Welcome to the New Subscribers!

In the last month, we’ve gained nearly 100 new subscribers, so I wanted to take a moment to say welcome!

I’m always amazed that our readership continues to grow. The response to last week’s feature on Madonna’s Gospel and CCM connections was heartwarming! I recognize that Christian and gospel music are niche interests, and a newsletter centered on albums released more than thirty years ago is even more niche. It’s heartening to see so many people interested in discussing why music made so long ago still matters.

The last few months have been a season of transition for me. Last week was my final week at a full-time job that had felt all-consuming for more than two years. Tomorrow, I begin a new position back in the music business, and I’m incredibly excited about that. I also recently accepted the pastorate of Sangtuary, a music-centered ministry here in Nashville (you can read about that here), so much of my routine is changing all at once.

All of that is to say that I’m still putting the finishing touches on the next intensive 1986 feature, and I’m incredibly excited to share it with you. I promise it will be ready next week.

In the meantime, I wanted to take this opportunity to revisit some of my favorite features from the last five years—articles that I believe most fully embody the ethos of God’s Music Is My Life.

Thank you for subscribing, thank you for engaging, and thank you for continuing to help this publication grow.

While Amy Grant is undeniably the artist who took contemporary Christian music to the mainstream, the New York Community Choir worked throughout the 1970s with the intention she began actively working from in 1985. First with the Black Arts Movement, and then utilizing disco, the New York Community Choir went into the highways and hedges with a universal message of love and acceptance. Read their story in this 2021 feature—a preview of my book that is nearing completion.

The New York Community Choir: "Dance, children, dance..."

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June 8, 2021

Writer’s Note: Last week, I focused on Amy Grant’s Unguarded (1985), an album that caused a massive controversy in the largely white evangelical world. I’d planned on focusing, this week, on Tramaine Hawkins’ The Search Is Over, released in 1986. I realized, however, that I needed to go a little further back in time to set the stage for that story. Sinc…

For the last three years, I’ve been looking at albums celebrating their 40th anniversaries, which has meant a focus on releases from 1983 through 1986. I wrote this article to provide some cultural context and help explain why this period remains the most innovative era in Christian and gospel music.

Of the aforementioned years, I centralize 1985 as the most important year in Christian and gospel music. You can read why here and be directed to other features about seminal releases from faith-based music’s most innovative period.

1985: The Pinnacle Year

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January 8, 2025

I’ve been incredibly excited to move into 2025 simply because so many of my favorite albums celebrate anniversaries this year—anywhere from 60 to 30 years!