Postconsumer Reports Podcast

Singer-songwriter and musician released his latest album Every Power Wide Awake late last year, and it's slowly been building buzz with people on the look out for great independent music as well as with church worship leaders. We go in-depth about his career in the music industry (he previously fronted the band The Lonely Forest for over a decade) and the stories behind the songs on the new album. 

Artist Alec DeJesus was first a guest on the podcast a year ago. Since then he's had some of his highest highs and lowest lows. He found success with an art commission through Broward College in Florida, painting two murals for them, but then progress on the murals wasn't happening and he almost gave up on art altogether. In the end he didn't abandon his art career and he found tremendous success in actually getting the murals done and inspiring a group of young artists at the college.

Gretchen Filz is a writer and communicator with the Catholic Company and an editor at the daily devotional Morning Offering. In our conversation we discuss the work she is doing developing a catechism for the Catholic faith at: www.goodcatholic.com, as well as her personal journey to Catholicism. You can find many of her writings at:  https://www.catholiccompany.com/ Get Fed Blog

Ha Ha Tonka is a band originally from southern Missouri, who've released five albums through Bloodshot Records. Their music is a seamless mixture of American music: classic rock, southern rock, country, folk, and Americana. The important thing is their songs are amazing. Episode 64 features an interview with their lead singer Brian Roberts, who connected over the phone for a conversation with Chris and guest host Ben Mitzelfelt about their early years and the stories behind a number of their songs.   Listen to Ha Ha Tonka's music, look at tour dates and find out more at their website: http://www.hahatonkamusic.com/

Jaci Music paints abstract landscapes filled with symbols open to a surplus of interpretations...but she never really intended to...Jaci's story is one of an artist whose creativity was borne out of her pain. After numerous years of sorrow, frustration, and longsuffering from infertility she began to paint simply for the sake of her own personal health.  You can find out more about Jaci at: http://www.capturedandreclaimed.com/

Stephen Backhouse is a theologian and teacher and the author of Kierkegaard: A Single Life, a biography and survey of the work of the iconoclastic Danish writer Soren Kierkegaard. You can find out more about Stephen's Tent Theology teaching program at: https://www.tenttheology.com/ While our conversation is mostly about Kierkegaard and his work, we also discuss the dangers of Christian Nationalism (or Christendom), including a segment on whether or not American Christians should recite the Pledge of Allegiance, the dangers of being an ordained minister within the institution of the Church, and how Arcade Fire's album Reflektor was inspired by Kierkegaard. 

Pastor Dan Leman discusses the background and poetry of the book of Lamentations, and how God births art out of tragedy. The music and Rachel Wilhelm, Bifrost Arts, and Nathan Peterson are also mentioned in the intro.

Nathan Peterson returns to the podcast for an in depth discussion of his recent song "Is It a Sin?" It's not so much an interview as it is a conversation about the song and how we respond to art that challenges us and perhaps even offends us. Please check out out www.nathanpeterson.net for Nathan's music and writings.

Jeremy Casella is a singer-songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee. He has released four albums over the years and is currently putting on a Kickstarter campaign to fund his fifth album Spirit. Jeremy is an artist I've had the privilege to get to know over the years after meeting him after a Caedmon's Call concert in 2004. Episode 59 features two interviews with him, one from 2014 done right before a house show he did in 2014 after the release of his album Death in Reverse and the other done this past week on the phone as his kids were home from school in a series of perpetual snow days. Finally, this episode also contains a brief interview (and update) with artist Nathan Peterson, who was on the podcast last fall, where I speak to him about the vinyl release of his EP So Am I.

Kevin Wright is the pastor of First Covenant Church in Peoria Illinois and is also author of The Danse trilogy, a series of horror/mystery novels. If you are thinking that is a strange combination you'd be right, but it is also makes Kevin the perfect conversation partner surrounding the issue of what Christians are supposed to do with the holiday of Halloween. Get ready for a complex and "nuanced" (to use a word that came up a few times) discussion on All Hallow's Eve, All Saints Day, Harvest Festival, and Samhain. You can purchase Wright's books or find out more info at:  www.KevinWrightBooks.com

Ep 57 of the PCR Podcast features my conversation with Dave about his re-launch of UTR Media, which has already started with 5 new podcasts and looks to continue with live concerts, videos, interviews, and articles featuring independent music by Christian artists. You can find out more at: http://utrmedia.org/

Andrew Osenga is a veteran musician, artist, and producer. Lead singer and founding member of The Normals, Osenga also had a stint as the lead guitarist and vocalist for Caedmon's Call, and continues to record and tour with Andrew Peterson's band. Lately Osenga has morphed into an artist mentor and consultant, as well as a podcaster with The Pivot, which focuses on interviews with people who find themselves changing direction mid-career and doing something they never expected to be doing. You can discover his music, his podcast, and everything else he does at: http://www.andrewosenga.com/

An "archive" episode of the podcast, this is part 2 of my 2014 interview with Nathan Peterson. Nathan is a singer-songwriter from Peoria, Illinois who recently got a vinyl release of his new EP So Am I funded on Kickstarter. This part of our interview features a fascinating story about how he lost his voice (which is his livelihood!) and what he chose to do about it. You can find out more of his story, listen to his music, and purchase his book of the same name as the EP here: http://nathanpeterson.net/ https://nathanpeterson.bandcamp.com/

Nathan Peterson is a singer-songwriter from Peoria, Illinois. Currently he is attempting to get a vinyl release of his new EP So Am I funded on Kickstarter. You can find out more of his story, listen to his music, and purchase his book of the same name as the EP here: http://nathanpeterson.net/ https://nathanpeterson.bandcamp.com/

Fr. Greg Lynn is the vicar of Epiphany Church in Peoria, Illinois. He also happens to be my pastor and my friend. On Sunday, August 20 he preached a message that had been weighing on his heart and mind, "What Does the Bible Say About Race?", and I wanted to offer a place for people to hear it. If you go to the PostConsumer Reports website for episode 54 you will find the slides that go along with the sermon. 

The Mosley's are Stephen and Rachel Mosley, a husband and wife sing-songwriter duo from Florida. Their music is earthy and reflective and indicative of the Americana folk of the South. Their first full length album Ordinary Time was produced by Phil Madeira and co-produced by Jimmy Abegg. I got to sit down with them for an interview at UTR Media's Escape to the Lake festival. You can read more about The Mosleys and purchase their music at their website: http://www.themosleysmusic.com/

As a bonus to our previous episode with Pastor Dan Leman on worship in the church, Dan this time offers insight and practical steps for how to worship, pray, and read Scripture together as a family.

Episode 52 features an interview with musician and composer Fernando Ortega, who releases his newest album The Crucifixion of Jesus on August 4, 2017. Our talk runs the gamut of topics, from politics in the American church, his love of bird watching, the tension between performing and worship leading, as well as an in depth look at the songs and making of the new album.

Three years ago my long time friend Pastor Dan Leman and I sat down to have a long chat about the Church's worship. Dan is the lead pastor of Faith Evangelical Free Church in Germantown Hills, Illinois (http://faithefree.net/). It's taken a while, but I am finally sharing our conversation. The main point of our talk is "What exactly is the point of us meeting together to worship?" We go in-depth into that subject, while also discussing Dan's context as a rural pastor, and whether or not he gets respect being a "young" pastor. Last winter Dan and I had another podcast episode which you can view here. That time the topic was sex...

Stu G became known as the lead guitarist and songwriter for the revolutionary worship band Delirious? but after years of touring with other artists and logging lots of time as a studio musician, Stu finally decided to take on a passion project long in gestation: a multimedia work based off of The Beatitudes, the opening words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. It started out as a set of songs but then soon grew into a book and a film, all set in Jesus' bold proclamations of blessing on God's people. So, we're celebrating the 50th episode of PostConsumer Reports Podcast with a landmark episode. I talk with Stu G about the scope of his Beatitudes project as well as about his time in Delirious? You can find out more about the project at Stu G's various websites.  http://www.stugworld.com/ www.thebeatitudesproject.com/ http://twitter.com/stugio http://facebook.com/stugworld