

Ethnographic Research and the Study of Christian Music
SCSM conference roundtable panelist (2022). The recent turn to ethnography in various disciplines has prompted renewed reflection on the basis of knowledge for scholars of religious music. Join us for a rousing conversation on the role of ethnomusicology and both its contributions and limitations in the study of religious musicking.


Musicking the Right Way: Performing Ethics and/as Aesthetics at Christian Music Festivals
AMS conference presentation (2021). Cornerstone Festival performed its organizers’ ethics into being, witnessed in its do-it-yourself scrappiness, its (at times) overwhelming sonic chaos, its sanctioned attendee-operated “generator stages,” and its willingness to engage difficult theological questions. From one perspective, this reflects a tautological relationship between orthodoxy and orthopraxy grounded in theology; another perspective reveals the co-constitutiveness of ethics and aesthetics grounded in practice. To recast Jeffers Engelhardt’s “right singing,” at Cornerstone, if the performing was right, then the ethics expressed in that performing were right, and if the ethics were right, then the musical practices grounded in those ethics were right. In this paper, I draw on theories of music and ethics rooted in Christian musicking to generate a theoretical framework that situates these practices not within a shared faith but rather within a shared ethical framework irrespective of religious belief.

Jesus on the Charts, 1957–1970
Pop songs with religious themes were not uncommon on the (secular) airwaves in the 1950s and 1960s. In this post I consider why that was the case, and provide a list of many such songs, some by very famous artists.
‘The Jesus Music’ Is a Love Letter to Fans
Christianity Today (2021). Author Kelsey Kramer McGinnis quotes from God Rock, Inc. in her review of the just release feature-length documentary about CCM, The Jesus Music.

Vinyl Revival
Journal of Popular Music Studies (2021). At the turn of the twenty-first century, vinyl records had remained a steady if unsubstantial component of recorded music revenue in the United States. But sales of physical media started declining steadily in 2001 in a seemingly unstoppable slide the RIAA attributed to digital piracy. Then a funny thing happened: although CD sales continued to shrink, by the end of the decade vinyl record sales had started growing, reaching $88.9 million in 2010—a revenue level not seen in two decades. In this article I trace these trajectories in more detail, considering how the trajectory of vinyl record sales in the twenty-first century both confirm and frustrate concepts of revival.

Keith Green Vs. the Music Industry
Keith Green was a Christian artist whose ethics came to contradict the commercial necessities of the Christian music industry. I glossed over this contradiction and its conflict in my earlier primer to Green’s career and discography, but here I go more detail and provide some primary sources that I have found to be very enlightening.
Oral History Interviews as Primary Sources
While conducting the research for God Rock, Inc., I was fortunate to interview many current and former Christian music industry executives and musicians. I also used the archives at MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, and I was thrilled to find several relevant interview transcripts available through Baylor’s Institute for Oral History. In this post I discuss these components of my research methodology and approach to oral history interviews.

Larry Norman Primer and Discography (1968–1981)
Larry Norman, the “father of Christian rock,” released several albums in the 1970s after contributing to two records by the Bay-area psych-rock band People! in the late 1960s.

An Origin Story
When I was growing up, my family attended a Southern Baptist church in New Jersey. I was first introduced to Christian rock in the 1990s but didn’t start researching it until 2009. In this piece — a longer version of the origin story to God Rock, Inc. found in the book’s introduction — I describe discovering and abandoning Christian music during my adolescence, ultimately rediscovering it (with more than a little help from my youngest sister).

Keith Green Primer and Discography (1965–1982)
Keith Green released several general (secular) market singles as a pre-teen artist in the 1960s, followed by 4 Christian albums between 1977 and 1982.

Reading Religion Reviews God Rock, Inc.
Shannan Katherine Baker reviewed God Rock, Inc. for Reading Religion, the open book review website published by the American Academy of Religion (AAR).

Recent Books on Christian Music
Popular Music Books in Process roundtable presentation (2021). Nathan Myrick, Marcell Silva Steuernagel, and myself discussed our recent books in conversation with each other as part of the PMBiP series of author talks, co-sponsored by IASPM-US, JPMS, and the Popcon.

Amy Grant Primer and Discography (1977–2013)
Amy Grant released 15 studio albums between 1977 and 2013, plus several Christmas albums, live recordings, and greatest hits packages. She has recorded for Myrrh and Word, and has been signed to Sparrow since 2007.

Review of Anthology of Emo (2 vols.) and Washed Up Emo (podcast)
Punk & Post-Punk (2021). In this review of Tom Mullen's Anthology of Emo (2 vols.) and Washed Up Emo (podcast), I explain how Mullen has contributed to a long trajectory of emo’s and reputational recovery. He is key to emo nostalgia in the 2010s and its resurgence and flourishing into the 2020s.

“Beer & Hymns” and Community: Religious Identity and Participatory Sing-alongs
Yale Journal of Music and Religion (2021). As a series of loosely-organized events, “Beer & Hymns” started at the Greenbelt Festival in England in 2006 and migrated to the Wild Goose Festival in North Carolina in 2012. Local Beer & Hymns gatherings meet at bars, breweries, clubs, and pubs across the U.K., the U.S., and around the world. In this article, I analyze the sonic and social fabric of Beer & Hymns as a participatory space that promotes community, contextualized against white U.S. evangelicalism’s contested relationship with the secular.

“God told me to give my records away”: Keith Green and the Ethics of Commerce in the 1970s U.S. Christian Music Industry
SAM conference presentation (2021). “God just told me to start my own label and give my records away.” So spoke Christian songwriter Keith Green to Billy Ray Hearn, his record label’s founder and owner, in 1979. Green was convicted that his music could not minister to those who most needed to hear God’s message unless it was freely available. In this paper, I examine Green’s career to illustrate how one artist navigated the delicate balance of ethical and commercial imperatives. I argue that ethical objectives can be just as important as aesthetic or commercial ones, particularly in their ability to establish markets’ boundaries.

Studying Congregational Music: Chapter 14
Studying Congregational Music, Routledge (2021). Chapter 14, “Ecclesioscapes: interpreting Gatherings around Christian Music in and outside the Church through the Dutch Case of the ‘Sing Along Matthäuspassion,’ ” by Mirella Klomp.

Studying Congregational Music: Chapter 13
Studying Congregational Music, Routledge (2021). Chapter 13, “Searching for a Metaphor: What Is the role of the Shaliach/Shalichat Tzibur (Leader of Prayer)?” by Jeffrey A. Summit.
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