The True Tunes Podcast
Music industry veteran, author, artist, and producer John J. Thompson hosts conversations with a diverse panel of artists, songwriters, producers, and industry innovators who seek the deeper resonances in music and culture. Classic and contemporary music is explored for signs of life, light, and beauty on the ”Jukebox” feature as well. Knowing that all music is spiritual, can we sing along with the good, the true, and the beautiful in ways that make us better neighbors, more compelling artists, and richer reflectors of the light by which we live and move and have our being? Let’s try.
- Update frequency
- every 10 days
- Average duration
- 51 minutes
- Episodes
- 107
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2025
Eric Earley (Blitzen Trapper) + Sacred Psychedelia on the Jukebox (w David Bunker)
Blitzen Trapper has been making some of the most interesting and compelling experimental folk/rock/alt-country/progressive music since The Flying Burrito Brothers, and their frontman, main songwriter…
Keyboard Warriors: Ronnie Martin (+ Steve Fairnie / The Technos on the Jukebox)
Songwriter, artist, and analog synth advocate Ronnie Martin (Joy Electric, Brothers Martin, Dancehouse Children, Morella’s Forest, etc) has been crafting catchy, devotional pop music with analog synt…
Steve Scott on the Missional Purpose of Art (pt 1)
Artist, author, poet, and pastor, Steve Scott, delivers a critical challenge to the question: “Why should art matter to everyone?” Scott has been producing rich, soulful art in a variety of media for…
Meet Doe! (+ Aaron ”A-Train” Smith on Stevie Wonder in the 70s on the Jukebox)
On this episode of the True Tunes Podcast, we spend some quality time with one of the most exciting and fresh contemporary Gospel artists to emerge in years. DOE, (aka Dominique Jones) first came to …
@45RPM - ROEMER on Knowing Our Role (Pt. 2)
On this second installment of our conversation with singer-songwriter ROEMER, (aka Ben Seidl,) we explore how his experience hosting an open mic night in Berlin, combined with his careful study and p…
Royce Lovett’s Unlikely Journey (+ The Roots of Gospel Rap w Soup The Chemist & Chris Williamson on the Jukebox)
Royce Lovett's blend of soul, hip-hop, and Gospel has found a wild path into the world - from a Motown Gospel debut to NBC's The Voice and beyond. In this episode, we hear a slew of his music as he u…
@45RPM - ROEMER on Bonhoeffer, Marx, and Missiology (Pt. 1)
Berlin-based singer-songwriter Ben Seidl, aka ROEMER, stops by to talk about mission, missiology, and a surprising intersection between Deitrich Bonhoeffer and Karl Marx in his community. Roemer's re…
Andy Zipf, Achtung Baby, and the Power of Place
On this episode we are joined by singer-songwriter Andy Zipf on the eve of the release of his latest single, “Did You Know I Was A Ghost?” and in anticipation of his upcoming album, How To Make A Pap…
@45RPM - Andy Zipf Knows He’s A Ghost! (Special Live Performance)
Singer-songwriter Andy Zipf is about to release a new album, How To Make A Paper Airplane, and will soon be featured on the full-length True Tunes Podcast. In this advance peek we get to hear a speci…
@45RPM - Why We Need Love Songs: A Quick Chat w Phil Madeira about ”Bliss”
Singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Phil Madeira, who can regularly be found backing up amazing artists like Emmylou Harris, is out with his latest project, "BLISS." This collecti…
Bruce Cockburn: Kicking at the Darkness for 50 Years (and counting!)
We are beyond thrilled to welcome one of the most essential artists of the last half-century to the True Tunes Podcast. Bruce Cockburn has written over 350 songs and released 30 studio or live albums…
@45RPM - Cockburn Jukebox Overtime (with Chris Taylor)
On our second episode of the new short-form TrueTunes@45RPM show, we bring you MORE Bruce Cockburn! Host John J. Thompson and singer/songwriter Chris Taylor continue their dive into 2 more favorites …
@45RPM - THE PREMIERE (feat Terry Scott Taylor in 1981 and 2021)
Introducing TRUE TUNES @ 45RPM - the new short-form version of the deep-dive conversations happening in the main True Tunes Podcast and at TrueTunes.com. In honor of the release of his stunning new s…
Here’s To You! Michael Been (of The Call) From The Vault
As we crack open the True Tunes Vault once more, we unveil a previously unheard 1994 interview with Michael Been of The Call – one of the most under-rated and under-appreciated bands of the 80s. Pete…
Young Oceans, The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus, & The Radical Purposes of Worship and Music
As Young Oceans, Eric Marshall has been crafting thoughtful, artful, often liturgical music for over a decade. That makes him an “elder statesman” (or at least a mentor and role model) to many of the…
Jukebox Rewind: 30 Important Albums & 13 Worthy Singles from 2021
From major names to indies from the underground, and across a slew of genres, this True Tunes Jukebox Rewind is our attempt to shed light on some of the music that has meant a lot to us over the last…
From The Vault: Stonehill & Keaggy‘s Mutual Highway + Randy Tribute Sneak Peek
On this Special Edition, we introduce a new “spin-off” concept show we hope to launch next year called “From The Vault” with a previously unheard interview John J. Thompson conducted with Randy Stone…
The New Sacred Indie Underground: Beach Chapel, Lovkn, & Cross Worship Give Us A Tour
On this ground-breaking episode of the True Tunes Podcast, we explore fascinating corners of the current - and quite compelling - world of indie music being made by artists determined to use their wo…
Terry Scott Taylor‘s Beautiful Mystery Part 2 (The Album)
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 u…
The Beautiful Mystery of Terry Scott Taylor (Part 1)
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 vulne…