Josh Garrels: A Different Ethic and Sustenance for my Soul

"Tempted and tried, I wondered why
The good man died, the bad man thrives
And Jesus cries because he loves em’ both
We’re all cast-aways in need of ropes
Hangin’ on by the last threads of our hope
In a house of mirrors full of smoke
Confusing illusions I’ve seen
Where did I go wrong, I sang along
To every chorus of the song
That the devil wrote like a piper at the gates
Leading mice and men down to their fates
But some will courageously escape
The seductive voice with a heart of faith
While walkin’ that line back home
So much more to life than we’ve been told
It’s full of beauty that will unfold"
~Josh Garrels, "Farther Along"

Hold fast my people and sing
Through peace and through suffering
All for the joy that it brings, to be free
It’s gonna cost us everything
To follow one Lord and King
True love endures everything
To be free"
~Josh Garrels, "The Resistance"

Sometimes we get lucky. That's what happened six or seven years ago when I trekked with some friends over to Muncie, Indiana, for a concert in a church by a guy we'd never heard of. Truth is, we were looking for something to do. Amongst the twenty or thirty other onlookers that night, what we found was a very raw but hidden gem by the name of Josh Garrels. Belted out of his tall, lanky frame, his music blended several styles and watching him play it was a spiritual experience in and of itself. The lyrics were passionate and intelligent, overtly spiritual but not preachy.

He told us his story, that of a college dropout dragged to the very church in which we were sitting by his sister until he was moved one Sunday, alcohol on his breath, to tears and a submission that has set off a career that feels incredibly right and rich and beautiful to this observer. After a short stint pastoring a church in Indianapolis--he was at least good at the preaching part because I heard him once and his lyrical gifting shined there, too--he committed to music full-time, and I think the heavens are grateful for that decision. Once in a great while you encounter someone you just know is doing exactly what they were born to do. Michael Jordan was that way in basketball. Rafe Esquith is that way with teaching elementary school. And Josh Garrels is that way with playing music. There is just something so beautiful about watching someone live out their calling really well and get the most out of their giftings.

I have since seen him play more than a half dozen times from local shows to a bar in Jacksonville to Cornerstone Festival in Illinois. His songs poetically play with the beauties of creation alongside the corruption of our culture and politics, while calling us to a better way of living, Kingdom-of-God ethics perhaps. He has always taken time to talk with fans afterwards, even when his wife and kid were standing by. With roots in South Bend and Muncie, sadly he has moved on to the Carolinas and now to Portland, where it appears his family will settle, as much as a touring musician can, anyway.

To illustrate the kind of man he is, let me offer one anecdote. I was listening to the CD I purchased after that Muncie show one night when I realized the beats had been borrowed. There was no indication of that on the CD, so I e-mailed him and asked him what was up. Within hours, I had received a response. He apologized, and acknowledged that yes, he had borrowed the beats without ever really expecting his music to spread wide enough to matter. He quit selling the CD and no longer plays the song at shows. It spoke to me of an integrity and accessibility that is incredibly rare in his industry. Even as his music has become more popular and established, he has kept at it completely independently with his wife contributing her art on album covers and such.

Admittedly, I become a little bit evangelistic about Garrels' music every time a new album comes out. His Love & War & The Sea In Between came out two days ago, so here I am promoting it. I won't review it because I don't know enough about music technique and I definitely wouldn't do it justice. But there is clearly so much thought and creativity that goes into every song, and he is the rare type of artist that seems to get better with every new project. "The Resistance" gives me chills.

Here's the kicker, though: he's giving away his new album for a year. Who does that? How radical is it? In an e-mail newsletter, he wrote: "We've really felt the Lord asking us to give this album away for one year, and it's our joy to do so...Not only have all the collaborators been paid, but mixing and mastering costs have also been covered. This is the first time we’ve not gone in debt while making an album...We want this to be a 'year of jubilee'!"

He's returning to that church in Muncie for a show next weekend. Hope to see you there.