The True Tunes Podcast

@45RPM David Bunker on Artist Care and Nurturing the Creative

David Bunker, who currently serves as the chaplain of Judson University's Music Business and Entrepreneurship program, and has a long history as both a music industry leader and as an artist and songwriter himself, joins JJT to talk about the idea of "artist care" from the perspective of both creatives and those who wish to serve them. Bunker has been deeply embedded in the True Tunes DNA since John first shared his vision for a store, venue, magazine, and community that would dare to engage music - and art in general - with brain, heart, and guts fully engaged. John was just 16 years old then - the newly minted "music buyer" at a Christian bookstore in Wheaton, IL, and Bunker had recently transitioned from being in the Terry Taylor-produced band Shelter to working for a record label. "He was the first adult to take me and my crazy ideas seriously," John remembers. "And all through our journey - from the exciting highs to the devastating lows, he has been by my side with words of wisdom, compassion, encouragement, and care."

 

Bunker, who is also a poet, author, and leader of creative care retreats, joins JJT nearly 35 years into their friendship to talk about the growing importance of Artist Care.

 

If you would like to support the show, please consider joining our Patreon community or dropping us a one-time tip and check out our NEW MERCH!

 

For more info visit the SHOW NOTES page at TrueTunes.com/Bunker-ArtistCare

 

Also, don't miss David Bunker's special appearance on the BLITZEN TRAPPER episode of the podcast. 

Tyson Motsenbocker Loses His Milk Teeth (+ Madison Cunningham’s ”Revealer” on the Jukebox)

Tyson Motsenbocker is quite an anomaly. He's a young, hip songwriter/artist who crafts alternative, modern-sounding pop (in the tradition of Postal Service or Death Cab) with obvious compositional influences coming from sources much older. He is also willing to tackle difficult, even controversial issues – including racism, hypocrisy, addiction, immaturity, and mental health challenges – with both scathing insight and self-deprecating wit. And as if that is not enough, after spending his formative years in the Evangelical subculture, Motsenbocker leaves one foot in that world, even while critiquing it and his own long-held beliefs, in the process. His latest album, Milk Teeth, dives headfirst into the complicated subject of adulthood as it contemplates our collective loss of vision, empathy, and imagination as our childish ways erode. From Steinbeck to surfing, Motsenbocker offers a flurry of revealing metaphors for his own faltering but committed, spiritual, cultural, and relational journey through life.

 

On our Jukebox feature, we take a careful listen to another of our favorite young artists, Madison Cunningham, who sang with Tyson on his previous LP and hails from the same hometown (San Diego.) Cunningham's new Revealer LP is finally available and well worth the wait.

 

For the full list of music used on this episode and a lot more, visit the Show Notes page at TrueTunes.com/MilkTeeth.

 

If you would like to support the show, please consider joining our Patreon community or dropping us a one-time tip and check out our NEW MERCH!

@45RPM What Good Is Music? (with Pastor Chris Williamson of Strong Tower Bible Church and Transformation Crusade)

What good is music, anyway? Is there something happening in the arrangement of certain melodies, harmonies, rhythms, and lyrics that might actually have a meaningful impact on hearts and minds in these dark, divided, and confusing days? We decided to talk to someone who would know; a man who is a pastor, an artist, an advocate for social change, and a fan of great music.

 

Chris Williamson is the Pastor of Strong Tower Bible Church in Nashville, TN – a community that has been passionately committed to diversity and integrity for decades. Before founding the church, however, Pastor Chris was a founding member of the pioneering Gospel Hip Hop group Transformation Crusade back in the 80s. We gave you a sneak peek of our conversation with Pastor Chris on the Royce Lovett show (where we dove into the roots of Gospel Hip Hop with Soup The Chemist,) and we’re excited to offer more from that inspiring conversation.

 

From Sam Cooke and the roots of Soul Music to Gospel and Worship Music, to Public Enemy, Lecrae, Chance The Rapper, and Kendrick Lamar, Pastor Chris is clear-eyed and big-eared about music's potential to unite or divide – to challenge or to mollify. It all comes down, it seems, to our intentions and our willingness to allow the music to work on us.

 

Full Show Notes, Music List, and archival video are available HERE or at TrueTunes.com/PastorChris45

 

If you would like to support the show, please consider joining our Patreon community or dropping us a one-time tip and check out our NEW MERCH!

 

@45RPM Creativity Will Save The World w Tom Willett (12” Extended Mix)

Tom Willett's roots go back to the counterculture of the 60s. He played bass in one of the earliest "Gospel Rock" bands (Sons of Thunder) and worked alongside artists such as T Bone Burnett, Tonio K, Mark Heard, The Choir, Sam Phillips, Phil Keaggy, and many others as an A&R rep, marketing man, and career coach. He has also spent decades as a teacher, helping college students as they sought to carve out meaningful careers as songwriters, artists, or future industry leaders.

 

Since his retirement from the industry a few years ago, Tom has been writing some amazing books – and on this special "12 Inch extended dance mix" 45 RPM episode of the podcast, which was recorded at the historic Well Koinonia Coffeehouse on Music Row in Nashville, we hear about his latest, Creativity Will Save The World: Toward A Spiritual Humanism – a short but powerful primer on the writings of Russian philosopher and activist Nicholas Alexandrovich Berdyaev. Whether you are an artist yourself or are simply interested in how our engagement with creativity and created things can shape us, this is critical stuff. 

 

Full Show Notes, Music List, and archival video are available HERE or at TrueTunes.com/Willett45 

 

If you would like to support the show, please consider joining our Patreon community or dropping us a one-time tip and check out our NEW MERCH!

 

Bill Mallonee (Vigilantes of Love): From Americana’s ”Next Big Thing” to Indefatigable Digital Busker

Bill Mallonee has been lauded as one of the 100 greatest living songwriters by Paste Magazine and honored by Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Billboard, and more. Before “Americana” was even known as a musical genre, his Athens GA band Vigilantes of Love was helping to define it. Later, with albums produced by Peter Buck of R.E.M., Mark Heard, Jim Scott, and Buddy Miller, it seemed all but inevitable that Bill and his band of outlaws would break through to the big time (whatever that means.) Instead, over thirty years into his career, Mallonee is duking it out, still taking things into his own hands – keeping it all painfully and beautifully real.

 

On this episode of the True Tunes Podcast, we are joined by one of the true “lifers” of the modern roots music scene. With over 70 albums under his belt – and no indication that he intends to slow down any time soon, Mallonee has become a sort of digital troubadour: an online busker. In this expansive conversation, we learn about his musical roots, his circuitous path through the music industry, and his lingering belief in the power of authentic songs.

 

Full Show Notes, Music List, and archival video are available HERE or at TrueTunes.com/VOL 

 

If you would like to support the show, please consider joining our Patreon community or dropping us a one-time tip and check out our NEW MERCH!

 

Beatles & Outlaws: Ken Mansfield Comes Down From The Roof

Ken Mansfield has been "in the room" for several major cultural watershed moments. After a meteoric rise through the ranks at Capitol Records in the 1960s, where he worked with artists like Lou Rawls, The Band, and The Beach Boys, Ken was personally chosen by The Beatles to head their Apple Records enterprise in the US. He happened to be working at the Apple offices in London during the sessions that were captured for the Let It Be album and film, including their now famous live concert finale on the roof. Ken, long dubbed "the man in the white coat" was one of just a handful of people on that roof with The Beatles on that historic day – a day that long defined his illustrious career in the music business.

 

A few years later, Mansfield found himself in the midst of yet another musical reformation as his simultaneous production of the Waylon Jennings' album Ready For The Country and Jessi Colter's smash single “I'm Not Lisa" helped solidify the "Outlaw” sound as Country artists reclaimed Americana music from the overproduced and over-commercialized Nashville machinery. Join us for this expansive conversation – which traces Ken Mansfield's professional and personal journey – from the farm country of Idaho to the Hollywood Hills – to the "top of the world" a time or two. As he chronicles in his recent book, The Roof; The Beatles' Final Concert, Mansfield returned to that London rooftop to contemplate the impact of that day, those musicians, his varied experiences and relationships, and what it all might mean all these years later.

 

Full Show Notes, Music List, and a special Ken Mansfield Playlist are available HERE or at TrueTunes.com/BeatlesRoof

 

If you would like to support the show, please consider joining our Patreon community or dropping us a one-time tip and check out our NEW MERCH!

Phil Cook’s Spiritual Helpline (From Bon Iver, Hiss Golden Messenger, & Megafaun to Gospel Glory)

After being affiliated with Bon Iver, Hiss Golden Messenger, and Megafaun – and releasing a series of his own acclaimed solo projects, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer Phil Cook surprised many with the launch of his new roots gospel label, Spiritual Helpline, and producing a rousing new live roots Gospel album by North Carolina local legends, The Branchettes. Though the group was formed over a half-century ago, they never recorded a live album until now. The soul-stirring experience was captured in the documentary film, Stay Prayed Up, which is currently available on demand and is screening at film festivals around the country. Cook – who is forty years younger than the last surviving original member of the group – now says the only records he will buy are Gospel records. He has found his purpose.

We'll hear all about Phil Cook's amazing musical journey – from his youth in northern Wisconsin to his migration to North Carolina with his creative community – to pursuing his love of Gospel up close and personal. What started with a keyboard session for The Blind Boys of Alabama has commandeered his whole creative path and he could not be more thrilled.

When we crank up the Jukebox, we will dive deeper into Mother Perry's story from the film and will listen more closely to the live album she made with Cook and his insanely good band.

Full Show Notes, Music List, and a special Phil Cook and Friends Playlist are available HERE or at TrueTunes.com/StayPrayedUp.

If you would like to support the show, please consider joining our Patreon community or dropping us a one-time tip and check out our NEW MERCH!

(And if you liked this episode, don't miss our previous Gospel explorations. Myron Butler discussed the legacy of Andrae Crouch with us (and we featured Aretha's "Amazing Grace" on the Jukebox) and DOE Jones joined us to talk about her long-anticipating contemporary Gospel debut - plus Aaron "A-Train" Smith join us to talk about Stevie Wonder in the 70s.)

Love Is Underrated: Undercover (+ What’s Shakin’ & Reality Rock on the Jukebox)

On this episode, we are joined by keyboardist and songwriter Ojo Taylor, guitarist and writer Gym Nicholson, long-time lead vocalist Sim Wilson, and drummer Gary Olsen of the Orange County rock band Undercover for an expansive conversation recorded in front of a live audience at the Audiofeed Festival in Illinois. Undercover emerged in the early 1980s at the pole position of the frenetic “second wave” of Jesus Rock that saw an explosion of New Wave, Punk, Rock, and pop bands like Lifesavors, Altar Boys, Lifters, Common Bond, Crumbacher, Youth Choir, and others fill high school auditoriums, bowling alleys, parks, and church youth halls with a righteous racket that thrilled teens, worried some parents, and eventually set the stage for the big business era of Christian rock in the 90s. Ojo Taylor not only led Undercover, though, he was also a curator of this bourgeoning scene – managing labels, producing albums, and putting together one of the most important early compilation albums – which spins when we crank up the now sticker-covered Jukebox for an overview of those heady, loud, formative years.

 

Ojo made more waves in what’s left of this underground community when he publicly admitted that he no longer holds the same religious beliefs for which he rocked so passionately back in the day. Like others, his personal spiritual journey has taken him in a direction that does not include the Evangelical faith of his younger years. But earlier this year, when a Christian music festival invited the long-defunct band to reunite for a special show, they agreed – and rocked Audiofeed (and before that, the Anaheim House of Blues) quite successfully. Why would a band with differing beliefs agree to gigs like those?

 

As Ojo says, “Belief is overrated. Agreement is overrated. Love is underrated.”

 

Find full Show Notes, including photos and video from Undercover’s set at Audiofeed HERE or at TrueTunes.com/Undercover

 

 

 

David Eugene Edwards of Wovenhand: Apocalypse Ain’t for the Faint of Heart

Few artists have committed to the ethic of apocalyptic – even gothic – Americana as completely as Colorado’s David Eugene Edwards. From his early work with The Denver Gentlemen and 16 Horsepower to the last two decades of material he has offered via Wovenhand, Edwards practically haunts every stage, and album, with spirits that are simultaneously spectral and Biblical. On this episode of the True Tunes Podcast, John J. Thompson sits down with Edwards in front of a live audience at the Audiofeed Festival in Champaign, Illinois to talk about his origins, his musical concepts, and his mystical perspectives on everything from the nature of art and humanity to the essence of spirituality and redemption.

Then we crank up the jukebox to hear some other seminal apocalyptic music – and consider the value and purpose of provocative art in general. What is it that is being hidden, revealed, discovered, or avoided, when we drop the needle these days?

 

Full Show Notes and a special Apocalypse Rocks Playlist are available HERE or at TrueTunes.com/Wovenhand

 

The True Tunes Podcast is sponsored by VisionTrust.org. Help us change the world one child at a time by sponsoring a child today. Visit VisionTrust.org/TrueTunes for more information. If you would like to support the show, please consider joining our Patreon community or dropping us a one-time tip and check out our NEW MERCH!

Michael Bloodgood: A Long Obedience in a LOUD Direction

In memory of our friend Michael Bloodgood, we revisit a conversation we recorded with him for the Electric Jesus Podcast in 2021. With roots in the Jesus Movement, but a career that really took off in the 80s metal scene, Michael was a true "metal missionary." We already miss him sorely.

Presented in cooperation with Blue Tape Records and the Electric Jesus Film, and co-hosted by the writer and director of Electric Jesus, Chris White. 

Rest in peace, Michael.