The Hardest Places I’ve Played the Blues Part One: In Church

“You can’t play the blues in church, that’s devil’s music.” That’s what they told me. Yet, for the past 23 years, that’s one of the places where I have played the blues. Here’s a little back story.

When I first came to faith, one of the first things that happened was that our pastor at the time took me aside and told me, “You’ve got to quit playing that devil music,” and I did. For the next 20 years, I didn't play any blues or any rock and roll because that was devil music. No “gospel blues” or “Christian blues” were allowed either because those genres were also considered to be devil music. For those 20 years of my life, I played only southern gospel and choruses that I called “7-Eleven,” you know seven words, repeated 11 times or more.

Until one day I came to know the truth that there are only two types of music, and it is not the devil's music and the church's music, it’s good music and bad music. Suddenly, the chains of my “Bad Religion” were broken and I was free to play the music that I knew was in my heart. So I started playing and what I found was amazing.

A pastor here in Kansas City called me and said, “I want you to come to our church and do a blues concert on Sunday morning,” my response was, “You’re crazy.” I came up with all kinds of excuses and he shot all of them down. Finally, he said, “Trust me,” and I said, “Okay.” I put together a band with a full horn section, we rehearsed and were ready to play some red-hot blues on Sunday morning in church. Now some people would have dialed it back to make it more acceptable with the church crowd, but I don’t roll that way. An old preacher friend of mine told me this: “If it doesn’t burn in you, it won’t burn in them.” So like it or not there it was, red-hot and loud.

There were 1,000+ people there that morning and I was nervous as all get out. What happened next was so incredible. As we proceeded to rock the church house with some smokin’ blues, the church folks shouted, danced, clapped, and bought every CD we had. It was amazing. Many of them said, “I don’t like the blues, but I like the blues that you play.”

You can call it what you want, the blues, blues rock, gospel blues, Christian blues, or whatever, and if it’s good music from the heart, people will connect to it. Most of all, be true to who you are, and don’t allow people, the market, the music industry, and yes, even the church to stop the creativity that God put in you.

For me, I discovered a way to express my creativity (love of music) and faith (love for Jesus) through my music and preaching. And yes, I hope that the music I create is good music and gives honor to the one who “saved me from myself.”

Peace,

Jimmie

P.S. Send me an email and let me know your toughest place to play.