of songs that has more in common with the Jesus Music of a half-century ago than anything...

This episode, which was originally released months ago, has now been RE-MIXED with music from Taylor Leonhardt's latest album, "Hold Me." This young singer-songwriter has been on some big stages lately, playing guitar with Amy Grant, Andrew Peterson, and others, and has a slew of collaborations over the last couple of years. Her “star” is certainly on the rise. But with the release of her third in...

In Part 2 of this special episode we hear from our late friend, mentor, and guide, Rich Mullins via a long-lost interview conducted at the old True Tunes record store in Wheaton Illinois in 1995. We also check in with Mitch McVicker, Phil Madeira, and Derek Webb, and we listen to Andrew Peterson on the Jukebox. Rich’s Ragamuffin bandmates Jimmy Abegg, Aaron Smith, and Mark Robertson come back to c...

To many, singer and songwriter Rich Mullins was a favorite artist; the man behind songs like “Awesome God,” “Creed,” and “Hold Me Jesus.” To others, he was an enigma—a beautifully inscrutable amalgam of passion, authenticity, vulnerability, and transcendence. To some, he was a friend, a benefactor, or even a brother. On this special two-part episode of the True Tunes Podcast we will revisit the le...

Host John J. Thompson is back in the living room of writer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and artist Phil Madeira (Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, John Scofield,) to talk about his recent solo projects, Providence, Crickets, Open Heart, and Hornet’s Nest as they wrap up this wide-ranging chat. The conversation gets into pretty deep waters right out of the gate, with Phil sharing some very vulnera...

He’s been a go-to side-man for too many A-listers to count and is currently a member of Emmylou Harris’ Red Dirt Boys. When he’s not in the studio or on the road with any number of amazing Americana, country, blues, or rock artists, he’s writing songs and recording his own albums or collaborating and producing amazing compilation projects. In Part 1 of this two-part deep dive into the life and wor...

Kevin Max has been kicking against boundaries for over thirty years, first as one-third of a platinum-selling pop-rap group, (DC Talk,) and then as a poet and genre testing indie artist. Now he’s leaving his solo career behind to launch a new band, Sad Astronauts , right after releasing an acclaimed tribute to Larry Norman’s celebrated Only Visiting This Planet album. What might we be able to glea...

We’re not calling these the BEST ALBUMS of the YEAR – but they are all pretty great. Yes, there are several other amazing records that are on other lists, or that everyone is talking about. But these are 20 albums that really stuck with us from 2020. What are yours? Make sure to FOLLOW our weekly Gallery Stage Mixtape for a blend of great music, new and old, of diverse genres, that is updated week...

On this special “Christmas Jukebox Takeover” edition of the podcast, we take a look at the three Christmas music releases by Over The Rhine, as well as their live-streamed 2020 Concert Special and Fundraiser, and talk about their long example of intentionally making space for beauty and grace, and how Christmas might serve as a sort of artistic and liturgical example for all of us during these col...

This is an out-of-sequence "bonus track" from the conversation with Marc Byrd (Hammock, Common Children) that was hidden on the Show Notes page for the previous episode, and only a handful of folks found it. If you have not heard that episode check it out first. Here, Marc and John talk about the possible return of Hammock, and maybe even Common Children, in concert - and riff a bit more on the ch...

As one half of the instrumental duo Hammock, Marc Byrd has been crafting some of the most influential ambient music of the last 20 years. His songs have found their way into major films, the stunning Ricky Gervais Netflix show After Life, and many more amazing places. But prior to his current career in the post-rock vanguard, Byrd wrote one of the biggest “worship” songs of the last couple of deca...

The late Larry Norman has been called the “father of Christian Rock,” though he said he never intended to create an alternate genre. U2, The Pixies’ Frank Black, and Dylan have called themselves fans. However, many who worked closely with him, came away seriously wounded in one way or another. What are we to make of messy, painful stories like his? Might the lasting legacy of Larry Norman have som...

Billed as "The 80's Hair Band Music Comedy You've Been Saving Yourself For," Electric Jesus is making its way across the country, appearing at film festivals and special screenings. In this episode, we visit with writer/producer Chris White, and composer of both the original songs and the score, Daniel Smith (Danielson Famile.) We also go back to last summer and visit the set of the film to talk w...