Why Folk Music Is Rising Up

This week I'm out of town working on a new book that I'm going to be releasing later this year about resolving conflict on your team. You can learn more about that by clicking here. While I'm away, I've asked some of my favorite bloggers to guest write for me. 

This is a guest post by Jonathan Thomas. Aside from being an absolutely brilliant theologian, he is one of my favorite worship leaders. In this article he talks about the heart of folk music and what drew him to it. 

Rambler’s Redemption

My whole life I’ve been constantly controlled by the pursuit of the truth. Although society would tell me that its not out there, I couldn’t help but feel that something out there was real, and I was going to find it. This focus on truth was most prevalent when I was a teenager, looking for purpose and direction, not sure where I was headed. I grew up as a missionary kid in the Southern Baptist tradition. I went to church every Sunday and grew up believing in Jesus as my Savior. But I often found myself torn. I struggled greatly with the idea of pain and suffering in the world and drove myself crazy trying to find my place in all the chaos. I felt like I was drifting. I started trying to lead two lives. One life where I was the good church-going kid, and another life where my peers would have never known I was a “Christian.” I got used to a routine of acting a certain way in certain places around certain people. At times, being in a small town, these two worlds would collide creating a panic in me. I became so concerned with truth, yet I became a lie to myself. I can echo the words of St. Augustine, “I fell away from You, my God, and in my youth I wandered too far from You, my true support. And I became a wasteland to myself.” I was burdened to find truth, but was lying to myself.

Around this same time I started to be involved in music. I first got a guitar from my parents the summer after 8th grade. I originally wanted one to play reggae and ska music like my big brother, cause I wanted to do everything like my big brother. I never took it seriously but just learned some chords and played around with it. When I was fifteen and sixteen I became very involved in the hardcore music scene. I was constantly promoting shows and helping out the bands that were playing, but never started playing music myself. I loved the hardcore scene because it felt real. It was about the music, being yourself and standing up for what you believe in. However, that quickly changed and hardcore music became about which band was “tougher” than everyone else. It was about which kids were “tougher” than everyone else and I lost interest because it didn’t feel real anymore.

Around this time I started playing more seriously, because I found that it relaxed my thoughts. My grandpa, who was like a second father to me, had cancer and it greatly affected my whole family. So I started to write music as an escape. It was during this time that I found folk music. I first came across Bob Dylan when I saw a picture of him in the local music store and for whatever reason was in awe. I started listening to his album “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” and was hooked. I finally found music that felt real. It may not have been the best sounding music, but it was real and authentic and that’s what I was looking for. So I plunged myself into folk music also falling in love with bluegrass. I loved it so much that I started to worship it. I wanted to be just like Bob Dylan so much that I literally started mimicking his movements. I started playing shows around town with a few of my friends. We won some battle of the bands and I got a song on a compilation CD and we were just having fun. But I still lacked a feeling of purpose because I was still lying to myself. I may have been a folk singer, but I wasn’t Bob Dylan, and I was still trying to live two lives. I still felt like I was wandering.

One of things that drew me so closely to folk and bluegrass was the recurrent themes of rambling and redemption. These songs expressed the confusion I was feeling of wandering and looking for purpose. Don Cusic observed, “Gospel is the conscience of country music, and woven into hell-raisin’ shenanigans many country artists sing about is the thread of belief in God and the forgiveness of sins. They seem to admit their sins and hope for a righteous life while at the same time confessing they can’t obtain it.” Folk, bluegrass and early country singers were authentic in their song writing, admitting the great struggle between grace and sin, truth and deception. Hank Williams is a prime example, who wrote the classic gospel song “I Saw The Light” while also writing “Ramblin’ Man,” a song where he admits that a life of aimless wandering is calling his name. This is why folk music struck a chord in me. Here I was struggling to find truth, lying to myself, and trying to reconcile the two. It was a vicious cycle of grace and sin; truth and deception.

It wasn’t until college that I realized the foolishness of my wandering. I felt like for so long I was trying to make it on my own, and I just couldn’t anymore. Although I probably heard it a thousand times in church, I learned about the concept in Christianity about redemption. Its the belief that Jesus has bought us out of slavery in sin. He has made us into a new creation and because of that we have purpose; we have truth. I surrendered my life to Jesus. It was a very crucial time for me in which folk music and Jesus played a huge role.

Will The Circle Be Unbroken?

I believe that the reason folk and bluegrass never goes out of style is because of its authenticity. Folk music seems to have waves of popularity. What started in the Appalachian mountains in early America, folk music was sought out and brought to the public attention by the Carter Family in the 1930‘s. It had a prominent following but exploded in the early 60’s Greenwich Village. Folk music is gaining large popularity today with bands like Mumford and Sons, The Avett Brothers, M. Ward, The Lumineers and more. Also contributing to this popularity are the directors, Joel and Ethan Coen, with their release of O, Brother Where Art Thou and the movie coming out this December, Inside Llewyn Davis. Once again, people are looking for something real. In a society ever growing in the pessimistic belief in nothing, people are searching for something. And they are finding it in folk music, because folk music is the music of the people. It is real, raw, and authentic; at once singing about the human condition and also singing about the search for God. People are looking for truth, and folk music delivers the perfect way to give it to them.

That’s why I’m so excited to announce a release of my music through MV Music. For years I’ve been writing and singing folk music, but with life and college haven’t been able to give it much of a platform. At Moon Valley Bible Church, I’ve been so blessed to lead worship and record music with the folk and bluegrass style that I love. I’ve been blown away by the positive response I’ve received from so many people and want to continue to serve them through this art-form that is so personal to me. This EP, “Rambler’s Redemption,” will release in December this year. It will feature some of the folk and bluegrass songs that I’ve written throughout the years along with some hymns. My hope is that others will experience the authenticity of folk music and that it will lead them to the real Truth only found in Christ Jesus. 

About this author:
Jonathan Thomas is a worship leader and Young Adult Ministry Director at Moon Valley Bible Church in Phoenix, AZ. He is a graduate of Arizona Christian University with a degree in Christian Ministries/Music and is currently pursuing a MA in Philosophy. He is married to his lovely wife, Olivia.

Read more from Jonathan on his blog: 
ramblersreflectionsblog.blogspot.com