Protestant Blog Ethic

Update for 2012

2012-01-21T11:39:00.008-06:00

Happy 2012, blog visitors! Here’s what’s new for the new year:

I HAVE A NEW ALBUM!
Available now, this 20-song self-titled retrospective collects my best songs from the past decade. Check more information here at my freshly updated and overhauled webpage.

I’VE POSTED AN EXTENSIVE VIDEO TRAILER IN SUPPORT OF THE ALBUM
View parts 1 and 2 of this mini-documentary on YouTube, below. I dug through 10 years of unreleased video and photos to trace the assembly of these songs from the Sound Theology era until the present. Check out some rather candid tour footage with Beki Hemingway and studio session clips with The Silos during the recording of the Public Library album, plus performance and travel clips from Finland.

MY SONGS ARE STREAMING, SHARABLE, AND DOWNLOADABLE AT BANDCAMP
I’ve been experimenting with this interesting online music service. Songs from my recent albums are posted for streaming, and can be shared and viral-ized by anyone on Facebook. Surf around my corner of Bandcamp and feel free to post your favorite tunes on your FB profile…I’d appreciate the traffic and the exposure to new listeners. And of course, visit my Facebook musician page, and “like” me there.

COAST-TO-COAST TOURS ARE BOOKED WITH KAIVAMA
2011 was an amazing year of writing, arranging, recording and performing Finnish folk music with violinist Sara Pajunen. Sara and I released our debut album as KAIVAMA back in June of last year, and since then have performed in Minneapolis, Chicago, Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Seattle, Portland, San Diego, and Vancouver BC. In February of 2012 we’ll be back on the road with a tour of the Southern USA, and in March we’ll swing across the Midwest with Finnish multi-instrumentalist and composer Arto Järvelä. Check out the Kaivama webpage, see our tour schedule, and “like” us at our Facebook page.
That’s the update. Follow along on Facebook for up-to-the-minute details as the year rolls along...

June tour dates: Kaivama and Arto Järvelä

2011-05-29T23:36:00.003-06:00

World renowned composer and master fiddler from Finland Arto Järvelä is coming to the USA for a series of performances this June, and my new Finnish-American band Kaivama is very excited to join him at some of the best venues in the Midwest.

We'll wrap up the tour with our CD release show in our hometown of Minneapolis at the Cedar Cultural Center.

ARTO JÄRVELÄ and KAIVAMA 2011 tour schedule:

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8th

Old Town School of Folk Music

Chicago, IL

JUNE 10, 11

Nisswa-stämman Nordic Folk Music Festival

Nisswa, MN

SUNDAY, JUNE 12th

Kaleva Hall

Virgina, MN

MONDAY, JUNE 13th

Sacred Heart Music Center

Duluth, MN

TUESDAY, JUNE 14th

Cambridge Lutheran Church

Cambridge, MN

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15th

Bethania Church @ Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum

Decorah, IA

THURSDAY, JUNE 16th

live broadcast TV performance on "Showcase Minnesota" KARE 11

Minneapolis, MN

FRIDAY, JUNE 17th

Cedar Cultural Center

Minneapolis, MN

The greatest gathering of contemporary Lutheran songwriters in history. Period.

2011-02-18T16:22:00.004-06:00

Next Friday, February 25th, at 7PM, at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN, something amazing will happen. It will be the greatest gathering of contemporary Lutheran songwriters in history. No kidding. Check out this line-up.
And if that's not enough, I just heard today that Jay Beech will join us as well!

How could it be? Not even the ELCA Churchwide Youth Gathering has been able to get all these people in the same room at the same time!

The event is part of the Lutheran Songs Today series of performances, CDs, songbooks, and resources, masterminded by Rev. Eric Wefald from New England. Eric always appreciated the great creative work of independent Lutheran musicians over the years, but noticed there was no easy and central way to access their material, and no published books or recordings collecting their best congregational songs. So, he solved the problem himself, reaching out to the artists and compiling their work. Now, with the help of the Center for Missional Leadership at Luther Seminary, these artists will share the same stage!

Of course, I'm thrilled to be on the bill myself, and happy to collaborate with my peers like Nate Houge, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan, etc. But it's very exciting to have some of the pioneers of mainline Protestant indie music on the schedule: Ray Makeever, John Ylvisaker, and Jay Beech are kind of like the Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and Bruce Springsteen of Lutheran music. And in the generation following them we have Lost And Found, also on the schedule!

If you've been involved in the more youth-ful edge of American Lutheranism for the past 40 years, you've sung the songs of these composers. "Borning Cry," "Baptized," "We Come to the Hungry Feast," and "Lions"...sheesh! Big hits for Lutherans.

If you recognize any of these names or any of these songs, you should be at the show next Friday!

Free MP3 for February 2011: "Liberty Island" (remix)

2011-02-17T21:27:00.004-06:00

This month's free MP3 features a very old song with a long and complex evolutionary history. "Liberty Island" is a co-write between me and my cousin Bruce Rundman.

I wrote the lyrics in 1993 after Bruce and I visited New York City. We waited in line to climb up into the crown of the Statue of Liberty. It was a fun adventure, but the interior of the statue creeped me out, and made me claustrophobic, so I wrote about how I felt. Initially it was called "The Girl in Green."

Bruce added music and lyrical evolution in the late '90s, and the song took its final form.

Lowell Michelson's drum performance was recorded in his then-basement in North Minneapolis for use on the Styx Tribute album. I recorded him on a minidisc 4-track playing a Styx song, but I can't recall which one...it was "Grand Illusion" or "Lorelei" I think. Ultimately, that Styx cover song was abandoned, and Lowell's drums were resurrected for use on Bruce's solo album version of "Liberty Island."

We transferred the drum tracks from the minidisc over to ProTools on the computer, edited the drumming to fit "Liberty Island," and tracked over the top of the new structure. We recorded Bruce's solo album in my basement in North Minneapolis in Summer 2003. This original recording of "Liberty Island" can be heard on Bruce's True North album.

Later, in the mid-aughts, I dug back into the "Liberty Island" session and added additional instrumentation and vocals. Since it was a co-write, I thought it would be fun to record an alternate version of the tune with myself on lead vocals. I also set some strict rules for myself to follow, just for fun. The rules were:

+ lyrics must be tweaked to follow the rules of "perfect rhyme," inspired by the Jimmy Webb songwriting book Tunesmith

+ I would allow no guitar parts other than bass guitar

This new version sat unheard and unmixed for many years, until Mark LaForest was enlisted to mix the song a few months ago in the Fall of 2010. Mark made some excellent production and arrangement decisions, as well as added some tasty electric guitar tracks. Find out more about Mark via his prog-rock band Flincho.

Listening now to this recording, which I hadn't worked on since about 2005, I'm struck by how influenced it is by the band Styx. To me, I hear echoes of the darker Tommy Shaw songs like "Love in the Midnight" or "Man in the Wilderness." The monophonic synthesizer solos that Bruce and I play throughout the song were directly inspired by Dennis DeYoung's soloing from the Grand Illusion and Pieces of Eight album eras.

The lyrics place this song squarely in the genre of "Rock Songs About the Statue of Liberty," the most famous one, of course, being "American Woman" by the Guess Who. Looking back on these nearly-20-year-old lyrics, they read a bit anti-American to me. However, that was not the intent! They're supposed to be read literally, as an observational tune about how weird it is to crawl up inside a giant woman's body, and to be just one of countless little people in line to peek through her forehead.

Download the song from my Audio Page.

LIBERTY ISLAND

words and music by Jonathan & Bruce Rundman

up against the empty April skies

feeling young and small beneath her crown

I could see inside her hollow eyes

I could step behind her quiet frown

closed inside her clothes I stayed

I could feel the shivers up her spine

and I knew with every move I made

I was one more number in her line

and I'm back again on Liberty Island

for the girl in green

and she stands alone on Liberty Island

and I remain unseen

people wait for hours with no complaint

they can't seem to turn their eyes away

tell me is she some kind of saint?

I'm afraid of heights like these today

and she haunts me every day and night

I can trace the pictures of her face

she's an angel shining bright

I'm a shadow cast in a far away place

and I'm back again on Liberty Island

for the girl in green

and she stands alone on Liberty Island

and I remain unseen

Free MP3 for January 2011: "Local Road" (remix)

2011-01-21T08:56:00.012-06:00

The first free MP3 download I'll post in 2011 is "Local Road," one of my earliest songs. This particular recording was freshly remixed last month, which marks the 20th year of this song's evolution! Sheesh, when I write that, I realize how long I've been a songwriter (or else, how young I was when I started).

Here's the history of the song:

Back in the Fall of 1991 I was a student (for only one semester!) at Luther College in Decorah, IA. My then-girlfriend Dawn was a senior at Augustana College in Rock Island, IL, about 5 hours away. She had no car, so for us to see each other on weekends I would drive Southeast across Iowa to meet her in Rock Island. Over the few months I drove that route so many times I had memorized and ritualized the trip.

One Friday as I drove Eastbound on I-80 about 50 miles before the Iowa/Illinois border (which is the Mississippi River) I saw an exit sign marked as "Local Road" and I immediately got off the freeway on the exit ramp, parked my car on the gravel shoulder, got out my journal and wrote the lyrics of the song. At the time I was very affected by James McMurtry's debut album Too Long in the Wasteland, so as I look back I can see McMurtry's influence in the lyrics...."dirty trucks in single file," etc.

A few months later in the Winter of 1992 I had moved back to Michigan, where I recorded a cassette 4-track demo of this new song in my parents' basement. This original melody and chords for "Local Road" had a much more arena-rock feel, and it never felt right. I never found an effective way to play the song solo on acoustic guitar, so I shelved the tune and didn't revisit it until seven years later.

In 1999 I was collecting material for my upcoming 52-song double-CD Sound Theology, and I thought the ritualistic imagery in the "Local Road" lyrics could play a role in this ambitious concept album. At the time I was living in Chicago and playing with an excellent rhythm section, Benji Derrick on bass guitar and Andy Deitrich on drums. The three of us figured out a way to interpret the song, and for the first time, "Local Road" had a musical arrangement that felt good and correct.

The key to the resuscitation of the song was to slow down the groove to a mid-tempo stomp, and use heavy, crunchy electric guitar as the chordal foundation...a trick used very effectively by early-'90s-era retro bands: give a listen to The Jayhawks "Waiting For the Sun," or Matthew Sweet's "Divine Intervention." Benji, Andy, and I recorded the bass, drums, and telecaster live in the room together in the Fall of 1999...we set up in my 3rd floor rehearsal space in a huge warehouse in Maywood, IL, and recorded to a Sony mini-disc 4-track machine with Randy Kerkman engineering. A few months later in Winter of 2000 I moved my recording rig to my 4th floor condo overlooking the West side of Chicago and finished the tracking by singing, playing acoustic guitar, and playing harmonica live on the same track, over the electric guitar, bass and drums. This is the version of "Local Road" that can be heard on the Sound Theology album, released in Summer of 2000.

A few months ago in the Fall of 2010 I dug back into my old mini-disc archives and found the raw individual tracks from the "Local Road" recording session. I transferred them to ProTools on my computer and was able to analyze each instrument solo-ed for the first time in a decade. Knowing that drummer Andy Deitrich continues to be a performer (with circus-punk marching band Mucca Pazza) as well as a serious studio musician and producer in Chicago, I thought it would be fun to turn these old tracks over to him, to see if he could reinterpret them. Andy was pleased to participate, so last Fall he spent some time updating the recording of "Local Road." His biggest limitation was the fact that my vocals and acoustic guitar AND harmonica were all recorded live on the same track (old school!) so he didn't have a lot of options for remixing that part of the recording. Working within those bounds, Andy added lots of new percussion sounds, played additional bass guitar and organ, and updated the structure of the tune. Now in 2011, twenty years after the song was written, I'm happy to post Andy's remix of "Local Road." Download it at my Audio Page.

Considering what a novice I was when I wrote this song, it's still a favorite of mine, and I continue to perform it occasionally in concert. "Local Road" strikes a nerve with people in long-distance relationships who often tell me they relate to the story of geographic separation and the long road trips to reunite. Lyrics below:

LOCAL ROAD

never driven it myself but i've seen it many times
driving fast alone to see my girl across the borderline
up ahead i see the sign

local road exits to the side
i don't need to drive it
i just need to pass it by
local road turns off from the eastbound lane
and tells me i will soon be holding her in my arms again

all the yellow fields look the same, dirty trucks in single file
then i see the sign with basic name and it's only fifty miles
until i see her smile

local road exits to the side
i don't need to drive it
i just need to pass it by
local road turns off from the eastbound lane
and tells me i will soon be holding her in my arms again

it's good to have a landmark on your way to watch for as you go
everybody needs some ritual
this i know
i watch for local road

local road exits to the side
i don't need to drive it
i just need to pass it by
local road turns off from the eastbound lane
and tells me i will soon be holding her in my arms again

Best albums of 2010

2010-12-24T11:47:00.003-06:00

Happy Christmas Eve everyone! I shall now share my annual list of favorite albums. 2010 was a strange one for me, and I couldn't even find ten albums that I liked that came out this past year...so we'll have to settle for the Top 7. However, I did discover great albums that came out many years ago that dominated my playlists this year...stuff like the Beatles Box Set and a variety of awesome Nordic folk music including my favorite Finnish folk album, Ampron Prunni. You can buy this album here, along with other cool Finnish CDs. I bought mine at the bookstore at Finlandia University in Hancock, MI.

Okay, but now for the real list. MY FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2010!

1. JAKOB DYLAN "WOMEN & COUNTRY"

Of course I appreciate the work of Father Bob, and I liked a few of those big hits by Jakob's '90s band The Wallflowers, but I haven't really followed the work of the younger Dylan. I bought this album because my production hero T Bone Burnett was the producer, and T Bone has delivered yet again. This album sounds great, but above all, the songwriting is really fine. Interesting lyrics, and timeless melodies. In some ways it feels like a companion piece to the Robert Plant / Alison Krauss "Rising Sand" duet album that T Bone cranked out a couple years ago. Similar atmosphere, and equally ideal for late night driving.

2. PETE YORN "PETE YORN"

Pete had TWO of my favorite albums of last year, and he did well again in 2010. This new self-titled record is a bit more garagey than the previous few, but features more of his fresh wordsmithing and hooky hard pop. Contains my favorite single of the year, the kick off track "Precious Stone" with very deft, spare production.

3. JASON & THE SCORCHERS "HALCYON TIMES"

Holy cow, what a career resurrection! I first heard this band as a high schooler in the mid-80s and they've drifted in and out of existence ever since. But WOW, they get back together, hook up with one of my rock heros Dan Baird and brilliant songwriter Tommy Womack and crank out easily the best Americana album of the past few years. It's the Stones meets the Carter Family meets AC/DC meets the Charlie Daniels Band. Telecaster inspiration abounds! And it's really cool to hear an album where there's a sense of pure fun and joy pouring through the speakers....how obvious that these guys are having a blast in the studio. Check out the song "Land of the Free" and rock to the contrast between the verses and the chorus! Sweet!

4. EELS "TOMORROW MORNING"

I'll listen to anything E and the Eels release, but their past few have been a little lacking. However on this new album, E delivers a few of his finest songs ever, including "The Man"...these lyrics soaked into me gradually as I listened and give me the chills and a smile simultaneously.

5. ELIZABETH COOK "WELDER"

As I posted on Facebook upon my first listen of this album, Nashville retro country singer Cook has managed the almost-impossible balancing act of being clever, dangerous, cute, risque, fun, and profound. Check out the harrowing "Heroin Addict Sister."

6. BUTCH WALKER AND THE BLACK WIDOWS "I LIKED YOU BETTER WHEN YOU HAD NO HEART"

Again, I'll listen to anything Butch puts out. His 2010 release had some fine moments including the great "Trash Day" where he skewers Nashville CCM culture with laser focus. Lighthearted and snide and rocking, with musical brilliance underneath all the snark and attitude.

7. CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG "IRM"

A real surprise for me, and a record that I'd most likely not discover in my usual life. But this year I was lucky to stumble across it and found a very hip and slinky album with Gainsbourg's dreamy Euro-vocals and amazing production and composing by Beck. I checked her out on Wikipedia to find that she was born exactly one day after me! Maybe I related to her because she's truly my generation.

There you have it. My Top 7 for 2010. Let me know, dear readers, what your faves were this past year!

Free MP3 "581" song about Ishpeming, MI

2010-10-07T08:59:00.004-06:00

As I look forward to returning to my homeland of Michigan's Upper Peninsula later this month to play a concert in Marquette (that's on Saturday, October 23rd, 2010, 7PM at Messiah Lutheran Church), I thought I'd post a U.P.-related song for the free MP3 of the month.

Visit my AUDIO PAGE to download the free MP3 of "581."

This is a brand new recording of which I'm very proud - the definitive version of "581." It's one of my very earliest songs, written way back in 1993. A primitive early form appeared on my now-out-of-print 1994 album Wherever and I played the song in concert frequently back in the 1990s.

There's even a YouTube clip online of me and my band performing it in Chicago back in 1999. See it here.

This new recording of the song was completed and mixed this Summer and I'm thrilled with the results. Drummer Lowell Michelson (who also played on the 1994 version) re-recorded the rhythm tracks with me in my basement studio in Minneapolis in 2005. Over the years I gradually added more instruments: guitars, bass, and my 1939 Hammond A organ (an instrument that originated in the sanctuary of First Lutheran Church in Iron River, MI). I recorded the vocals last Summer in Ishpeming while I was in town visiting my parents. At the time, my Dad had taken possession of his childhood home, the house where my Grandparents lived for decades. The house was sitting empty and in disrepair, so I brought over my laptop and microphone, went upstairs to a bare unfurnished bedroom and sang the vocal tracks. It was an amazing experience for me...I wondered how my Grandparents would have felt if they knew back in 1940, as they lived in that house, that their future grandson would use that building as a studio 70 years later!

For those of you Yoopers who read this, I thought I would give some lyrical analysis of the song, pointing out some of the rather obscure local references.

581

words and music by Jonathan Rundman

you wanna get to where the pavement ends

when I was growing up, the pavement on 581 turned to gravel out near Perch Lake...I think they've extended the pavement since then...

you wanna watch it as the acres fall

this is a reference to all the logging going on out South of Ishpeming...it was amazing to me how much the landscape would change after the loggers came through

you wanna cross the south branch on the narrow bridge

this refers to the Escanaba River which crosses 581...my family had a camp there for a while in the 1980s

find a passage to the reservoir

as a high schooler I learned that you could access the Greenwood Reservoir by taking the back roads via 581

you take 581

some kind of trouble waiting back in town

you need the county road to take you far away

you take the S-curves to the Wayside

the S-curves are just Southbound beyond the Stoneville Road/581 intersection

and The Wayside was a small roadside tavern...I think it's closed now.

don't stop 'til you leave Faith behind

and this refers to Faith Lutheran Church, at the intersection of 581 and the Beagle Club road

on 581

are you farther than you've ever been before

I've gone pretty far down 581 during my life, but have never driven its entire length. This past Summer I was driving the Felch Road from Escanaba to Crystal Falls and I saw the end of 581! It was amazing to see where it ends...but I have yet to drive its entirety.

can you feel the Project closing in?

this refers to the Navy's extra-low-frequency communication system called Project ELF that was installed out on 581 back in the late '80s. I remember the locals were worried that it would make all the wildlife radioactive.

you pass the clear-cut and the airfield

This refers to more logging, and of course the private airport near Perch Lake. I flew out of there a couple times with some teenaged friends who got their pilot's licenses.

don't you wanna just fly away?

fly away

on 581

Quotes out of context in press coverage...oh no!

2010-10-01T07:36:00.004-06:00

I had a rather squeamish awakening today, due to some press coverage I just received. Later in October (Saturday the 23rd and Sunday the 24th) I'll be performing at two Lutheran congregations in Marquette, MI, right near my hometown of Ishpeming.

The new issue of the Upper Peninsula arts magazine, Marquette Monthly, included an article about me in promotion of the upcoming concert. Of course, I'm very happy to have media coverage in my home region...and, as they say, any press is good press. However, there's one quote in the Marquette Monthly piece that's really taken out of context, so I feel the need to try to do some damage control using this blog.

You can read the Marquette Monthly article by CLICKING HERE. In general, the information is correct (except for the reference to my 2000 album as Theology, rather than its real title Sound Theology). My concern, however, is with the article's only quote from me personally, which is as follows:

“When I was in high school I attended several church camps, retreats and regional Lutheran youth gatherings. During these events, I’d get caught up in the powerful and emotional music, worship and fellowship—often resulting in a spiritual euphoria.”

This is indeed a quote from me, from an essay I wrote in the November 2005 issue of The Lutheran magazine. The article is no longer posted online, but you can still view it in Google's cache...it requires a bit of skilled searching. I've posted the entire text below so you can read it in its entirety. Here's the problem...used alone, that quote is way out of context.

Read alone, those two sentences sound to me like a positive endorsement of ultra-emotional religiosity in pursuit of spiritual euphoria. If you were to continue to read a few sentences later, however, you'd find this very important sentence:

"Upon returning home to my normal day-to-day schedule and community, I sometimes experienced a sense of disappointment in my faith life."

My essay that is being quoted is actually written about the dangers and disappointments of a faith-life driven by spiritual euphoria! Read the entire essay below for the intended context of that opening quote.

So, I'm hoping that the readers of Marquette Monthly don't come away with the idea that I'm some kind of emotionally manipulating holy roller. It's funny, of all the quotes and interviews I've given posted on the internet, is sure is funny that THAT one bit from the 2005 Lutheran magazine essay would be the one the writer chose. Oh well. Now I know a bit about how President Obama must feel every time he says or writes something in public. It sure is easy to pull a sentence or two out of a whole, and deliver a totally new message with it.

I love you with all of my mind:

FROM THE NOVEMBER 2005 ISSUE OF THE LUTHERAN MAGAZINE

When I was in high school I attended several church camps, retreats and regional Lutheran youth gatherings. During these events I’d get caught up in the powerful and emotional music, worship and fellowship—often resulting in a spiritual euphoria. Upon returning home to my normal day-to-day schedule and community, I sometimes experienced a sense of disappointment in my faith life. What had happened to that intimate connection between God and me that was so obvious at the youth event? I learned that basing my faith only on “heart” and “soul” wasn’t enough to sustain me through my daily life.

This Sunday’s Gospel text (Matthew 22:34-46) calls us to wholistic faith. As I observe contemporary Christian culture in America (especially the youth culture), it seems that heart and soul take precedent over mind.

I’m struck whenever I channel-surf onto that late-night infomercial for a “Songs of Praise and Worship” CD where the cameras pan over a sports arena filled with worshipers, arms raised, eyes closed, singing and swaying in blissed-out emotional ecstasy: certainly we’ve got heart and soul covered.

At the same time, when complex and potentially divisive faith-related issues arise in politics or science, I see many Christians recoil in fear and suspicion. What is it about these intellectual challenges that threaten the faith of so many people?

God gave us our minds for a reason. The intellect is an invaluable tool for building the foundations of faith. I appreciate our Lutheran commitment to learning and education and the freedom that we’re offered to ask questions, to debate, to doubt and to grow. I’m thankful that we don’t ask our parishioners to “check their brains at the door.”

Our congregations provide many different classes and forums each week for people of all ages and stages. Lutheran colleges and universities can be found in every corner of the U.S., encouraging the development of the mind as well as the heart and soul. Our church leaders attend rigorous biblical, pastoral and theological training at a variety of seminaries and graduate schools. I believe God rejoices in our quest to learn more about God and the universe.

Our Lutheran church family has many good role models for people to look to as they explore the intellectual issues of belief and religion. Martin Luther studied law and was a professor and musician, in addition to theologian and pastor. Paul knew his Scriptures inside and out, along with the intricacies of the cultural dynamics in the first century Mediterranean world. And of course, we look to Jesus who at age 12 was ditching his parents to hang out at the temple, discussing theology with his pastors for days at a time.

Thank you, God, for our wonderful and curious minds and for meeting us and engaging us intellectually.

I’ve written a song celebrating a brain-based approach to faith. Here are the lyrics:

I love you with all of my mind
lyrics by Jonathan Rundman, © 2000 Salt Lady Records (ASCAP)

old heart and soul, they’re so overrated
they only do two-thirds of the work that needs done
I wanna love you and love you completely
and use all my senses and beautiful reason

I love you with all of my mind
I love you with all of my mind
I’ve wondered and studied and I’ve come to find
I love you with all of my mind

some people say that I’m too calculating
that I bury my feelings and my heart’s gone cold
but I’ve seen emotion change like the weather
so I don’t just wanna feel, I wanna KNOW

I love you with all of my mind
I love you with all of my mind
I’ve wondered and studied and I’ve come to find
I love you with all of my mind

Jonathan Rundman's version of Lisa Germano's song "Guessing Game."

2010-09-16T18:57:00.009-06:00

ATTENTION: If you are Lisa Germano or her publisher, and you request that this MP3 cover version of her song "Guessing Game" be removed, email rundman@gmail.com and it will be removed immediately.

SUPPORT LISA GERMANO by buying her music!

For this month's MP3 featured at my Audio Page, I'm very excited to unearth a recording that I made exactly eleven years ago...one of my favorite moments of my recording career! And a recording that has never been heard by the public until now.

Back in the early '90s I became a big fan of singer/ songwriter/ instrumentalist Lisa Germano. I was familiar with Lisa's violin playing on records by John Mellencamp and the Indigo

Girls, and I was thrilled when, in 1992, I came across her indie debut solo album "On the Way Down from the Moon Palace" in a CD store in Eugene, Oregon. I loved the record, and the amazing drumming by fellow Indiana rock legend Kenny Aronoff. My favorite song from the CD was the kickoff track, a mid-tempo garagey rock tune called "Guessing Game (or The Music Business)."

As the 1990s progressed, I loyally followed Lisa's career into the major labels, and through a series of excellent albums...all of which were a big influence on me as a young songwriter and recording artist.

In the Summer of 1999 I embarked on the recording of my Sound Theology album, and I purchased a Sony Minidisc 4-track recorder on which to make the project. Before I began tracking my own album, I wanted an occasion to test drive the new recording machine.

At the time I was active on a Lisa Germano discussion email list called "Sycophant," and some of the participants on the list began discussing the idea of releasing a Germano tribute album. Somebody volunteered to collect the cover tune submissions, and somebody else even designed a CD cover for the forthcoming tribute album, to be titled "Stand Not Amazed."

I still have a .jpg of that CD artwork sitting on my computer from way back in 1999...I have no idea who designed it, but I always really liked the image. Surprisingly, there's even an online archive of the Lisa Germano email list discussion regarding the tribute project, viewable here. This tribute album possibility was the perfect chance for me to test my new 4-track recorder, so I set out to record my favorite Lisa song, "Guessing Game" in September of 1999.

At the time I was renting a rehearsal space and office in a giant old warehouse on First Avenue in Maywood, IL, on the West side of Chicago. I had my drums, Hammond organ, and guitars set up at all times, and was also babysitting a giant Marshall stack guitar amplifier that was owned by Beki Hemingway's guitarist Randy Kerkman.

I put two or three mics on the drums (all fed into one channel on the 4-track), sat down, and played the song as best I could while imagining the guitar parts in my head. After one take, I sang and played acoustic guitar into a single mic. For the 3rd track I played bass, and for the 4th track I played my Fender Telecaster through Randy's Marshall amp (copying Lisa's original violin lines) and then punched in overdubs of Schoenhut toy piano wherever there was room on the electric guitar track. Boom...four tracks and the song was done.

I mixed the tune and sent it in to whoever from the email list so that it could be compiled into the Lisa Germano tribute album. Alas (as far as I know), the online discussion faded away at about this time, and the album was never completed or released. So my version of "Guessing Game" sat unheard for years. Although that recording never saw the light of day, it was a great warm up and education regarding the use of the 4-track, and later that same month I was recording such future Sound Theology hits like "Workin' My Commitee" and "Carol of the Bells."

I've been tempted many times in the past decade to release "Guessing Game" on one of my own albums. Back in 2005 I realized that its mix could be improved, so I had my friend Scott Malchow do a little EQ and compression on the recording which made it better...this improved version is the one I'm releasing now. It never did find a home on any of my albums, however.

Back in 2003 I saw Lisa Germano on tour, and talked to her briefly after the show. I had burned her a CD of this cover version of "Guessing Game," so I gave it to her. I wonder if she listened to it? I wonder if she liked it?

To hear my version of Lisa's "Guessing Game" go to my AUDIO PAGE to get the MP3.

And compare it to Lisa's original version, which has been posted on YouTube, below.

I love love love this song, and never get tired of it.

Kaivama, and Finnish-American showbiz history

2010-07-16T04:28:00.013-06:00

As of June 2010 I've been playing in a new band with amazing violinist Sara Pajunen. We're a Finnish-American folk music duo called KAIVAMA. You can listen to some of our recordings and watch a few videos of us at our MySpace page HERE. And become a fan at Facebook HERE.

It's really been fun, challenging, and meaningful for me to play these beautiful old Nordic songs, and in the past couple years I've been learning more and more about the Finnish-American performers who paved the way for youngsters like Sara and me.

The most famous Finnish-American musician was Viola Turpeinen, an accordionist and band leader who toured the US in the mid-20th Century, performing at Finnish community halls. A few days ago while on vacation in Michigan's Upper Peninsula I got a chance to visit with local music historian Tom Chevrette, who showed me this accordion. The instrument was played by Viola herself while she was on tour in the UP in 1945! Viola was born in 1909 in Champion, MI, just a few miles away from my own hometown of Ishpeming. I drove through Champion yesterday morning, and wondered if Viola's birthplace is still there somewhere. Her childhood home, maybe?

Just in the past year I found out about Finnish-American (and African!) actress, singer, and entertainer Rosa Lemberg. Here's a photo of Rosa (born Rosa Emilia Clay in 1875, in Namibia to English and African parents). Her biography is really complex, but the general idea is:

+ she's African, born in Africa

+ adopted by Finnish missionaries

+ moved to Finland, learns the language, and grows up there

+ moves to the USA, settles in Finnish communities

+ travels the USA as a singer, actress, educator, and political activist

+ gets old and moves to a Finnish home for the elderly in Covington, MI, in the Upper Peninsula

+ is buried in the Covington cemetary

A helpful summary of Rosa's incredible life was published in the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat in January 2010, and is also available to read on the blogosphere HERE.

Yesterday I drove with my children from Ishpeming, MI back to our home in Minnesota. Since we were passing through Covington on the way, I thought it would be nice to stop by to visit the gravesite of Rosa Lemberg. Here we are yesterday morning, remembering an extraordinary woman. As I look forward to more touring with Kaivama, I'll be thinking of Rosa and Viola who were performing for the Finnish-American community a century before me.

Let's take a walk in downtown Ishpeming!

2010-05-21T14:31:00.007-06:00

I had a day off this week in my hometown of Ishpeming, in Michigan's lovely Upper Peninsula. My brother Tim and I took a walk downtown for dinner. Here's what we saw:
Towering over everything in downtown Ishpeming is the iconic Cliffs Shaft, seen above. It's the shell of the elevator lift that would lower miners and equipment deep into the iron ore mine. It closed, I think, in about 1969. My Grandpa Roberts' job was lift operator, so he spent many years of his life driving that elevator up and down.

Here's the Rundman family neighborhood. Lake Bancroft at the end of the street, with Pilots Knob bluff across the lake. The red truck in the foreground is my Dad's. Somebody gave it to him. "Hey want a free truck?"

Just down the hill is The Congress. Seems like the locals adore this pizza more than anything else, but I'm not into it. And I don't like the wooden booths. That's the long-dead J.C.Penney store to the right of The Congress. I used to get my school clothes there back in the day.
Across from the Congress is our local mascot, Old Ish. He was erected there in the 1800s sometime. And that side of the Peninsula Back is in the famous opening scene of the Ishpeming movie "Anatomy of a Murder"...Jimmy Stewart drives by in his convertible.
The big boxy building under the watertower is now called Pioneer Square. It used to be a bra factory...my Grandma worked there, and various other relatives. Notice the Ishpeming kids cruising on their bikes in the middle of the street. Not much traffic to worry about.
This restaurant is Mama Mia's, my favorite pizza in the whole UP. And favorite garlic bread, too.

After we had dinner we walked home, via Main Street. It was a beautiful, warm night, and nobody was around. The town was very quiet. It's a cool place. Stop by sometime when you're driving through the U.P.

How to build a sauna in your basement.

2010-04-02T15:44:00.011-06:00

I've always dreamed of having a sauna in my home. Growing up in the Finnish communities of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, I spent every Summer out in the woods, swimming in lakes, and sauna-ing constantly. In the winter I could sauna at relatives' homes. Even church events included community saunas. On recent trips to Finland I had the opportunity to sauna at the Summer-house of my Finnish Rundman relatives, which was a true delight (although the Baltic Sea was freeeeeezing).

Last Fall I acquired a nice Polar by Saunatec sauna heater, so the building opportunity finally arrived. My Dad is a construction and carpentry genius, so he came over to my basement to work his architectural magic. He had built numerous saunas in the past, so he knew what he was doing.

Our basement had a perfect location: a lower corner, right above the main basement floor drain, and already equipped with a hot/cold overhead shower installed when our home was built in 1952. One problem: a giant double-tubbed 300 pound concrete laundry sink, too large to allow for the walls of the forthcoming sauna room.

How to solve the sink problem? Knock over the laundry tub and go crazy with a sledgehammer. I got great pleasure out of busting the heck out of something so big and heavy.
We shoveled the concrete debris of the sink into the corner of the room (eventually to be hauled out in many many trips using cardboard boxes) and Dad installed a new, smaller laundry sink which would allow for the construction of sauna walls.

Dad wanted to attempt a new sauna-construction concept: build the entire room out of insulated steel doors. Yes, doors. From the bargain bin at Menards...$1 each. That's it. One buck each. It was a brilliant idea. No need for foam or spray insulation, or for framing with 2X4s like a normal room. The doors are already super-insulated, with steel exterior, ultra strong, and no wood elements to get damp or moldy. This is sure to be the most insulated sauna of all time...like sauna-ing in a industrial freezer, or in a space capsule.

Dad installed a fan, to help air out the room post-sauna-session, as well as a inbound heating vent which will allow the furnace in the house to keep the sauna room at normal room temperature during the cold winter. That way, it takes less time to heat the sauna when the surrounding basement is chilly.The sauna heater was mounted on the wall according to the Saunatec/Polar specs., including the allowance of a fresh air source below the heater at floor level (which also provided a route to the basement/sauna floor drain in case of basement flooding or any other water-related emergency).
The interior of the sauna room was lined with cedar, salvaged from scrap piles and bargain bins at various lumber yards. A nice railing was constructed around the heater for safety.

Dad arranged the cedar around the pre-existing shower pipes and added bi-level benches. The lower bench level can fold up on hinges, which turns the sauna into a shower-room when the heater's not on. He also custom-fit a cedar floor platform that can be lifted out of the room to allow for cleaning and floor-drain access.

The benches provide plenty of butt-space for four adults, two on the top bench, and two on the lower level along the perpendicular wall. It'll be perfect for my family...my little kids can sit on the lower level where things are not so scalding.
Dad finished the work completely about a week ago and my wife and I have had a few late-evening sauna sessions already. I wasn't sure how it was gonna "feel" initially...I grew up with wood-stove saunas, so I was hoping to get an authentic Finnish sauna experience (and not that sickly hotel or heath club fake-sauna vibe). Thankfully, I can say that the Saunatec/Polar company really makes a great little heater and the water-on-the-rocks results and entire experience feels just as wonderful as the wood-fired saunas of my childhood. Of course, nothing beats a free-standing lakeside wood-sauna, but for a home/basement substitute, this is really incredible!

I hope to blog some more about the benefits and joy of sauna, but until then I encourage y'all to check out an excellent blog Sauna Times written by another Minnesota sauna enthusiast.

Recommended if you like me.

2010-01-23T09:07:00.004-06:00

As an independent singer/songwriter, I've been around a long time. Despite my lack of widespread exposure it's very fulfilling whenever I can seep into the general media.

This past week two of my favorite artists released new albums (I'll be going out to buy both records in the coming days). The Eels and and Freedy Johnston have both influenced my own writing and production, and I've been compared to both artists when my own albums have been reviewed (especially Freedy).

This week in the blogosphere I stumbled upon the reverse phenomenon: The Eels and Freedy have been compared to me!!

A music blog called Eat Sleep Drink Music reviewed the new Eels album, and listed under RIYL (Recommended If You Like...) they wrote this:

RIYL: Grant Lee Buffalo, Parthenon Huxley, Jonathan Rundman

Holy cow! And I got included with Parthenon, too! Another favorite of mine!

In addition, the alt-country blog Hickory Wind reviewed the new Freedy Johnston album this week. They wrap up their review with this:

For fans of Matthew Sweet, Nick Lowe, Tommy Keene and Jonathan Rundman.

It sure is nice to be so casually included with artists Sweet, Lowe, and Keene, all who own massive chunks of my own iPod playlist.

Thanks to the Eat Sleep Drink Music and Hickory Wind writers for thinking of me!

Best Albums of 2009

2010-01-01T21:43:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year everybody! Musically speaking, this was a great year for power pop, melodic rock, and generally tasty hooky songs. I happily present my list of the Best Albums of 2009:

THE BEST, NUMBER ONE is....

1. PETE YORN - Back & Fourth

I got this CD at the beginning of the Summer and it was my constant soundtrack to miles and miles of beautiful highway driving. Pete Yorn is not really the kind of artist that I think of myself liking...he seems a bit too alterna-rock or "normal" or something, but the more I listen to him the more I think he's incredible. And this particular album really moves me somehow. Great production (what do you know, Rick Rubin!), sneaky and subtle grownup songwriting, and very fresh and provocative lyrics. Amidst a whole album of fine songwriting, the track "Social Development Dance" stands out, with completely refreshing and surprising lyrics, and a gorgeous groove and melody. Usually it would be someone like Jason Falkner or Sam Phillips to score my number one ranking (they do show up farther down the list) but something unexplainable about this album has really captured me. Pete had a good year with me...he'll turn up once again before this list is over.

2. THE TWILIGHT HOURS - Stereo Night

Local Minneapolis pop workhorses Matt Wilson and John Munson (of Trip Shakespeare and Semisonic fame) team up in a new band, and crank out songs that are effortlessly singable and joyous and inventive. Now, lately I've been really appreciating the Grammy-winning half of the Minnesota Wilson brothers (that's Dan, who put out the incredible album "Free Life" a year or so ago), but I'm afraid that Matt may have eclipsed his brother with this record. As I look ahead to growing into a fortysomething Edina Dad, it's inspiring to see what kind of music other fortysomething Edina Dads like Matt Wilson (and Paul Westerberg!) can create in the middle stages of life.

3. MANDY MOORE - Amanda Leigh

I got into Mandy a couple years ago when she released a fine album of unlikely cover songs. What a voice! When I heard that her most recent album was co-written and produced by power pop master Mike Viola I went right out and bought it, and indeed, Mandy plus Mike equals Marvelous. Of course Mandy's voice shines as always, but the SONGS and HARMONIES and arrangements, too....it takes my breath away. This is an album that pays tribute to '70s songwriters, with a perfect hints of '80s New Wave and Americana. A weird combo that wildly succeeds with every turn. Mandy is a role model for teen-popsters who hope to grow into legitimate artists.

4. JASON FALKNER - All Quiet On The Noise Floor

Jason does no wrong in my eyes. He's my favorite kind of artist: songwriter, producer, and playing all the instruments too (like another fave of mine, Todd Rundgren, and Pete Yorn sometimes). Jason's previous release "I'm OK You're OK" is my favorite of his, but this one comes pretty close. I did only get this CD recently, so there's a chance it will grow on me even more. Hearing Jason's recordings makes me want to sprint to the studio and create some new music.

5. BRENDAN BENSON - My Old Familiar Friend

Well, well...another Falkner associate who sings, produces, and plays all the instruments on his albums! Benson is a genius and he hits it out of the park frequently on this album. I'd love to see Benson and Jason Falkner do some more writing and recording together like they were doing years ago...

6. TINTED WINDOWS - Tinted Windows

A brilliant album, but listening to it is a bit like sitting down and eating an entire pail of ice cream by yourself. Thankfully the whole record clocks in at about 35 minutes. This is my children's favorite CD of the year.

7. RHETT MILLER - s/t

His early-aughts album "The Instigator" would chart in my Top Ten albums of the decade (maybe I should make that list next), thanks to production by Jon Brion. Rhett's newest brings back Brion on bass for a few tracks, with songs that are little less sweet than usual, but still make for an engaging listen.

8. PETE YORN & SCARLETT JOHANSSON - Break Up

Pete returns to the Top 10 list, this time duetting with actress Scarlett Johansson. Cool cool songs, nice arrangement, and a true sense of chemistry and fun between the vocalists pouring out of the speakers. This album is an excellent companion to the Mandy Moore album charting up at Number Three, where Mandy duets with Mike Viola. The retro vibe is similar too.

9. MARSHALL CRENSHAW - Jaggedland

Crenshaw is a major lifetime hero of mine, and his newest is a gem. The tunes themselves are pretty dark and complex...no power pop anthems here. This is smart, subdued rock for adults, featuring killer guitar playing and the legendary drumming of Jim Keltner. It'll sneak up on you.

10. SAM PHILLIPS - The Long Play

Not an actual album, necessarily, but an online subscription service costing about $50 per year. Sam provides her subscribers with multiple EPs throughout the year, and the promise of an exclusive full-length album for download later in 2010. So far, the songs available have been winners, especially the acoustic interpretations of Sam classics backed by a string quartet.

Tune in next year for the Best of 2010!

You are invited to arrange and produce a new Jonathan Rundman recording!

2009-12-10T12:44:00.012-06:00

UPDATE, AUGUST 9, 2010: Mark LaForest of the band Flincho has submitted his version of this song! Download it on my Audio Page.

UPDATE: SUMMER 2010: the .wav files have been removed...if you still want to take a stab at a remix, email rundman@gmail.com to request the .wavs

UPDATE, FEBRUARY 29, 2010: Richard Bruxvoort-Colligan has submitted his version of this song!

++++

Many of you loyal readers and music fans are also musicians and recording hobbyists yourselves. Knowing that, here is a fun little experiment I have always wanted to try:

YOU are invited to be the arranger and producer for a previously unreleased Jonathan Rundman recording!

Here's the idea:

1. you download the vocal track and drum track (in .wav format) for an unreleased version of my song "The Sound Of The Cicadas"

2. you import those .wav files into your recording software (ProTools, GarageBand, or whatever)...feel free to change the file format to .aiff or .mp3 or whatever you normally use

3. You finish the song...add more instrumental tracks, edit the song, chop it up, cut and paste, whatever; and then bounce a final mix of your version of the song

4. Email me an MP3 of your mix of my song. Who knows, I might even blog about it, post it online for the world to hear, link back to your webpage, etc.

That's the plan. I've already heard some folks express interest in this process...we'll see how many potential producers are waiting out there in cyberspace.

Once you've downloaded these files, import them into your recording software and slide the regions to the far left (zero) of your mix window. They should sync perfectly together.

Here are some details on what you've got to work with:

RECORDING HISTORY:

This song "The Sound of the Cicadas" was written in the Fall of 1997, and arranged by me and my cousin Bruce Rundman. We'd play it frequently in concert, but we had no recorded version of it. In the Fall of 2000 Bruce was visiting me at my place in Chicago and we tried a recording of it...we dialed up this drum track on a little '80s-era Yamaha keyboard and recorded it on my digital minidisc 4-track recorder. Then we recorded acoustic guitar and banjo tracks, and finally sang the vocals together on one mic, and in one take! These are the vocal tracks and drum tracks you are downloading now.

Later on I attempted to finish the recording, but I realized that our guitar and banjo tracks were unworthy...too sloppy, out-of-tune, etc. So I was left with a drum machine track, and our double-vocals. These tracks sat unused and unheard for a decade. This past year I was transferring my minidiscs to ProTools and I discovered these two salvageable tracks, and thought the best way to utilize them would be for me to turn them over to the public to complete.

By the way, Bruce and I eventually did record the definitive version of "The Sound of the Cicadas" in the fall of 2005, and that version appears on my album The Best of Jonathan Rundman: 20 Songs from the 20th Century. You can download the song individually at the iTunes Store by CLICKING HERE.

SO, if you'd like to take a crack at arranging and producing this previously-unreleased version of "The Sound of the Cicadas," then be my guest!

Here are some helpful hints as you work on it:

+ the version that you're downloading right now is in the key of E minor and the chords under the vocals are like this:

Em | Em | B7 | Em

Am | Am | Em | Em

If you want a reference to how the song sounds with guitars and stuff, then listen to the version that I mentioned above that you can download on iTunes, BUT be aware that the version on iTunes is in Gm and NOT Em.

+ Of course, if you want to abandon the song's original arrangement and chords, that's fine. Feel free to write a whole new chord structure beneath that melody line.

+ Also, feel free to abandon the cheesy keyboard drum program if you want. I included it here for downloading to make the structure of the song easier to work with, BUT feel free to play live drums, create some kind of electronica loop, or do whatever you want with the drum track. I'm thinking the only necessary part of this project would be the Jonathan/Bruce vocal track.

+ DRUM HELP: Estimated BPM is 126, for those of you using drum loops.

+ And again, feel free to throw out the structure of the song as well. Chop it up, edit it, move verses and choruses around, etc. Go crazy. Just make it sound cool and interesting.

+ Go wild with effects and plugins. Whatever EQs, reverbs, compression, delays, pitchshift, or sound effects you'd like, you're welcome to use.

+ And of course, there are no requirements for instruments. The initial version of "The Sound of the Cicadas" was a Gillian Welch -like minor bluegrass tune, but feel free to play keyboards or add a horn section or sing 18 more vocal parts. Whatever, dude.

+ Lyrics are below. Song credits are as follows:

"The Sound of the Cicadas"

words and music by Jonathan Rundman

c & p 2001 Salt Lady Music (ASCAP)

Have fun with it, and feel free to email me at rundman at gmail dot com if you have any questions.

THE SOUND OF THE CICADAS

seven years of peace and quiet
now we can’t go back
that shadow fell across our state
and now we can’t relax
the noise has kept us up at night
it’s all we talk about
i bet we’ll all remember
the month we had to shout
over the sound of the cicadas

when we got the sad news
it was just like being there
when moses called them locusts down
to rule egyptian air
we got ourselves a rented car
and quietly set out
across a hundred farm fields
without a word to shout
over the sound of the cicadas

at this small town funeral
we watch the big sun setting
but yet we mark our calendars
for a wheaton wedding
yes, life is loud and life is mean
and life is full of doubt
but yet we know a day will come
when we won’t have to shout
over the sound of the cicadas

Lutheran Pastor/Musician Herb Brokering died on Saturday, November 7, 2009

2009-11-09T13:40:00.003-06:00

I only met Herb once, at a book signing he did in the Augsburg Fortress Bookstore at the ELCA Youth Gathering in St. Louis in 2000. Sometimes I tell that story when I'm playing a concert, and I always say "I felt like I was meeting Paul McCartney."

Herb has been a role model of mine since the LBW was published in 1978 and I heard his hymn "Earth and All Stars" for the first time. Not long after that I began to hear stories about Herb at Fortune Lake Lutheran Camp, where I was a camper. Our camp director, Pastor Cy Warmanen, would frequently tell stories about his adventures with Herb on trips behind the Iron Curtain, when they'd play guitar and sing illegal hymns out in public and in the East Berlin subway system, despite armed guards standing around. Those kinds of stories made a big impression on me when I was in middle school.

Later on, when I was in my early 20s, I had the opportunity to make a couple trips myself over to former East Germany and Poland. Frequently when I'd arrive in a village, the locals would show me around and say "Herb Brokering and a group of American youth built this church building" or youth center, or camp site, etc. Herb's impact was staggering, and everybody loved him.

Herb's hymn "Earth and All Stars" is probably the one hymn that I have sung most in my entire life. It's a huge favorite of mine, and I never get sick of it. I've played it in concert ever since I started playing solo two decades ago. In fact, there's even a clip on YouTube of me playing it...I'll post it below. Thanks Herb, for making the world a better place, and much more fun, joyous, and musical.

Free MP3 "German Flag" commemorating the Berlin Wall anniversary

2009-11-06T19:13:00.006-06:00

On November 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall came down. I remember being on tour with a Lutheran youth singing group and seeing the images on the front page of a newspapers in those vendor boxes they have at gas stations. I was only 18, so I didn't appreciate the gravity of the situation at the time.

A year later the situation in reunited Germany took on personal significance for me because the band I was in had been booked on a three month tour in former West and East Germany. By Summer of 1991, just nineteen months after the Wall fell, I was in Berlin myself walking along what was left of that concrete barrier.

In early 1991, before the trip to Germany, I had the idea to write a song connecting German reunification to a romantic drama. I remember staying up late at night after playing a concert in American Falls, Idaho (I was sleeping in an RV in somebody's driveway), and writing out

song lyrics for "German Flag."

After the Europe tour, and return to the states, I finally got around to writing some guitar riffs and vocal melodies to go with my lyric idea, and by 1993 I had a cassette 4-track demo recorded of the song. By Summer of 1994 I was recording my second album Wherever at This Here Studio in Iowa, and I recorded a stripped-down acoustic version of "German Flag" with drummer Lowell Michelson playing a small drum kit and various percussion instruments. The song appeared on the Wherever album, and I played the song regularly for a few years.

When the Wherever album went out of print in the late '90s I retired the song "German Flag" and it vanished from my setlists. I always had a positive feeling towards the song, however...it was one of the more advanced compositions that I came up with in those early years. Some pretty involved lyrical symbolism, a modal melody and chord structure (phrygian or what?), and an alternate chorus that appears after the second verse. It always seemed to me that the song deserved a big electric-band interpretation.

In 2005 I was working on what would become the album Protestant Rock Ethic, and drummer Lowell Michelson was at my house doing percussion tracks. Lowell had played on the original version of "German Flag," so I knew that he knew the song...it was the perfect opportunity to capture a new recording of it. Lowell's drumming was excellent, as always, and I saved his performance on my computer for future use.

Finally, after putting "German Flag" on the back burner for another few years, I finally got around to completing it in 2009, eighteen years after I started writing the song. This past January I was working in my friend Dave's home studio (where I had recorded most of Public Library in 2003) and I added guitar and bass to Lowell's drum track. Then, this past August while in my hometown of Ishpeming, MI, I set up my laptop in the now-empty house of my Grandparents and recorded vocals and tambourine. The song was done! My long-time mixing engineer John Simshauser mixed the song yesterday. And here it is, just in time to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Download the song at my Audio Page, and read the lyrics below:

GERMAN FLAG

words and music by Jonathan Rundman

cp1994 Salt Lady Music (ASCAP)

you say those words to me as we talk about the past

you say that it don't matter anymore

you say that we can set aside the way we used to be

forget about the way it was before

there's unity on paper but tension in the air

if I said this would be easy I'd be lying

it's a different kind of love now with a whole lot more to lose

the German flag is what I think we're flying

one plus one is one now, they say that's how it goes

when the banner hanging over you is love

I don't want to lose myself when I lose myself in you

I see other colors flying up above

German flag, black as ink on paper

German flag, red like my tired eyes

German flag, gold like the ring on my finger

I'm hoping and I'm praying we survive

if you drew a map of us maybe you could see

we can be together and apart

'cause I can't stand to see the loss of our identities

and I can't afford another broken heart

there's unity on paper but tension in the air

if I said this would be easy I'd be lying

it's a different kind of love now with a whole lot more to lose

the German flag is what I think we're flying

"Continental Divide" performed by Jonathan Rundman and band

2009-11-03T22:14:00.002-06:00

Here's a YouTube clip of one of my favorite original songs, "Continental Divide." John Kerns (bass), Troy Alexander (drums), and I performed this back in August at The Beat Coffeehouse in Uptown, Minneapolis, MN. I'm really pleased with our performance.

This peppy little number was co-written by me and my cousin Bruce Rundman back in the Summer of 1996. We were playing at a convention at Finlandia University in Hancock, MI (the birthplace of both of us) and we stayed up late one night and wrote the song. Bruce had the title and concept, inspired by his internship in North Dakota where he spent some time serving as the late-shift chaplain at the State psychiatric hospital. We loaded the lyrics with sneaky references...for example, the "Delco Radio" and the "four-door Buick" are shout-outs to our Grandpa Rundman who drove that car. And I love the random mention of Baltimore!

I was searching Google Images on the continental divide when I was surprised to find a photo of the actual road sign we describe in the song, with the same elevation number: "standing here at 1490"

The recording that appears on my Best of the 20th Century album is one of my favorite recorded moments as well. In August of 2000, right after the release of the Sound Theology album, I traveled back to Upper Michigan with my Sony Minidisc 4-track recorder, and captured my brother Tim playing the drum part in Ishpeming, and I drove up to South Range to get Bruce's vocal. Later I added harmony vocals and electric guitar, and much later in about 2005 I had John Kerns play bass. It's a simple, but hard rocking recording, and I never get tired of listening to it.

CONTINENTAL DIVIDE

500 miles from line to line
a thousand weather vanes
i think i've seen this place before
northern central plains
long nights at the hospital
long days out of touch
never thought she'd lie to me
never thought i'd lose so much

at the continental divide
east and west collide
and every road i tried led to somewhere
now i know she lied
and still i can't decide
at the continental divide going nowhere

it's a long way to baltimore
and straight down a quarter mile
i could call there for advice
but i never dial
stading here at 1490 i expected more
but all i got was endless grain
and nothing more than poor

i don't even think about her
i don't even care
out here in this nothingland
another mile square
i got a delco radio
i use to keep me sane
i got a four-door buick
in the open outside lane

Facebook is killing this blog.

2009-11-03T21:22:00.004-06:00

I don't recall exactly when I started using Facebook. Maybe around Christmastime of last year?

Anyway, in 2009 I noticed that Facebook was THE best way for me to promote concerts, share updates with fans from the road, talk about my musical work and family life, etc. Plus it's waaaay faster and easier than blogging. So I've not been very motivated to slog it out on the blog lately.

However, I continue to be inspired by the bloggers I do encounter. Last month I went to an emerging church conference called Christianity 21 and there I heard from dozens of folks who are serious bloggers, and who really do nice online writing. And I have friends and acquaintances, too, who write excellent blogs. The new post from Nate Houge is a fine, fine example.

So what is the future of Protestant Blog Ethic? I think it'll continue to be a place where I post and comment on YouTube clips (watch for a new clip of my band playing "Continental Divide" coming later this evening), and I suppose I'll always resurface for the occasional long and detailed rant, when the content won't fit in a Facebook status update. If you want regular and concise updates about my musical adventures, my best suggestion is to become a FAN at my Facebook musician Page.

Of course, I'd love to have the time to blog seriously each day. I've got pages and pages of content in my brain just waiting to blow. Some things I'd love to dig into:

+ the big vote at ELCA Churchwide Assembly this past August

+ reviews of my favorite albums

+ thoughts on the music industry

+ discussions on the craft of songwriting/recording

If any of you reading this are big showbiz/media sugardaddies, and you'd like to pay me full time to blog (and help me cover a few hours of childcare each day), help me be an online journalist, seek out and cultivate readership, etc., I'd love to do it. Email me at rundman@gmail.com if you'd like to make me the next Diablo Cody. Or whatever. Until then, I'll try to maintain my indie-folk showbiz career while changing the preschooler's diapers and getting my kindergartener off to the bus stop. And maybe blogging once in a while.

My song used in World Yo-Yo Contest competition

2009-08-30T16:11:00.001-06:00

Mike Hout from Ohio has been a big supporter of my music for many years. He's also one of the best jugglers and yo-yo experts in the country. Here he is earlier this month competing at the World Yo-Yo contest (Spinning Top, specifically), with my song "No One Does The Things My Lord Can Do" from the Protestant Rock Ethic album as his soundtrack. Oh, and he's competing on stilts, as well.

Maybe I should retitle the song "No One Does The Things Mike Hout Can Do."

As a songwriter, it's really incredible to see how the songs take on a life of their own after they're released to the public. I never could've imagined my music being a part of an event like this! Thanks, Mike!

My song "Minneapolis" being used as transition music for PGA Tour TV broadcast!

2009-08-14T15:04:00.005-06:00

My phone has been ringing this past hour, with people telling me that my song "Minneapolis" is being used as transition music during the television broadcast of the PGA Golf Tournament! Yee haw!

Different friends of mine have heard the song at different times, so I'm hoping the producers will be using the song throughout this entire weekend's broadcast of the tournament.

If you're planning on watching it, keep your ears peeled for the song, and email me with the details of when and where it was used!

If you've never heard my music before, but you searched out the song online, please check out info on my music career at http://www.jonathanrundman.com

The song being used for the PGA Tour broadcast is called "Minneapolis" and it's from my album Sound Theology. You can buy the album from me, or at Amazon, or download it at the iTunes music store.

Below are the lyrics for the song, the shortest song I've ever written:

MINNEAPOLIS

yeah it's fine

we all got friends there

the men are polite

the women have blonde hair

but when people move there

they never leave there

minneapolis

words and music by Jonathan Rundman, CP 2000 Salt Lady Music (ASCAP)

My version of the Styx song "Come Sail Away" appears on cover song blog!

2009-08-13T14:28:00.006-06:00

A year or so ago I discovered a really cool music blog that specializes in folky cover tunes, Cover Lay Down. I've been introduced to some great acts and awesome recordings on this site, and I'm pleased to announce that this week they're featuring me, along with some other excellent folk artists like Richard Shindell, Ollabelle, and Tim O'Brien.

The cover song of mine is "Come Sail Away," originally by Styx, and taken from the Styx Tribute album Too Much Time On Our Hands, released back in 2003. CLICK HERE to go to Cover Lay Down and download the MP3, which will be available for a short period of time.

If you like my version of this Styx classic, I'd encourage you to buy the album itself, by clicking here and getting it from my webpage. The tribute CD features some amazing covers by some of my favorite musicians and friends, including Beki Hemingway, Echelon, Jeff Krebs, Dag Juhlin, and my personal fave on the album, Tom Freund and Jon Brion doing "Blue Collar Man."

Recent appearances in Lutheran publications

2009-08-08T09:29:00.003-06:00

My wife, Dr. Dawn Rundman, and I have each appeared in Lutheran church publications this Summer, and one blurb is even driving traffic to this here blog, so I thought I'd let my readers know what's been cookin'.

Dawn wrote an article for the July/August issue of the magazine Lutheran Partners. The piece is called "Ministry for the Sippy Cup Set" and you can click here to read it. Also included in that issue is Dawn's helpful list for "Building Bible Literacy In Kids" which you can read by clicking here.

As for me, I just got a shout-out in the July/August issue of Seeds for the Parish, a resource newspaper for Lutheran congregations that's published six times per year. The issue contains a feature on Lutheran blogs, including this very one, Protestant Blog Ethic. Check out the article which can be read here, courtesy of blogger Pastor Chris Duckworth at Lutheran Zephyr.

Dawn and I are always appreciative of the support we've received from our denomination and its media outlets. We love organzied religion!

I was a judge for the Colgate Country Showdown!

2009-07-06T09:19:00.002-06:00

On July 4th I got to be a judge for the Colgate Country Showdown, sort of a country-radio version of American Idol. The winners advance to the regionals, and then national competition where they get to sing in Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium with Leann Rimes.

Here I am with the other judges, both professional singers. Bobby, the guy in the middle, toured as a backup singer for Kenny Rogers and had some interesting stories.

We heard 16 contestants (14 of them who were women, only 2 men) and they ranged from pretty lame to pretty awesome. And some just pretty. I heard more Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood songs than I'd ever heard in my life previously. A few of the teenaged beauty-pageant types were loaded with potential: a couple more years of experience, some guitar lessons, and a good producer, and we could have some stars on our hands.
Here's Anna Reynolds, my favorite performer of the day. An 18 year old with a real hippie vibe, and a great voice not unlike Allison Moorer. Deep vocals, with a lot of vibrato...kind of a surprising sound coming out of her. Her image was not "mainstream country" but she was definitely the coolest act in the competition. Unfortunately the other judges must not have appreciated her, 'cause she didn't even make the top 3, despite my high score.

The winner was a Tim McGraw clone who had the country-stud image down perfectly (including the giant hat), and a truly incredible singing voice, complete with all the twang and yelps and honkeytonk hiccups. He was my third-highest vote getter. He'll go on to compete in the regionals.

It was nice to see some young Yoopers pursuing their showbiz dreams!

Piispani, ole hyvä!

2009-05-23T12:51:00.001-06:00

Church-nerds in America may have seen the "Take My Bishop" application on Facebook, where you can forward a photo of your own area Pastor-to-the-Pastors to anybody you want.

Apparently this same Application has been created for Bishops in Finland, and this YouTube video has been posted as well.

The background music is "No Matter" by Lost And Found from their Something Different album. I produced that recording, and that's me you hear on bass, and Pastor Lowell Michelson on drums, in addition to George Baum on piano and Michael Bridges on electric guitar. Cool connections abound!

"The Princess..." performed in 1999!

2009-05-11T20:05:00.002-06:00

Continuing the series of video posts from the orchestra show I played 10 years ago when I lived in Chicago.
Credits are:

Performed on March 25, 1999, at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Oak Park, IL.
MUSICIANS:
Jonathan Rundman: accordion, vocals;
Andy Deitrich: snare;
Benji Derrick: acoustic guitar;
Matt Marohl: mandolin;
Kym Spilker: violin;
Charity Caldwell: viola;
Jane Deitrich: upright bass;
Christopher Warmanen: oboe;
The studio version of this song appeared on the 1997 Jonathan Rundman album "Recital," and a remixed version appears on the 2007 album "The Best of Jonathan Rundman: 20 Songs From The 20th Century."

detailed interview at "Killing the Buddha," and extra questions below

2009-05-06T19:20:00.001-06:00

Last month the online religion magazine Killing The Buddha published what is probably the most in-depth interview with me that's ever been conducted. The journalist was Canadian writer Anthony Easton who asked me a ton of really good questions. We had a lot of fun digging into a whole bunch of issues. CLICK HERE to read the official interview.

As if the officially published interview wasn't detailed and strange enough, I happen to have the copies of some other questions I was asked that were edited out of the final version. You can read them below. Thanks to Anthony and the KTB folks for such an interesting discussion! (By the way, this interview was conducted in August of 2008.)

So, the first question that my editor asked me to ask, he is worried that you are not nearly famous enough for a feature. How famous are you exactly?

Paul Westerberg has a great lyric that goes “they ask him ‘are you famous?’ / ‘you’ve answered that, you know’.” My answer would be, not very. However, I think that whatever fame I’ve accumulated is thanks to niche appeal. Among Gen-X Lutherans in church leadership roles, I’m pretty well known. There’s some overlap in the other mainline denominations as well. I’m also getting some wonderful support from the Finnish-American community, who are just discovering me in the past year or so. One sub-set of folks who I’m always glad to have interested in my work are those people who follow suspiciously Christian fringe-Americana bands like Vigilantes of Love, Victoria Williams, Over the Rhine, Bruce Cockburn, etc.

You are a member of ELCA, which is is considered the more liberal of the Lutheran synods. Do you notice a leveling off or a decline of membership? Do you think the mainline protestant denominations are dying? What do you make of the conservative instinct, that suggests this is because of a lack of moral rigor?

In my travels around the country, I don’t notice the decline, although all the statistics say that it’s happening. I don’t think the membership shrinkage can be blamed on “liberalism”...what I’ve seen is that the proudly liberal and the proudly conservative congregations are growing. I think that any place that clearly, publicly takes a stand in either direction will draw new people. My own congregation here in the Twin Cities is one of the most progressive in the ELCA, and our membership is booming. We’re having trouble finding places for people to sit on Sunday mornings. Seems to me that the way to drive away your members is to be passionless and boring and have nothing challenging to say in any direction.

And if that is the case, what do you make of Ratzinger circling the wagons, and the Episcopalians in the middle of schism, considering you were founded as heretical?

I don’t know much about the Catholic situation, but it’s interesting watching the Anglican community dealing with their issues. I suppose it could be a preview of what could happen to us Lutherans. One thing I like about the ELCA is that our relatively young denomination is the result of a couple hundred years of denominational mergers...different kinds of Lutherans agreeing to team up. It would be a drag to introduce a split after such a nice run of cooperation. We move really really slow when it comes to social issues, and that’s annoying for us progressives, but I do think we’re making headway. I guess we can learn from the Catholics that a couple decades of waiting and studying is nothing when you look back across 2000 years of church history.

You talk about how Christian rock is profoundly white, and that you want to work against that, but if there is anything more white then Christian rock (of the Jars of Clay school), its indie rock. Is there a lack of diversity, in both categories? Do you find that a concern, and if you do find it a concern, how do you work on it?

I remember when I gave that “white” quote...it was to a writer from the Illinois Entertainer who was interviewing me about my Sound Theology album. It was a phone interview, and the comment just came out of my mouth...I wish I never said it, ‘cause my problems with Christian Culture don’t really have anything to do with race. Although, I’ve been denominationally influenced (some might say brainwashed) by the values of the ELCA since I was a child, so I can’t help but try to be as inclusive as possible in my own music and presentation.

You’re right, both CCM and Pitchfork-rock are pretty white. If I had to compare, I think indie rock is the whiter of the two. I’m not sure it’s a concern that indie rock is “too white.” The bands reflect the audience, and vice versa. What I think is really strange is how white people have adopted Black Roots music, and young African Americans have not. A year ago or so I saw the Blind Boys of Alabama in concert...they were awesome. The audience was almost entirely white. I bet it would be a similar situation for other old school black artists. When I lived in Chicago my wife worked with black teenagers on the West Side, and we’d talk to them about music, and none of them had ever heard of Chuck Berry or Aretha Franklin.

What is Whiter: Minneapolis, Indie Rock, or being a Lutheran?

Indie Rock wins again. I’ve lived in Minneapolis now for six years, and anyone who thinks Minneapolis is white just needs to go shopping at Target. It’s like a small scale UN in there. I suppose if one’s idea of Lutheran was “the 80 people I see at church every Sunday” then maybe it appears to be white, but I have the privilege of seeing the Lutheran church in its wide scope. I’ve been the interim musician at an all-African American congregation on the West Side of Chicago, I’ve presented music with Lutherans from Palestine, Africa, and India, and within blocks of my house there are Lutheran churches who read the Gospel in Hmong each week. As a kid I remember being so excited to discover songs from around the globe included in our Lutheran hymnal. One of the most fun things about being Lutheran is our awareness of the Christian family on a global scale....not just the folks at our own local congregation.

Also, how different are you from the usual Christian musicians, if you preform at places like Lifest, with Rebecca St. James and Switchfoot? Do you consider yourself active in that part of the community, or as a kind of outlier?

I’m certainly an outlier in the CCM universe. I’ve had a chance to play at Lifest and Cornerstone, two of the big Midwestern Christian Rock fests, but they’re probably the two most flexible of those events. Plus, I only got booked at those events ‘cause I happened to know somebody personally who was booking a certain stage. If I wanted to play at Creation or whatever the other fests are called, I couldn’t even track down a phone number for a booker. I know, because I thought that I should try to play at SonShine, the big festival here in Minnesota, since I’m a local guy, but I couldn’t even find a name or phone number of anybody who was booking it. The CCM world is a self contained universe, and it’s very rare for some indie artist to find a way in.

You opened for Switchfoot though, what do you figure about Christian bands going back into the faith closet after they mainstream themselves?

Yes, I’ve had the chance to open for few big Christian acts, and when I was playing keyboards for Beki Hemingway (who is kind of a Christian alterna-rock legend) I got to do even more shows like that. After playing endless solo shows for 30 people in the church basement, or the grungy bar, it really is fun to have a big PA and a soundman and an audience of a few hundred. I don’t really care if Christian bands cross over to the mainstream audience or not, or go from mainstream to CCM....I say, hey, if somebody wants you to play at their venue, and you wanna do it, then do it. I know that I’m thrilled to play anywhere that somebody will have me. So if I get asked to play some big Christian festival, or go on tour opening for Aimee Mann, I’ll gladly do either one.

Do you have any salacious gossip about Ms. St. James, a peak at her diva like tendencies, an outrageous rider, or is she just that nice?

In my experience schmoozing at the Christian celebrity events, I’ve found that it’s quite difficult to actually meet and hang out with the other artists. Most bands are there together with their own crew and families, and there’s not a lot of “hey, let’s make new friends!” The one thing I will say about the Christian music stars that I’ve been with is that, in general, they’re amazingly, jarringly good looking. The men and the women. And yes, they’re naturally attractive people, but they’re workin’ it, too, you know....they’re really thin and fit, with super trendy clothing, teeth whitener, and $300 haircuts, the whole nine yards. It’s really quite incredible. They’re like a master race.

You have worked, and played extensively at both Christian and secular venues, is there tension between being of the world but not in the world, what are the advantages to playing in places like the Colourbox, versus places like Lifest, or in small clubs versus church basement, and the opposite—which do you prefer?

I’ve done a lot of thinking about this over the years, and I’ve realized that I love both, and hope to be able to be legitimate in both (and all) situations. In the late 90s, before the release of the Sound Theology album, I spent years on the road playing mostly rock clubs and coffee houses, and it got really old. However, if I only played church gigs, that would be equally lame. Club gigs are fun ‘cause the media will actually cover you, preview the show, etc. And it’s wonderful to play a full band show with big loud guitar amps and not worry about the listeners’ ears. Church gigs are great, though, because they’re intergenerational...no club show will have senior citizens and babies in the crowd. And church audiences actually listen to every word you say and sing. I never really think about the “in but not of” issue...it’s natural for Lutherans to just exist in the world, wherever they are, as people of faith. Lutherans don’t bust things up into “sacred” and “secular.” Of course, as a performer, I always try to be aware of who my audience is, but I just do my thing...I play hymns in rock clubs, and I play love/life/politics songs at church.

One of your most memorable lyrics is "my faith is not erotic, my faith is not neurotic, my faith is not psychotic," which i found really interesting, because you have a talent for tender songs that are incredibly erotic. Do you find that there is any intermingling between the erotic feelings that you write about, and your relationship with God? It seems to be a very Lutheran ideal, one that is earthbound, not mystical at all, is that fair? Or did you just need a rhyme for narcotic, neurotic, psychotic, or robotic? And sometimes, isn't faith narcotic, when it relieves pain and gives comfort? Or do you consider that every day of survival, of experience, is a miracle, and that miracle, the miracle of existence, is considered a mystical awareness?

I have no problem with erotic feelings. I just get the heebie-jeebies when Christians totally bury their sexual selves, and so the only outlet they have for it is in “praise and worship” situations. Sometimes I’ll catch a late night TV infomercial for a Praise and Worship music CD and they’ll show a sports arena filled with thousands of middle aged women totally blissing out in orgasmic delight as they sing “Shout to the Lord” or whatever, and it gives me the creeps. Not everybody’s faith manifests itself that way, so I wrote that song “You Don’t Speak For Me” to represent another way of living out an authentic spiritual life. The same is true for the other words in the song, “narcotic,” “psychotic,” and “robotic.” I sing “my faith is not narcotic” to provide an alternative to all the Jesus-as-drug references in Christian culture...I’m always annoyed when Christians use the language of addiction to describe their faith, like the term “Jesus freak” or “high on Jesus” or that whole Pentecostal movement in where everybody starts laughing and falling over and acting drunk. My favorite fruit of the Spirit (from Galatians) is “self-control” so I wanted to be sure that self-control got some props in a culture filled with religious “freaks.”

Some questions about Sound Theology: Can you tell some anecdotes, find some context, about the song "Loneliness to Happiness," I find personally it is so far away from my personal experience, that I wanted to know why you found that?

I’ve lived a charmed life. No childhood trauma. Happy family. My dreams of being a musician are being realized. My children are healthy. I’m very thankful for how things have worked out, and I don’t take it for granted. All this, though, and I’ve found that it’s nothing I can share openly without sounding like a jerk. I remember once I was having dinner with a group of friends, and I was commenting about how excited I was to be going out on tour, and I had a chance to play some really great shows, etc. One of my friends got really mad and said “Some of us hate getting up and going to work every day, you know....I hate my job, and I hate doing it, and I don’t need to hear about how great it’s gonna be for you to go off on tour.” I was shocked and embarrassed, to say the least. Another example: my wife had healthy and easy pregnancies with our children, but I’ve discovered that I can never state that fact in public because so many couples struggle with getting pregnant, or if they are pregnant, they have lots of sickness and complications. So this moment of great joy that we’ve experienced has to be hidden. It’s the loneliness of happiness.

Have you succeeded in your prayer not to backslide into anger and contempt, at this failing rock star attempt? Do you still want to be a rock star?

I still entertain the rock star fantasy, but now that I’m 37 with a couple of kids, it doesn’t matter to me as much. And I know that I missed my window...if it was gonna happen, it would’ve happened a decade ago. Thankfully, I haven’t slid into anger and contempt. A good reality check for me is to watch the exploits of the celebrities on the tabloid magazines in the grocery store checkout aisle...it’s proof over and over and over again that fame and money do not bring happiness. I also have enough perspective to know how good I have it...I can make my living as an independent musician, I make the albums I want to make, I have a nice base of supporters who are interested in my work, I can travel around the country playing my songs, and nobody tells me what I can or cannot do. It’s really the best situation anyone could ask for.

You have spoken against the stupidity and commodity spectacle and much current American protestant forces. You refer to it as creating monsters. Do you have any suggestions that make traditional Christian texts alive again, to young Christians?

This is so tricky. I don’t know. I was in a confirmation class of about 30 kids. We all heard the same stuff, read the same Bible verses, sang the same hymns, knew the same Pastors and leaders. I loved it. Most of the kids were bored to tears. I’m still a part of the church. I bet about two thirds of my confirmation class are gone for good. Why do some people “get it” and others don’t? I think the answer might be in education....for some reason, I understood WHY we were saying and doing and learning that stuff. Most kids, and most folks in the pew, have no clue why we recite certain things, why the Pastor wears a dress, why the altar colors are purple during Lent, why we read certain Bible verses on certain days. There are specific reasons for every little thing we do in church, and I think they’re wonderful and beautiful and deep and helpful reasons....but most people don’t know it. To them it’s empty tradition. Or worse, they don’t know why we do it, but they come to idolize the rituals themselves, and get horribly stuck in a rut of repetition, inflexibility, and intolerance. One of the reasons I’m so excited about going out to play my own songs is that by bashing my guitar and yelling about liturgy and hymns and order, I can uncover those core meanings in a fresh way for some folks in my audience. Frequently I get emails or comments from folks saying “I’ll never think of Ash Wednesday the same way again” or “I’ve sung that hymn my whole life, but I’ve never paid attention to the lyrics until tonight!”

How lonely is the Midwest, in songs like "Omaha," you make it sound like a series of absences and spaces of mourning, as do Connor Obrest and Bruce Springsteen. Is there any fun to be had in Nebraska? Can you think of any examples of a kick ass party song about kicking it there?

Rural Midwestern geography has been a recurring theme throughout all my albums, and a lot of good regional artists from Mellencamp to Uncle Tupelo to the Jayhawks have tapped into to those lonely, dreary feelings. For me, it was challenging to grow up in an isolated little Midwestern town, and even now I get a bit of the small town blues whenever I get out of the city and visit places like that. If you want fun, positive songs about rural life in the Heartland, all you need to to is watch country music videos. Sometimes when I’m in a hotel room with cable TV I’ll watch CMT, and I’m amazed at how so many songs are raucous party anthems about “getting back to the country” and “remembering the good old days” with images of dudes on flatbed trucks and combines, strumming guitars, dancing in the wheat fields, and jumping in the old swimming hole, surrounded by a bevy of babes and cases of beer. When it addresses small town USA, country music accentuates the positive, rock music accentuates the negative.

Tell me about why and how much you love Liz Phair? What are you feelings about "HWC" and how did you celebrate the 10th anniversary of Exile in Guyville?

When critics rave about Liz, they only talk about her dirty mouth. The media never mentions what really makes her brilliant...riffs riffs riffs! She’s one of my favorite rock guitarists and composers, and her chord changes and rhythm guitar playing is totally inspiring. I can’t help but think that she wrote that “HWC” song as a total commentary on her own infamy for using foul language...she took her claim to fame, and stretched it to ridiculous lengths, probably just to see what those cuss-loving journalists would say about it. I didn’t buy the Exile anniversary reissue...not enough bonus tracks. I think my all-time favorite Liz album is Whitechocolatespaceegg.

How has the indie scene in Chicago differ from the one in Minneapolis?

I’m not sure. When I lived in Chicago I was a pretty active participant in the scene...I was out seeing shows numerous times a week, playing tons of clubs, and I got to know a lot of people. When I moved here to Minneapolis I became a parent, so my evenings were instead spent changing diapers and trying to sleep.

Larry Norman yes or no?

I’ve never heard Larry’s music, and don’t have any of his albums, although occasionally I get compared to him. My friend Beki Hemingway was Larry’s backup singer for a few years, and this Summer I sat in with Beki’s band and we did a tribute to Larry...one of his songs called “Why Don’t You Look in to Jesus.” It was the first Larry Norman song I’d ever heard, and it was pretty rocking.

Danielson Famile, yes or no?

Never heard them either. Although people tell me I should watch that movie about them. I never listen to Christian rock, or suspiciously-Christian Indie Rock. I prefer the suspiciously-Christian rock of the ‘80s and ‘90s: Maria McKee, T Bone Burnett, Peter Case, Sam Phillips, Tonio K, Bruce Cockburn.

Just how Christian is Sufjan Stephens? Are you envious of his success in the middle west?

I’ve only heard one Sufjan song...a Christmas one. It’s on my iPod. It’s a pretty cool song. And I want to get his Michigan and Illinois albums ‘cause I’ve lived in both those states. I recorded a song back in 1997 called “Front Row at the Fashion Show” where I sang quietly over a banjo and trombone, and this year the song got licensed for airplay in all the Starbucks Coffee locations around the world. After that, a couple people said to me “Hey, you must be influenced by Sufjan Stevens.” It was kind of annoying ‘cause my song was written and recorded a decade ago, way before Sufjan was around. So that’s my only beef with him.

Do you think that being explicit about your faith makes you more money, less money? Do you play "We're Creating Monsters" at FinnFest, for example? In an incredibly practical way, how do you feed your kids doing this sort of thing? Does it become a voluntary vow of poverty?

I didn’t realize it was going to happen at the time, but my entire career changed when I made my first faith-explicit album. It was the Sound Theology project, and when that came out it really launched me to a new level of visibility, and income. Before that album I was sort of a generic pop/folk songwriter, but once I addressed faith-based issues I discovered that I could bring something unique to the table, and a really great audience of interested people popped up all over the country. So when it comes to feeding my kids, and contributing to my family, I owe it all to the church and to church people. They’re the population who makes my vocation possible. My wife Dawn has always had a normal job throughout my entire career, so thankfully I haven’t need to be the only breadwinner.

How does the making music, the touring, the recording, and the like, interfere with your having kids? Especially touring for the last few years, throughout the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden?

It totally and completely interferes. In the decade before I had kids I was on the road about 150 days per year. Then when I became a parent I became a stay-home-Dad during the midweek while my wife is at work. Now I can only tour on weekends, play locally in the evening, and a few weeks during the year I’ll go off on extended tours while my kids are with their Grandparents. But yes, taking care of babies and preschoolers makes touring, writing, and recording nearly impossible. This new album I just released is called Insomniaccomplishments because all the late night feeding and diapering totally messed up my sleep schedule, and I ended up with pretty serious insomnia. Rather than lying awake and bored alone in the dark all night I’d get up and write and record songs instead, so the bulk of this new CD was completed at 3AM while my family was sleeping. The last time I played in Finland and Sweden my wife and 2 year old son came with me. For my gigs in Finland we left our toddler with my cousins while I played, but in Sweden he had to come along to the club. I was playing a show at Club Mondo in Stockholm, which is this giant multi-roomed rock venue and disco, and we had to create a little play area behind the bar where my son could hang out with my wife during my set.

"We all need love, the serious kind"—do you think that occasionally we need love the comic kind?

Maybe in our personal lives, but I think the love we need in society and around the globe is pretty serious business.

What is it like to be a youth worker? Did it emerge organically from the youth group being one of the few things to do in the Upper Peninsula? Was it evangelical work? Or was it a way to keep teenage kids as Christians? When they are in the middle of trying to figure out what it means to be Christian, or if they want to be Christians at all, what are the implications of organizing around them? Is it a way to keep them safe, from stopping thinking outside the margins, to be good Christians, or to challenge them into otherness? What happens when the difficult questions start? What do you do, as a youth worker, if one of your 15 year olds wants an abortion, comes out of the closet, or tells you he is no longer Christian?

I did get interested in working in youth ministry because of my own positive experience as a teenager in a church youth group, and at church camp in the Summers. When I was kid at camp and at youth gatherings I was encouraged to play guitar, get up on stage, be a leader, and develop my gifts...I was given a lot of encouragement back then, and it was the beginning of what would become my life’s work as a musician and songwriter.
I had a very part time job as a youth director in a congregation back when I was 21, right at the beginning of my solo music career. I was never much of an evangelist....my strengths have always been in preaching to the choir. Some people are really good at reaching out to people who aren’t in the church at all, but I’m best at encouraging the people who are already there. I had a squeaky clean career as a youth director...no trips to get kids out of jail, no pregnancies, no abuse, no serious drama. The bulk of my work was just being present...talking, going out for pizza, taking kids to movies and concerts, helping kids plan songs and skits for worship services, planning service projects, taking kids hiking, and just celebrating those small joyful moments of life with them.

The All Music Guide quotes this about you: "Rundman formed a musical vocabulary grounded in the budding strains of Americana/roots rock, Lutheran hymns, traditional American folk music, and '70s rock to present a uniquely eclectic variant of Midwestern roots? I grew up in Alberta, so this part of your All Music Guide, fascinated me. I have a few questions about it. Did you listen to chart country, which was the only station that was available to me sometimes, on trips into the city? Which Lutheran hymns did you sing? Do you still remember them? How did they differ from Episcopalian or Methodist or Catholic, or were there just Lutherans up there? My mother and father only let me listen to folk music until I went away to school when I was 14, was this a similar condition, and if so, do you find Pete Seeger as sanctimonious as I do? Could you find enough weed to make Foghat or Frampton palatable? Is there a rock scene there, like the straight edge scene in Provo, filled with kids who had nothing else to do?

I never listened to country music on the radio as a kid. My parents mostly had Top 40 on the radio, and in the car we listened to 8-track tapes of Simon & Garfunkel and Kenny Rogers. I got my own radio in my bedroom when I was 5 years old, and because of that I know every pop single from 1975 until 1988. Lutheran hymns were a big deal to me as a kid. Our denomination got a new hymnal in 1978, and I grew to love all those songs. Lutherans around the USA still sing from that repertoire. Our town had Methodists and Catholics and everyone else, but I don’t know what they were singing. It was before the “praise band” trend, so I think everybody had an organist or pianist back then. When I first started playing guitar in church in the late 80s, it was still a pretty novel idea. I have an uncle who collects 78 RPM records from the Depression, so as a young teenager I got really into listening to old country songs by The Carter Family, and my cousin and I learned all those songs on guitar. I never heard Pete Seeger back then, but the local radio was filled with Rust Belt arena rock: Foghat, Ted Nugent, Bob Seger, etc., plus the hair metal of the day. There was no rock scene at all. This was pre-Nirvana, so kids in my town weren’t learning to play guitar. I was one of the only kids in the whole school who played a rock-band instrument, and the only boy who dared to sing in public. I got teased and called “fag” because I played the piano and was a serious band geek. In the mid-80s I discovered the developing scene of “neo-traditionalist” rock bands, and got really into groups like The Silos, The Rainmakers, The BoDeans, Fire Town, Violent Femmes, and others who were playing proto-Americana. I was literally the only kid in town who liked this music...I would save up my money, and when my church youth group would attend big youth events in Chicago I’d rush off to the record store and buy all the albums that were unavailable in the Upper Peninsula.

Also, speaking of Provo, growing up LDS, i came to believe that my peoples casseroles and jell-o salads were superior, my Lutheran friends tell me that they have better ones. Any opinions? Any exciting recipes for either?

Culturally speaking, I’m a bad Lutheran. Lutherans are supposed to love coffee, casserole, jello, beer, and sitting in the back row....but I don’t like any of those things.

How is a protestant rock ethic the same and how is it different from a protestant work ethic?

One of my proudest moments is coming up with that album title Protestant Rock Ethic but I think the joke is lost to almost everyone. The “protestant work ethic” that we have here in America has been taken to such an extreme that many American Christians can’t grasp the idea that God’s love for us is a free gift, regardless of our good work. So I thought I’d diffuse the idea, by replacing the word “work” with the word “rock,” which I think is a really funny joke.

Your "Texas Kyrie" has an energy, and an almost desperation, that other Kyries lack. Did you think about Texas when making it? Are you doing any other state Kyries? What would a North Dakota Kyrie sound like, a California one?

Actually, that song was not one of my commissioned works. I wrote it as a songwriting challenge, to see if I could create liturgical music that could be played by full band without rehearsal, and that could be sung by a congregation without sheet music or any printed text. That’s why the chord progression is a loop, and why the response is an echo. It’s called “Texas Kyrie” because I had a gig at Concordia University in Austin, TX, and after my show I was staying in the campus’ guest apartment. That night I stayed up late writing the song, and I didn’t want to title it just “Kyrie,” so I named the piece after the state I was in at the time. The song appeared soon after on my Sound Theology album, and I discovered that there was a huge interest out in the church for rock-band based liturgical music, so eventually I composed the rest of what would become my Heartland Liturgy.

How exciting is the American Swedish Institute?

Every year that I get older, the more excited I get about my ethnic heritage. My wife is Swedish and I’m Finnish, and we’re both learning more and more about our family backgrounds. My relatives came to America in 1903, and they brought their faith with them. I’ve been able to go back to Finland, to those little towns where they came from, and I’ve stood in their old church buildings and seen my family names on the gravestones over there. It’s pretty powerful.

In your song, "Meeting Nixon", you write "Somehow, somewhere, something/down the line/we will be meeting Nixon, Meeting Nixon/When we go to the White House in the sky": Do you really think that Nixon went to heaven? I always thought that he was one of the minor princes in hell, brought to earth in a Faustian bargain, engineered by Kissinger. Was this an oblique reference to Luther's "by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone"? Do you really want to meet him? What would you say to him?

Yes, I think the song is trying to remind people that we get to heaven because of God’s love for us, not because of how wonderfully we’ve behaved. It’s fun to sing about Richard Nixon, but the I don’t think of the song being about him specifically....it’s really about all presidents and politicians, and how God’s love transcends all the political divisions that we spend so much time and money and energy worrying about. It’s a good reality check in an election year, especially.

Insomniaccomplishments CD review in Christian Century magazine

2009-05-04T20:41:00.002-06:00

The May 5th issue of Christian Century magazine features a review of my Insomniaccomplishments CD, along with reviews of the new U2 and Billy Bragg projects. Click to read the whole thing.

The text for the review is below. A shout-out for Beki Hemingway, and a mention of Matt Patrick's delicious production work on "I thought you were mine!"

Jaunty Minneapolis Lutheran-rocker Jonathan Rundman returns with an album spurred by bouts of insomnia. The sleepless nights were worth it, as Rundman demonstrates on a delicious minor-key rock hymn "If You Have a Question": "When you lie awake at 3 a.m., trouble running through your mind / You don't need to be afraid to ask, you can leave your fear behind." The prolific Rundman delivers 18 solid songs. He's joined by Denver singer-songwriter Beki Hemingway on the tender ballad "I Thought You Were Mine"; listen for the instrumental break teaming toy piano with mellotron.

NEW SONG "Flying On A Plane" free MP3 download

2009-04-11T10:10:00.002-06:00

For my entire musical life I've been very secretive about any new songs. I've kept them all safely under wraps until I can record them and release them on an official album. Only then have I been comfortable with the public hearing my fresh material.

These days, for some reason, I feel different about it. Maybe because I don't have any plans for a new album in the near future. Whatever the reason, last month I was excited to leak an MP3 of a new song called "Robert Traver Blues," and this month I've posted another song for download called "Flying On A Plane." This newest tune was written and recorded only a few days ago on April 1st when I was on Spring Break.

The song took fourteen years to compose. Back in 1995 Dawn and I flew to Poland from Seattle. While we were crossing the Atlantic I got bored, and I felt like writing, but I had no writing utensil. So I asked the passenger ahead of me if he had a pen I could borrow. He gave me a pen, and I started writing off the top of my head, with my internal editor turned off. The result was a few strange rhyming verses on a yellow legal pad. I tore out that page, stuck it in my songwriting book, and forgot about it for 14 years.

Then, a week ago when I was on Spring Break in my hometown of Ishpeming, I wanted to use my free time to come up with some new music. These days I have no lyric ideas, so I dug through my lyric book to see if there was anything interesting within to salvage. I discovered the wrinkled old sheet of yellow legal paper from that airplane flight back in 1995, and BOOM, I had my idea. The only thing I needed was a chorus, and it didn't take long to come up with a good angle.

Within a couple hours I had set up my brother's pawn-shop keyboard, programmed in a cool, stompy bass and drum track, and overdubbed some vocals, mandolin, and guitar.

The song reflects on how some of the technology we use is ancient (writing with a tool on a surface, "like the Mesolithic Age"), and some is incredibly sophisticated and amazing (flying across the sky inside a metal tube). And we interchange these technologies without even thinking about it.

You can download the song at my AUDIO PAGE.

Lyrics are below:

FLYING ON A PLANE
Words and music by Jonathan Rundman
cp 2009 Salt Lady Music (ASCAP)

I borrowed this pen from the passenger
In front of me on this plane
He’ll never see his pen again
He does not know my name
We’re cutting through the clouds and beginning our descent
Down to dirt and trees and streets, water and cement

Flying on a plane
Writing on a page
Scratching out a message
Like the Mesolithic Age
Such technology
I struggle to explain:
Ink upon paper
Flying on a plane

Tons of glass and steel and fire
Paper, flesh, and sound
Push against the gravity
Cursing at the ground
Letters ain’t no better than a pictograph
Turn and angle down with the power cut in half

The woman with the silver bracelet
Reaches upward for her reading light
There are older men in suits and ties
On her left and on her right

live performance of "Johnny Horton" from 1999!

2009-04-07T20:02:00.003-06:00

Continuing the series of YouTube videos recorded in concert back in 1999 at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Oak Park, IL, I'm pleased to present this solo acoustic performance of my song "Johnny Horton."

This song is a favorite of mine, but has become sort of a rarity in my catalog. It was written in Spring of 1999, right around the taping of this concert. A few months later I would begin the recording of the Sound Theology album, and in Spring of 2000 I made the only studio recording of "Johnny Horton"...the only song recorded in that period that did not appear on the Sound Theology album.

Instead "Johnny Horton" it was released on the now-super-rare Trunkstock Sampler CD, featuring me and other songwriters from Chicago (including Beki Hemingway!). Later on in 2000 and 2001 the song became a regular part of the set list when I would perform with Chicago musicians Benji Derrick (bass), Andy Deitrich (drums), and Matt Marohl (pedal steel).

In 2003 I remixed the studio recording of "Johnny Horton" and the updated version appeared on the Salt Lady Records Extra Credit CD sampler, which is still available for only $5!

The song is inspired by 1950's-era country/rockabilly singer Johnny Horton, who was born on April 30, 1925. In honor of Johnny's birthday this month, I send this one out to him! The lyrics are below:

"Johnny Horton"
words and music by Jonathan Rundman
cp 2000 Salt Lady Music (ASCAP)

the car pulled up and I got in
we shut the doors and went
Johnny Horton on the radio
talkin' 'bout the Old Testament
Johnny never let his guard down
and he died out in his car
and I can hear him even to this day
I wonder if he knew he'd go so far

Why do you think we were up so late?
What was that spirit blowing through us?
Why did we lie there talking 'til the sun came up?
Maybe Johnny Horton spoke right to us

I think about our situation
I think about our life
you are strong and beautiful
just like Johnny's wife
you know if I had a fortune
I would give it all to you
but until then we'll stay up talking
and you know my love is true

I'm the guest on nationally syndicated radio show "Grace Matters"

2009-04-01T11:55:00.001-06:00

On March 29 I'll be the guest on "Grace Matters," a nationally syndicated radio show. Visit the "Grace Matters" webpage to learn more, and find the radio stations in your area that broadcast the program.

After the show airs, they'll post a podcast for download.

I taped the interview with host Peter Marty back in January. He's a brilliant guy, and we had a really cool discussion. The show also features a few of my songs, including "Librarian," "Narthex," and "Forgiveness Waltz." Previous guests have included author Jim Wallis, CBS News' Charles Osgood, and Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls!

I'm thrilled with how it turned out, and I hope you all tune in or download the show!

++++

Okay, it's Tuesday now, and the show has aired. You can download it at the Grace Matters website. Check it out!

NEW SONG "Robert Traver Blues" about Ishpeming and "Anatomy of a Murder"

2009-03-09T21:50:00.008-06:00

For the first time in my music career, I'm publicly releasing a brand new song before having it available on an album. A couple months ago, on December 27, 2008, when I was on vacation in my hometown of Ishpeming, MI, I wrote and recorded a new song called "Robert Traver Blues." I'd had the song's concept for a few years, but it wasn't until I was back in Ishpeming in person, and playing my 1918 Gibson tenor banjo, that I was able to finalize my melody and lyrics. Since I was away from my own recording equipment, I used my brother's cassette 4-track recorder to record the song, and what you'll hear on the recording is 3 tracks, all first-take performances, written, recorded, and mixed in about two hours:
1. acoustic guitar and vocals with a keyboard-generated drum loop in the background
2. banjo and harmony vocals
3. more banjo and more harmony vocals
You can visit my AUDIO PAGE to download a free MP3 of the song.

Last month I was having the recording mastered (so that it would sound best for downloading) and as I thought about what to do with the it, I discovered online that 2009 is the 50th Anniversary of the movie "Anatomy of a Murder," the film that is the central concept for the song!
2009 is also the year of my own 20-year high school class reunion, so I've been thinking a lot about Ishpeming lately. Or "Iron City," as Ishpeming is called in the movie.

Here are the lyrics for the song, along with some details about the people I'm singing about.

ROBERT TRAVER BLUES
words and music by Jonathan Rundman
cp2009 Salt Lady Music (ASCAP)

Robert Traver walked the streets of my hometown when I was young
In Iron City, my hometown, the place we both come from

Otto Preminger set up his cameras out on Lakeshore Drive
It was Iron City, my hometown, on the silver screen

Doctor Seaborg got himself an element that bears his name
Yes, Iron City was his birthplace, he won the Nobel Prize

Gerhard Theodore Alexis played and sang and fell in love
In Iron City, my hometown, you can hear his melody

You're gonna go far...

Tell me, can you change the world from somewhere small and far away
like Iron City, my hometown?

John Voelker walked the streets of my hometown when I was young
Iron City, my hometown, the place we both come from

Some words about the people in the song:
ROBERT TRAVER/JOHN VOELKER
Robert Traver was the pen name of Ishpeming-based author John Voelker. He wrote the novel "Anatomy of a Murder" which was made into a movie. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.

When I was very young I was aware of Voelker. My parents and other folks in town talked about him. He lived a few miles down the road from my elementary school, and I remember hearing about him in class, seeing him on local TV, etc. I never got to meet him. He died in 1991.

OTTO PREMINGER
Preminger was not an Ishpeming native, but this famous Hollywood director came to our little town in the Upper Peninsula to shoot the movie version of Voelker's book. Jimmy Stewart was his lead actor. Other Yooper locations (Marquette, Big Bay, etc.) are featured in the film as well. It's really an incredible movie, and you all should see it.

GLENN SEABORG
Born in Ishpeming in 1912, Seaborg was in elementary school with my Grandma. He went on to become a world famous chemist, discovered some elements, was a leading atomic scientist, and won the Nobel Prize. He did so many amazing things you'll have to visit Wikipedia just to get the idea.

Seaborg didn't have anything to do with "Anatomy of a Murder," but John Voelker's work got me thinking about other Ishpeming natives who went on to do amazing things that impacted society at large. My song idea began to evolve, and began to ask "Can you change the world if you're from a small town in the middle of nowhere?" These folks were answering that question with a "Yes."

The last person that I included in the song is someone to whom I really feel connected.
GERHARD THEODORE ALEXIS
Alexis was an influential church musician and composer in the early 1900s, working in the Swedish Lutheran Church (Augustana Synod) that would eventually merge into my current denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. I became familiar with his work when I learned to play a hymn from the old 1950s-era Service Book And Hymnal, the "Red Book" that I sang from as a child. The hymn that I found had a tune called "Ishpeming!" I couldn't believe that my hometown had its own song, so I had to find about the composer, Alexis.
I Googled his name, and found a very comprehensive webpage maintained by Alexis' grandson, David Melbye, also a musician. Turns out that Alexis spent one year in Ishpeming (1910) where he served as the musician at Bethany Lutheran (I bet he was the choir director for Glenn Seaborg's family!), the Swedish congregation in town (the same congregation where my Uncle Lance Roberts would eventually serve as an interim Pastor in 2003!). Alexis fell in love with a Yooper girl that year and married her, and wrote the tune "Ishpeming" in honor of the place where he spent such an important year of his life. As a Lutheran church musician myself, I had to put old G.T. in my song, too. He might be the first person in history to have written a song inspired by Ishpeming.

So, there's the background "Robert Traver Blues." Thanks to Traver/Voelker, Seaborg, and Alexis for the inspiration and for being great vocational role models. If you'd like to check out another song of mine written about Ishpeming, Michigan, check out this vintage live performance video of the song "581" that I just posted.

"581" performed 10 years ago!

2009-03-09T19:40:00.004-06:00

Here’s another clip from a show I played in Chicagoland 10 years ago this month...it was March 25th, 1999. This was our opening tune that night, and I love how the instrumentalists interpreted this song.

That’s Andy Deitrich playing drums, Benji Derrick singing harmony and playing bass (that bass guitar was once owned by John Stirrat of the band Wilco!), and Matt Marohl adding some super tasty pedal steel.

It’s a pretty old tune, written in 1993 in Eugene, Oregon, and recorded for my 1994 album “Wherever” (the CD is out-of-print since about 2000). The song is about County Road 581 that runs South from my hometown of Ishpeming, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I’ve driven/ridden that road thousands of times in my life, traveling 13 miles to my Grandpa’s camp on Big Perch Lake, and I feel like I have every inch of the trip memorized. Here are the lyrics:

581

You want to get to where the pavement ends
You want to watch it as the acres fall
You want to cross the South branch on the narrow bridge
Find a passage to the reservoir
You take 581

Some kind of trouble waiting back in town
You need the county road to take you far away
You take the S-curves to the Wayside
Don’t stop ‘til you leave Faith behind
On 581

Are you farther than you’ve ever been before?
Can you feel the project closing in?
You pass the clearcut and the airfield
Don’t you want to just fly away?
Fly away...
On 581

For those of you Yoopers reading this blog entry, I’ll decipher some of the lyrics:
+ “pavement ends”: the pavement does end, and turns to gravel a bit after Perch Lake and before reaching Casey Lake.
+ “acres fall”: Ishpeming residents may recall the incredible change in the landscape in the late 80s and early 90s when much of the trees along 581 were cut down by loggers.
+ “South branch” of the Escanaba River
+ “reservoir” the Greenwood Reservoir
+ “S-curves” dangerous driving between the Stoneville Road intersection and the Beagle Club Road
+ “the Wayside” landmark tavern just past the S-curves
+ “Faith” Faith Lutheran Church, just past the Wayside
+ “the project” Project ELF (Extra Low Frequency), high-security miliary communications system installed in the woods South of Ishpeming to help submarines, etc., to communicate....rumored to have negative effects on animals and environment
+ “clearcut” more logging
+ “airfield” private airport near Perch Lake, close to the end of the pavement

Check out another video from this same show, the song "When Rising From The Bed of Death."

new book Reinventing Richard Nixon mentions me and my song "Meeting Nixon"

2009-03-04T14:11:00.004-06:00

Daniel Frick is a professor at Franklin And Marshall College in Lancaster, PA, and he has authored a new book entitled Reinventing Richard Nixon. Check out the book at Amazon.

I appear in the book, thanks to my song "Meeting Nixon," in a section of the book called "Nixon in Music and Comedy," along with some legendary rock recordings that also mention Tricky Dick, including:

+ "Ohio" by Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young
+ "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd
+ "Gimme Some Truth" by John Lennon
+ "We Didn't Start The Fire" by Billy Joel

Thanks, Dan, for putting me in such good company!!

Pacific Northwest Tour Summary

2009-03-02T17:49:00.003-06:00

A few days ago I returned to Minneapolis after a fabulous tour of Oregon and Washington. The concerts were great fun, I had many reunions with old friends, and the natural beauty was awe inspiring. I love living in Minnesota, and there are very few places in the USA where I can see myself living, but everytime I return to the Northwest I think "Yes, I could move back here again."

Here's a shot from my steering wheel as I drove from Portland to Camas, Eastbound along the Columbia River. It might be hard to see in this photo, but that's Mount Hood rising up above the highway in the background.

My rental car was part hotel, part office, part stereo system, part closet on my tour. On Saturday night after my concert in the Portland area I listened to Bruce Cockburn's "Further Adventures Of..." album and drove North on I-5. When I got too tired to continue I stopped at the RelaxInn in Chehalis, WA, where I enjoyed Room #4.

I spent Sunday and Monday morning in Seattle and Everett, WA, with mountain ranges surrounding me on both sides. I never get tired of those views!

On Monday afternoon I drove my rental car onto the Edmonds/Kingston ferry, and zipped across Puget Sound.

I had many flashbacks to my visits to Sweden and Finland as I rode the ferry. No wonder there were so many Scandinavian immigrants who felt at home here!

Thanks to everybody who hosted me, came out to hear me play, and took me out on the town! Let us do it again.

Insomniaccomplishments CD review at Powerpopaholic Blog

2009-03-02T17:34:00.004-06:00

The PowerPopaholic music blog has posted a review of my new album! CLICK HERE to read the review at the site. Gotta love the Lowe and Crenshaw references! Text is below:

Jonathan Rundman "Insomniaccomplishments" Jonathan Rundman tells his story with simple arrangements and an acoustic guitar for the most part. As the title suggests, these tunes were born in his basement studio in the wee small hours. The songs range from forceful folk of "If you have a question" to the Neil Young-ish pop of "New Eyes." Some songs have a more traditional instrumental angle ("Kuortane") and others have progressive rock feel ("Nothing Downtown") so stylistically it has something for everyone. Duet partner Beki Hemingway add her harmonies to "I Thought You Were Mine" to make it the best track on the album for me. Some of the indie pop tones recall a mix of Nick Lowe and Marshall Crenshaw. And that's fine with me. Jonathan also has a "Best-of" collection that will give you insight into the man's previous works.

Seattle and Portland-area concerts summary

2009-02-23T03:08:00.005-06:00

Here's the place I played tonight, the Fremont Abbey Arts Center in Seattle. One of the coolest venues I've seen lately!

What 24 hours I've had! A quick recap:

Last night (seems like a month ago) I was near Portland, across the river in Camas, WA. Thanks to all my local pals, as well as the new listeners who came out. Lots of kids in the audience. I took some audience questions, and did a lot of catching up with friends. I'm trying to remember what I played....I'm a bit mentally fried. One of the highlights was the last tune: we did a South African folk song and we passed around percussion instruments and everybody rocked out on shakers and bells and stuff. Oh...and a 9 year old in the audience requested "Angels We Have Heard on High," the classic Christmas carol, so we sang it.

After that gig I got some fuel for the car and for my stomach, and I hit the road with intentions of making it to Seattle. I got too sleepy to continue the drive, so I stopped in Chehalis, WA at the RelaxInn. It was RelaxIng.

Got up this morning early, and got back on I-5 Northbound. Drove through downtown Seattle and arrived in Everett, WA in time to play music for my friend Kari's one-year-anniversary celebration of her call as a Pastor there. It was a Sunday morning church service unlike any that I've ever played....special guest musicians from Micronesia, and from Pakistan. Some truly amazing music...tabla drums, harmonium, and very energetic singing. I got to play the Heartland Liturgy, as well as my new fave hymns from the ELW including "How Small Our Span of Life" and "Each Winter As The Year Grows Older."

This afternoon I hit some cool Seattle record stores and found a few gems (Kerry Livgren, and the Nashpop Nashville Power Pop compilation).

And tonight was the Fremont Abbey. Sean Bendickson was the opening act, and his soulful vocals and skilled guitar playing were a welcome addition to the evening. I had an attentive audience of emerging-church folks, all grownups, allowing me the freedom to play some of my more challenging material including the rarely-played "Closed Out," as well as the debut live performance of "Imperfection." I also unearthed some songs that I haven't done in a while including "Minneapolis" and "Bright Funeral."

I'll be at Trinity Lutheran College tomorrow morning and across the Sound in Poulsbo tomorrow night. This has been a wonderful trip so far, but I'm starting to miss my sweetie and those two cute kids at home.

On tour in Oregon

2009-02-21T20:14:00.003-06:00

This is exactly the view I saw about 45 minutes ago as I drove along the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon. It's 60 degrees and sunny here, and Mt. Hood is looming beautifully. I lived here in this state from 1992-1996, and I always love to come back.

Last night I played in my former town-of-residence, Eugene, Oregon. I was hosted by Emmaus and Central Lutheran Churches, both who are taking their youth to the ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans this Summer. I played music during a fundraiser, helping to finance their trip.

There was about 200 folks at the concert, and it was really fun to see so many familiar faces. Highlights from the show included "Carol of the Bells," "Dialysis Carpool," and "Each Winter As The Year Grows Older."

I spent my free time yesterday and today hitting all my favorite used CD stores in Eugene and Portland. I found some treasures in the bargain bins including:
Bob Dylan "Blonde on Blonde"
The Everly Brothers "Best Of"
Butch Walker "the Rise and Fall of"
plus a bunch more that I can't recall...

Tonight I'm playing across the river in Camas, WA, and later on I'll drive three hours to Seattle with new music rocking my rental car stereo.

I love the Pacific Northwest!

"When Rising From The Bed Of Death" performed 10 years ago!

2009-02-06T21:31:00.002-06:00

I recently bought a converter box allowing me to take old VHS video footage and dump it into the computer. This was my first experiment.

Ten years ago when I was living in Chicago I performed an "Orchestra Show" using strings, oboe, and a full gospel choir. It was a huge undertaking with lots of arranging and rehearsals, but it turned out well, we had a great crowd, and the music was quite fun to perform.

Since this song was played this week on Radio Suomi in Helsinki, Finland, it seemed appropriate to post a live version of it. The studio version of "When Rising..." appeared on my album Recital back in 1997, and with my band at the time (Andy and Benji) we performed the song pretty regularly. In retrospect, it seems like a weird song to put in the set list. This orchestra version was the coolest way it's ever been played. I don't think I've performed the song in concert since then!

It's one of only two songs that I've written using pre-existing lyrics (the other song being "A Farm In Minnesota" from a poem by Lewis Simpson, and music by me and my cousin Bruce). Thomas Tallis is a bigshot writer in the sacred and classical fields from a few hundred years ago, and his lyrics for this song are serious business.

Here are the credits:
"When Rising From The Bed Of Death"
lyrics by Thomas Tallis (1505-1585), music by Jonathan Rundman.
Performed by the Jonathan Rundman Orchestra, March 25, 1999, at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Oak Park, IL.
MUSICIANS:
Jonathan Rundman: acoustic guitar, vocals;
Andy Deitrich: drums;
Benji Derrick: bass guitar;
Matt Marohl: pedal steel;
Kym Spilker: violin;
Charity Caldwell: viola;
Jane Deitrich: upright bass;
Christopher Warmanen: oboe;
Scott Aaseng: piano;
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Gospel Choir: vocals;
The studio version of this song appeared on the 1997 Jonathan Rundman album "Recital," and a remixed version appears on the 2006 Jonathan Rundman album "Protestant Rock Ethic."

superheroes and toplessness

2009-02-02T20:56:00.003-06:00

My 5-year-old son is very interested in superheroes. Recently his Grandmother went to the library and checked out some books for him, including a Marvel Superhero Encyclopedia. He enjoyed looking at all the detailed drawings and diagrams for each character, but got a strange look on his face when he stumbled across a superhero he'd never heard of before: the She-Hulk.

Paavo: "Dad, when this lady turns into the Hulk, does she grow really big and tall?"

Me: "Yes, just like the guy who turns into the Hulk."

Paavo: "So why doesn't her shirt rip off?"

New album review (and John Kerns review!) at Phantom Tollbooth

2009-01-28T21:13:00.004-06:00

The Phantom Tollbooth is a Chicagoland-based online magazine that's been very supportive of me since the mid-90s. I just discovered a brand new review of my Insomniaccomplishments album at the Tollbooth page, and the text is below. Link to the site itself here. By coincidence, the same writer posted a review of the Kerns and the Hemispheres album on the same date! John Kerns, of course, being local Minneapolis rock royalty, and frequent bassist and collaborator with me (even on the aforementioned Insomniaccomplishments album). Link to the review of the Kerns album here.

INSOMNIACCOMPLISHMENTS
JONATHAN RUNDMAN
4.5 Stars out of 5
Sleep deprivation, evidently, can be a good thing. Jonathan Rundman's latest album, Insomniaccomplishments, is equal parts theology, songs about family, insane genius, childhood memories, and in-jokes. Rundman can be described as an heir not only to Neil Young and T-Bone Burnett, but also "Weird" Al Yankovic. "December Chicago" is an acapella verse that oddly recalls Yankovic vocally, when the Weird Al is actually trying to sing normally. "If You Have a Question" recalls Sunday School teachings, and also nods to the idea of Christ teaching the multitudes. "New Eyes" is Over the Rhine meets Nickel Creek. Failed romance is the theme of "I Thought You Were Mine", but "Here at 2141" is the counterpart with its portrayal of domestic bliss. "Imperfection" sounds like a late night ranting (at God?) about ones perceived inadequacies. "Her Lip Balm", featuring toy piano, could be about a childhood girlfriend. "Nothing Downtown" is a bleak depiction of urban blight, and the decline of a neighborhood. "Daniel and Peter and Thomas" connects three TV anchors to their Biblical precursors, and raises the question of why anyone would take today's versions as more credible. Rock creeps out here as well. "I'm Alive and Sleep Deprived" is garage rock, while "I Saw Greenland" is darker, prog-edged rock with a droning vocal style from Rundman. "Dialysis Carpool" defies all explanation I can picture it being done by Frank Zappa, the Dead Milkmen, or even Cracker. A tongue in cheek tale of misery loving company. Rundman may have his best original album with this one. With the very occasional national press he gets, maybe this will be the one that gets him some airplay and sales to go with it.

Aerial tour of Ishpeming, MI, my hometown.

2009-01-27T21:41:00.001-06:00

I just discovered this surprising little video. The first third of it is pretty much just shots of the new hospital, BUT after 2:00 minutes it gets really interesting.

At 3:08 and 3:45 my parents' house can be seen just up Oak Street Hill a few blocks from the edge of Lake Bancroft. At 4:28 the former house of my Great-Grandma Kaijala can be seen in the lower center of the screen, and at 5:05 he's flying over Division Street, with my Grandpa Roberts' house (where my Mom grew up) just out of the frame on the left side.

From the air good old Ishpeming looks really small and a bit dumpy. Nice views of junkyards, flooded mine pits and industrial garages, eh? Those three huge Cliffs Shaft towers are breathtaking, though. What a skyline!

My Dad knows this pilot, and the locals frequently see him buzzing around in his motorized parachute.

Rocking Chicagoland with Beki Hemingway

2009-01-19T23:43:00.004-06:00

I've been on the road for the past four-plus days, and have been so busy having fun and making music that I haven't even checked email or blogged or anything. It's all I can do to catch a few hours of sleep per night.

TOUR RECAP

THURSDAY

Left Minneapolis in the evening and headed East on I-94 with the iPod loud on shuffle through the rental car stereo. Made it to the Dells, but the 20-below temps and dark night and speeding semi trucks tired me out. Got a room at the Motel 6 for $44.

FRIDAY

More freezing temps, but I made it to Chicagoland in time for brunch with Beki Hemingway and Randy Kerkman, the musical all-stars I'd be teaming up with for the weekend. We consumed eggs, and had fun rehearsing. That evening we were the house band (literally) for a private birthday party. The biggest hit of the night: a cover of Journey's "Lovin, Touchin, Squeezin."

SATURDAY

I rehearsed my liturgy with some church musicians in Wheaton in the morning, drove into Chicago and shopped at Reckless Records in the afternoon (The Best of Dan Folgelberg for $0.99!), and played a gig that night with Beki, Randy, and our old pal Lou Carlozo at Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church. The place was packed, the sound system was perfect, and I got to rock with a great rhythm section: Chuck H. (I've got to get his last name correct) on drums, and Mike Bradburn on bass. It was musical euphoria for me...we caught musical wave that was undeniable that night...truly a special evening. Highlights for me were "Narthex," "If You Have a Question," and "Lost in the Night" with the band, and "Everything to Everyone" and "Vacancy Sign" with Beki. Oh, and Lou did a cover of MY song "Tape" (very strange and fun to be the audience when another band is playing one of my songs!). Everyone jumped up on stage to close the show with a cover of the Eurythmics' "Missionary Man."

SUNDAY

Beki and Randy and I played the Heartland Liturgy along with the fine folks at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Wheaton in the morning, and the three of us were guests for the Confirmation class as well. Had a delicious lunch with new friends, and a quiet and relaxing afternoon. That evening Beki and I returned to the church for a duet concert, and WOW...the place was packed, every seat full...probably 250 people! Again, many musical highlights including a killer set of Beki solo songs like "All The Time," "Skybound," and "Ft. Bragg." Also joining us was friend Jeff Elbel on upright bass (see photo above) for nice versions of "Get Behind The Wheel," "If You Have A Question," "Forgiveness Waltz," and "You Never Last Where You Land," as well as a massive singalong to "Hey Hey Samuel" (which so happened to be one of the lectionary texts of the day). After the show we had a concert afterparty at the nearby Steak & Shake. DELICIOUS. Wow. An awesome weekend indeed.

TODAY

I slept in, watched the E! network in the hotel, repacked my suitcase, checked out, went to Guitar Center to buy a cheap key-of-D harmonica for $8, had lunch at Giordano's Pizza, shopped some used CD stores (nothing good!), and listened to my favorite Chicago radio show: the Roe Conn show on WLS as I drove West on I-88. Tonight I'm in the Quad Cities to spend the week as a guest lecturer and performer at Augustana College. More later!

Write a caption for a cartoon and maybe win my new CD via Daniel Radosh's blog!

2009-01-12T14:17:00.004-06:00

Here's Daniel Radosh, author, social commentator, blogger, and contributor to publications like GQ, The New York Times, Salon, and many others.

Each week on his blog Dan posts a cartoon from the New Yorker magazine with the caption missing, and invites readers to submit their attempt at the "worst possible caption." He gives a prize to the winner each week, and this week the prize is a signed copy of my new album Insomniaccomplishments!

CLICK HERE to visit Dan's blog and submit your own idea for his anti-caption contest!

Dan also wrote a very thoughtful review of my new album on his blog. It's always nice when a journalist truly comprehends the strange subject matter of some of my songs. CLICK HERE to read his review of the Insomniaccomplishments CD.

Polluting young minds.

2009-01-12T13:59:00.004-06:00

I just got an email this morning letting me know that a 5th Grade class in Fredericksburg, VA is featuring my new CD in their "Music for the Week" series!

I suppose they could listen to the song "New Eyes" to talk about cell regeneration, or "I Saw Greenland" to talk about world geography, or "Dialysis Carpool" for health class. Of course, "If You Have A Question" is appropriate as well.

It's not a regular occurrence for elementary schools to play my music. I suppose I owe this particular situation to their teacher Mr. Todd Miller who also happens to be a singer/songwriter/performer and recording artist. Here's pic of me and Todd rocking out at LiFest in Wisconsin a few years ago.

Beki Hemingway singing our song "Easy Chair"

2009-01-05T23:32:00.002-06:00

Beki just posted this great video of "Easy Chair," a song Beki and I wrote together for our duet album Tennesota. This performance features Randy Kerkman on lead guitar, and Josh Hemingway playing and singing my part! Nice work, Josh! I've never heard that song without me in the band before!

Way back in about 2001 or so, when Beki and Randy and I were all still living in Chicago, we got together to try to collaborate on songwriting for the first time. It was a good, productive session, and we came up with a few cool tunes, including this one and "Everything To Everyone" which both appeared on the 2004 release called Tennesota.

In two weeks I'll be in Chicagoland playing some shows with Beki, and I look forward to singing this tune with her there. Come out to hear us if you can:

Saturday, January 17th:
Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church in Chicago

Sunday, January 18th:
St. Paul Lutheran Church in Wheaton

Geonosian Handler, meet Chelsea Handler

2009-01-04T15:46:00.007-06:00

As many of you know, since I bequeathed my collection of vintage '70s-era Star Wars toys to my son about a year ago, my life has been filled with action figures. Paavo received even more Star Wars guys for Christmas and his birthday, so their population continues to grow.

This lovely creature, pictured to the left, has been a part of my household for a few years now. I was on tour in some other state (I forget where), and I pulled my car up to the curb and opened the door. There in the gutter lay a lost and forlorn action figure, dirty and insectlike. I didn't recognize the character, and didn't think he was a Star Wars guy...he looked too skinny and creepy. I thought maybe they'd made toys for one of the Alien films. Never one to bypass an creature in need, I grabbed him and brought him back home for Paavo, who at the time was only about 2 years old. I worried that the alien might be a bit too scary for Paavo, but Paavo seemed to like him anyway.

As the years went by, this action figure remained in our collection, but was a bit excluded from the fun adventures of the Star Wars toys...we were convinced he was from some other movie.

Last week Paavo received a Star Wars stickerbook for Christmas, and as he paged through dozens of alien stickers, he saw a familiar face. "Dad!" he said,"we HAVE this guy!" Sure enough, there in the Star Wars book was a photo of the same alien that we'd been neglecting! He WAS a Star Wars character after all! I decided that I needed to find out this guy's name and history, so I Googled "Star Wars Action Figures" and found zillions of links! I found a page where you could scan through photos of every action figure series manufactured for the past 30 years, and sure enough, I found the guy. Turns out he has a name! He's called a GEONOSIAN HANDLER!

So, Paavo and I immediately grouped him in with the other Star Wars figures, where he was warmly welcomed.

I also thought he may be related to the talk show host on the E! Entertainment Network, CHELSEA HANDLER. It's an unusual name, right? They've got to be cousins or something.

"If You Have A Question" homemade music video

2008-12-23T17:15:00.002-06:00

My family and I are all having a great Christmas vacation in Upper Michigan and we're enjoying lovely long days with nothing to do but relax.

Yesterday I decided to use my free time to learn some new technological skills that I've been putting off for years:
+ shooting video on my little digital camera
+ playing with the iMovie software on my Mac laptop

After a couple hours of messing with the camera and iMovie, I was able to create this video, my first attempt at a career in cinema.

Decking the Halls with Nate Houge, Micah Taylor, and friends.

2008-12-23T17:09:00.001-06:00

Last Friday I got to sit in on accordion for the monthly show by Micah Taylor and Nate Houge at the Bean Factory in St. Paul.

We played Christmas carols...highlights included "Good King Wenceslaus," "Jingle Bell Rock," "Each Winter As The Year Grows Older," and "The 12 Days of Christmas." Here was our take on "Deck The Halls" with some accompaniment from fun kids Tom and Asher.

Nate blogged about this gig and others and his insights are always...well...insightful.

Let's hope Micah and Nate continue their monthy gigs into the new year!

Christmas giving opportunity in the Twin Cities via the Salvation Army

2008-12-22T15:21:00.001-06:00

Some friends of mine work for the Salvation Army in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, and they've asked me to post a blog about an opportunity for giving in these next couple days.

Through December 23rd, a generous donor has agreed to match all gifts in the Twin Cities area. CLICK HERE for details.

Drop some cash in the kettle when you're finishing up your Christmas shopping!

Metromix review, and 400 Bar recap

2008-12-18T08:43:00.004-06:00

Two nights ago I wrapped up my little series of CD release shows with a gig at the 400 Bar in Minneapolis. Here's what the local entertainment publication Metromix had to say:

Local power pop veteran Jonathan Rundman keeps a pretty low profile on the scene, gigging sporadically even as he grabs great press in high profile places (Paste, Billboard). Tonight’s gig at the 400 Bar serves as the CD release party for Insomniaccomplishments, an album the stay at home dad worked on in the wee hours while tending to a newborn baby and battling his own sleeping problems. For music crafted in the dead of night, Rundman’s latest batch of tunes feature remarkably bright and sunny melodies, with a nice balance of acoustic and electric instrumentation that recalls similar top shelf heartland songwriters like Freedy Johnston.

The show was electric and loud, and despite the horrible weather (it took me an hour to drive to the venue) we even had an audience! I had a great band:

me: electric guitar, vocals
Justin Rimbo: bass, vocals
Graham Peterson: drums
Nate Houge: lap steel, mandolin
Mark LaForest: lead guitar

Here was our set-list:

I'm Alive and Sleep Deprived
I Thought You Were Mine
Nothing Downtown
List of Things To Do
Daniel & Peter & Thomas
Get Behind The Wheel
Out Behind The Old Hotel
I Saw Greenland
I Love You With All Of My Mind

Obviously, the set was full of strange and rarely-played songs, which was great fun for me! My faves were "I Thought You Were Mine," "Get Behind The Wheel," and "I Saw Greenland" which was the riskiest but ultimately the best song of the night! Thanks to my talented musical friends who played with me, and to everyone at the 400 Bar for hosting us!

Best albums of 2008

2008-12-16T01:02:00.004-06:00

I love year-end "Best of" lists! In the past I've included lists of my top movies and albums of each year in our family Christmas letter, but recent years I've tried to do it via the blogosphere instead. Last week's issue of The Onion featured their best music of the year list, and as I read it I just felt old. The only album in their list that I have enjoyed was by Flight Of the Conchords, and absolutely nothing else interested me at all. I just can't grasp this indie rock stuff. I'm a fussy old suburban Dad who'd rather be listening to Glen Burtnik, Danny Wilde, and David Baerwald (there's a sentence that's never been typed before).

When I released the Insomniaccomplishments album this month, I wondered if it might be too late to squeeze on to any lists (or, more likely, if it was just too strange to be deemed worthy of any). I was happy to find one such place online....earlier this year I was contacted by a Canadian writer named Anthony Easton who had discovered my new album, and I just read his "Best of" list for 2008, which includes me along with Jenny Lewis and Kellie Pickler! Anthony writes:

10. Jonathan Rundman - Insomniaccomplishments
This Lutheran singer-songwriter, has been playing music, figuring out Jesus, and begging grace for two decades. This small and very intimate suite of songs done in the middle of the night while his children sleep, has a writing that is sophisticated, a music that is deceptively simple, and a discussion of issues that are vital but often forgotten.

I also made it onto Anthony's list of Singles, along with Beyonce, AC Newman, and Death Cab For Cutie! He writes:

Jonathan Rundman "Dialysis Carpool"
Mostly about the small graces that occur in the spaces between living and dying, manages to be heady w/o overwhelming grief, and catchy without being shallow--a nice balance.

Anthony conducted a really extensive interview with me earlier this year...hopefully it can find a home in a magazine or something somewhere. I'll keep you blog readers updated.

Anyway, here are my picks for BEST ALBUMS OF 2008 with some commentary.

1. JOAN OSBORNE - Little Wild One
I really loved the first couple Joan albums and her collaborations with my huge musical influences Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman (of the Hooters). For this album Eric and Rob have returned as co-writers and producers and it results in my favorite record of the year. These songs are all ridiculously melodic, with hooks galore, lovely and varied instrumentation, interesting and memorable lyrics, and of course Joan's awesome vocal performances. Each song is different, each song is interesting, each song is beautiful, and they all hold together in a beautiful whole. A true album, like you would have heard in the 1970s. The title track is slinkily delicious, built on a lo-fi drum machine. "Light of This World" is anthemic and brave and sounds like some lost standard. And my son loves loves loves the mid-tempo rocker "Sweeter Than The Rest," and Paavo has golden ears. He can pick a hit.

2. RODNEY CROWELL - Sex & Gasoline
I mentioned this one a couple posts ago. A killer band, plus Rodney's wise and crafty lyrics combine to form an Americana masterpiece.

3. TODD RUNDGREN - Arena
I just picked up this album a few days ago (I'm on a big Rundgren kick lately), and with each listen it grows on me more and more. What is this guy...like, 60 years old or something? He's playing all the instruments, singing amazing harmonies, and rocking like never before. This is what I want to be like in twenty years. "Gun," "Panic," and "Today" are killer, and the lyrics on "Mountaintop" are unlike any I've heard from any other band, except maybe Todd himself on earlier albums. Weird, passionate, and incredible.

4. JULIANA HATFIELD - How To Walk Away
Juliana's work in the past decade has been consistently awesome, and with this one she eases into a chilled out mature phase with the help of perfect-choice producer Andy Chase of Ivy (another of my favorite bands). We get great grown-up pop like "This Lovely Love" as well as brilliant riff-rock like "Now I'm Gone."

5. SHERYL CROW - Detours
After a kinda-lame "Soak Up the Sun" album, and the too-moody Wildflower, Sheryl re-teams with her breakthrough producer Bill Botrell and turns in her best album in a decade. But what the heck are the A&R folks at the label thinking? They picked the lamest song as the single, and ignored sure-fire smash (and topical) hits like "Gasoline is Free, "Peace Be Upon Us," and "Out Of Our Heads." Hey Sony....call me, and hire me on your A&R staff. I shall deliver the hits (with Paavo's help).

6. SAM PHILLIPS - Don't Do Anything
Sam's first record without T Bone Burnett at the board. I miss him, but Sam is such a good writer that she still delivers a great album. Still, it's one of her most challenging records, and requires a few listens to catch. The title track is a theological mindblower, and she sings her own "Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us" which was popularized by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant.

7. RICK SPRINGFIELD - Venus in Overdrive
The media buzz was that this was Rick's best album since 1981, which is not even close. Rick has had a lot better albums than this, including his last two. BUT, it's still a pretty cool album, with some great singles, including "What's Victoria's Secret?" (Of course, that song concept was first explored a decade ago by Lisa Germano in her song "Victoria's Secret"...a great song itself). The lyrics get a bit immature and silly sometimes, and who knows why they clumsily add auto-tune to such a good vocalist...but heck, it's Rick, and he's gotta feel pretty good about this album. It's fun.

8. KING'S X - XV
This metal/prog/funk/pop trio is experiencing a bit of a musical renaissance after a series of weaker albums a few years ago. This one is still not as good as the previous Ogre Tones, mostly because Ty Tabor didn't bring in enough of his own melodic goodness. But Dug Pinnick turns in some great stuff here, especially the moving "Pray For Me," "Alright," and the thrilling "Go Tell Somebody."

9. LUCINDA WILLIAMS - Little Honey
I've been wanting to like this one more than I actually do, but there are a few tracks here that rank with her best stuff, including "Real Love," and "If Wishes Were Horses." Very cool that she has Butch Norton (formerly of the Eels) on drums!

10. NICK LOWE - Jesus of Cool (reissue)
This probably shouldn't be on the Best of 2008 list because it was released 30 years ago. However, the packaging, remastering, extra tracks, and the sheer brilliance of the original album require that I mention it. I've learned a lot about songwriting and pop music from listening to Nick Lowe and his bandmates in Rockpile, and these songs and recordings are Grad School level. Oozing with coolness (the title does not lie) and without any boundaries, this great music zips all over the map, all with a wink and a sly grin.

Christmas/CD release show recap and press coverage.

2008-12-15T23:01:00.000-06:00

A couple nights ago I played my first Twin Cities concert since the Summer. Here's a photo of Pilgrim Lutheran Church in St. Paul, MN (yes, it's a Lenten photo...ignore the paraments), a cool congregation who have been very supportive of me over the years. Pilgrim hosted the show, which was a combination Christmas/Advent performance, and CD-release party for my new Insomniaccomplishments album.

I was very pleased to find out last week that I got some nice press coverage in the local media...and both from publications that hadn't written about me before!

The local edition of The Onion called me a "cheery popster," and music critic Chris Riemenschneider at the Star Tribune had this to say:
"Americana singer/songwriter Jonathan Rundman, who collaborated with the Silos on his 2004 disc Public Library, shows plenty of cleverness beyond the album title on his new CD, Insomniaccomplishments, with tracks ranging from the Christian acoustic ditty 'Little Bible' to the sludgy rocker 'Nothing Downtown,' which will surely resonate with suburban Twin Citians."

I'd never thought of my song "Nothing Downtown" pertaining to Minneapolis, but when I think of the vacant storefronts around Block E, it's pretty accurate! And I love it that I've been credited with writing a "sludgy rocker," which it is! Sometimes you need to rock sludgily.

Anyway...back to the show at Pilgrim. I had a GREAT band that night, besides me on acoustic guitar:
John Kerns: bass and vocals
Joel Setterholm: piano, accordion, recorder, and vocals
Jimmy Olson: drums
with special guests Tangled Blue (Joel and Aimee Pakan): guitar and vocals
It was especially cool to have Jimmy in the band, since he performed the drum part for the song "If You Have A Question" on the album! My long-time friend and collaborator Joel played accordion for the first time, and that was another highlight.

My goal for this show was to keep it moody, acoustic, and quiet. Here was the set list:

Lo How A Rose E'er Blooming
Narthex
Each Winter As The Year Grows Older (from ELW)
Cold But I Don't Mind
Four Candles
Out Behind The Old Hotel
Gospel Verses
Glory In The Highest
Forgiveness Waltz
Bethlehem Tonight
If You Have A Question
Her Lip Balm
I'm Alive and Sleep Deprived
Kuortane
Minneapolis
Daniel & Peter & Thomas
Second Language
Lost In The Night (from ELW)
Go Tell It On The Mountain (from ELW)

Speaking of media coverage, last week some Luther Seminary bloggers wrote a post previewing the show, as well as the Tangled Blue CD Release concert held on Friday (which I was very pleased to attend!). Nina, the blogger, wrote how it seems like the Twin Cities are like a "Lutheran Rome"...a religious and cultural epicenter for Lutherans in America. Of course, folks like Garrison Keillor have been joking about this for years, but there's a serious truth to it. For me it's exciting and encouraging to be surrounded by so many important and influential people and events within my own tribe.

Thanks to the band, the audience, Pilgrim Lutheran, Chris at The Onion, Chris at the Strib, and Nina at Luther Sem for contributing to a wonderful musical evening! Everybody is encouraged to come out tomorrow (Tuesday) night to hear me play loud and electric at the 400 Bar!

Daniel Levitin, Rodney Crowell, and a shout-out on Minnesota Public Radio

2008-12-05T06:30:00.000-06:00

Two mornings ago my phone started ringing and my email box filled up with messages from friends telling me "I was just listening to NPR and they were interviewing some author and he mentioned you!"

A nice way to start the day! Turns out that Minnesota Public Radio was interviewing my friend Dan, who has released a brand new book called "The World In Six Songs."

Daniel Levitin is a neuroscientist, musician, and professor at McGill University in Montreal. He's pioneering research about the brain and how music contributes to development. It's very interesting stuff, and his books are written in such a way that the layperson can really dig into this information and come away with "new ears" for the music that surrounds us. My wife Dawn has some good comments regarding Dan's books at her blog.

You can listen to Dan's radio interview by visiting the MPR Midmorning radio webpage and clicking on the "Music and the Shaping of Humanity (program audio)" link in the upper right corner of the page. If you want to hear Dan giving me a shout-out, you have to listen all the way to 49:45.

And don't forget to buy yourself a copy of "The World in Six Songs". It also makes a great stocking stuffer for the music nerd or brain scientist on your Holiday shopping list!

Here's a photo of Dan Levitin and me, about ten years ago (the stamp on the picture is incorrect...it was not 1987!), during one of my stranger gigs. I played a concert on the sidewalk of Melrose Avenue in Hollywood and Dan happened to be in town. Dawn and I met Dan way back in 1992 at grad school at the University of Oregon. Dawn and Dan were both in the psychology department, and we discovered a common love of music. Each Thursday Dan had a group of folks over to his house and we would listen to music together. Dan was just transitioning from a career in showbiz where he'd been a session musician, record producer, and exec at Reprise Records. He'd worked with a huge list of artists from Santana to Stevie Wonder to kd lang, and he was (and is) a walking wealth of showbiz and technical knowledge as well as the sheer wonder and joy of music.

At the time I was a 21 year old with a high school diploma, and I had never done any hanging out with record producers or neuroscientists before, so Dan was a huge influence on my own musical development as a listener and a performer. I remember sitting in Dan's living room with a group of U of O grad students and professors, listening intently to the hi-hat parts on Steely Dan records. I remember comparing the different sounds captured by producer Chris Thomas on two different Pretenders albums. One night some brain researchers from Russia were in town so we went with professor Don Tucker to hear his daugher Corin Tucker's punk band Heavens To Betsy play a show at a local art gallery (Corin would go on to form legendary trio Sleater-Kinney). Thanks to those Thursday nights in front of Dan's stereo, I discovered one of my favorite songwriters, Parthenon Huxley. My wife Dawn may have been in grad school for psychology, but I was in grad school for rock and roll.

You can read more about those musically formative days of mine in the liner notes for my Best of the 20th Century album, written by none other than Daniel Levitin. I'm very pleased to join Julia Fordham and Stevie Wonder in the list of folks who have liner notes by Levitin!

Dan's new book "The World in Six Songs" features amazing insights from many great musicians including Joni Mitchell and Sting. Another main character in the book is Rodney Crowell, and I just so happen to be on a Rodney kick these days. It started a few years ago when I went to my mailbox and found a package from Amazon.com. I hadn't ordered anything myself, but I opened the envelope to find a gift sent to me by Dan...a CD of Rodney's The Houston Kid. I didn't have any of Rodney's albums at this point, so it was a great discovery for me. Since then I've followed him through his recent series of brilliant career-reinventing albums Fate's Right Hand (my favorite, I think), The Outsider, and now his brand new one Sex & Gasoline. I shall close this post with some holiday shopping advice: buy some Levitin books and some Crowell CDs as gifts for yourself this year!

And thanks to Dan for the music and fun and education and the shout-out on the radio!

Interview and Review of Insomniaccomplishments at HickoryWind.org!

2008-12-02T12:55:00.003-06:00

The fine Americana music blog Hickory Wind has posted this review of my new Insomniaccomplishments CD, as well as an interview with me! I haven't had an interview published for awhile, so it was great fun to answer questions from writer Hal Bogerd. He was very observant and sniffed out many of my musical influences just by listening to the album...even obscure favorites of mine like Tonio K! We talked about the early production work by T Bone Burnett and how those albums had such an impact on me as a teenaged music nerd. I even got to share a list of my weirdest gigs.

Thanks to Hal and Hickory Wind! Please visit their blog regularly!

Pleas for Attention: press kits, marketing, hype, and other showbiz necessities

2008-11-28T23:10:00.007-06:00

I've reached the end of a showbiz journey. It's the completion of the birthing process, really. Like all other recording artists before me, I'm about to let my new album off into the world on its own.

The instrumental and vocal tracks of the Insomniaccomplishments CD were completed back in June this past Summer. After many years of assembling these songs (some of the recordings like "Daniel & Peter & Thomas" go back to 1999!) the audio portion of the album was sent off to be mastered and manufactured. Although I had copies of the CD for sale during my late Summer and Fall concerts, the album wasn't technically launched until now.

Lots has to happen before you loose a new album upon the media and the wider universe.
+ webpages must be updated
+ mailorder and online sales outlets must be established (Amazon, iTunes, etc.)
+ biographies and album one-sheets must be authored
+ press kits must be designed and duplicated
+ a release date and CD-release show must be scheduled a few months down the road, giving enough time for writers, bloggers, and radio hosts to check out advance copies of the album

With this new release, I decided to try something new...release the album in December. My crazy hope is that I might stand a chance for some media attention because no other records come out in December except for Holiday albums, box sets, and greatest hits collections. Plus, my album has many wintry songs ("December Chicago" most obviously, as track #1) so it seems like an appropriate time.
About 10 days ago I assembled all the official Insomniaccomplishments press kits to go out to the media.

+ a handwritten cover letter on Salt Lady Records letterhead asking the specific editor or writer to consider the album for review
+ a printed press release detailing the new album and the CD release shows coming up in December
+ the cute yellow press kit folder ("If life gives you insomnia, make Insomniaccomplishments.") with bio, quotes, and tear sheets from previous newspaper and magazine coverage.
+ a copy of the new album

Any of you who are interested in seeing what the press kit and press release looks like, you can download some samples of my media materials at my online press kit page.

From 1996 to 1999 I was a rock journalist at a now-defunct monthly music publication based in Chicago called Showcase Midwest. Back then I was on the press list for many major and indie record labels, and every week I'd get stacks of CDs and press kits sent me. I always try to remember what it was like to be the writer...what kind of stuff would I want to know about a new album or band?

So, the album is out there now, at all the Twin Cities-area media outlets, as well at some national publications. Insomniaccomplishments is a pretty unusual album, so that could be a help or a hindrance. In the next month or so, we'll see if anybody out there is interested. The ball is now in their court. If you are a music journalist or blogger or radio host, and would like to receive a copy of the album, please email me with your credentials and contact info:
rundman at msn dot com
I'll be happy to send a copy for your consideration.

And to my new album I say: Out of the nest and fly, little bird! You're on your own now!

What do Rundman and Rundgren have in common? Mary Rowell's violin, for one.

2008-11-24T23:09:00.003-06:00

Lately I've been waaay into Todd Rundgren. I first got into his music back in high school when then-girlfriend Dawn got me his album A Capella. Later on I realized that he was one of the greatest rock producers of all time, behind some of my favorite albums (The Pursuit of Happiness, Bourgeois Tagg, Cheap Trick). When Dawn and I got married, Dawn brought into the marriage her copy of Todd's Nearly Human CD which I also grew to love. In the past year I've been rocking to Todd's band projects Utopia and The New Cars, and just last week I picked up Todd's Greatest Hits Live album.

So I decided to see what I could find by Todd on YouTube, and I stumbled upon this version of "Pretending to Care," one of the first Todd songs I ever heard which convinced me of his genius. As I watched this performance of this staggering bit of songwriting, who do I see playing in the string quartet?

That's Mary Rowell on violin, and Dorothy Lawson on cello. For those of you who have my Public Library album, you've heard their lovely musicianship on my song "Second Language"...a recording where Mary wrote the string arrangement!

Strangely enough, when I played the CD release show for the Public Library album at the 400 Bar (opening for Mary Rowell's former band, The Silos) the club put my name on the marquee as JONATHAN RUNDGREN. I took it as an unknowing compliment. Sometimes when folks ask what my music sounds like, I tell them it's a cross between Jonathan Richman and Todd Rundgren, just like my name. And I think that's sort of true.

Anyway, I was very excited to discover this treasure on YouTube, and I want the world to be more aware of the brilliance of Todd and Mary!

"....you can't bring yourself to caaaaaare about me....." Oooh, I just love it!

A short break in the never-ending tour.

2008-11-18T23:49:00.006-06:00

I just got back from Texas, where I've been on tour for about 10 days. Before that, I was in Boston and Upstate New York, and before that, in North Dakota, Chicago, Upper Michigan, Arizona, and Kansas. I've had more gigs this Fall than I've had since B.C. (before children), and it's been cool to be back in that "on the road" mentality.

Here are some photos from a concert I played one week ago in Conroe, TX. In the 10 days I was in the Lone Star State, I played about 16 separate concerts. In addition to great fun at the SW TX Synod Youth events at Camp Chrysalis, I was the guest at a Lutheran High School in Houston where I performed four times in about six hours. Then there were normal concerts in the evenings, from church sanctuaries to high school auditoriums.

Musically, it started rough, and got better and better. When I flew down to start the tour, I had a fever and the blahs, which lasted a few days. After some good rest, my flu went away, and my voice improved and I was finally able to bring the rock. My set list (which is never really planned in advance) evolved a bit, and I finished up the week playing an old song "Bright Funeral" quite a bit. I've been playing the song "Dialysis Carpool" since the Summer, but it's been a strange one...I can't tell if it's freaking out the audiences too much. I love to play it, but I'm worried it might be to jarring for the listeners. Although I had a few comments from audience members about the song, including one guy who had tears in his eyes and told me that his Grandma in Florida was currently in her last days, due to kidney failure. So for him, he appreciated the song. It's a strange honor when folks share personal stories like that.

Other observations of life on tour:

+ Talk radio is dead since Obama won the election. I surfed the AM dial, and it was pitiful to hear Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mike Gallagher, and their ilk scrambling for topics. For the past couple years talk radio has been very entertaining, but these days, the poor hosts have no material, and they just can't catch a wave. It would be funny if it weren't so boring.

+ I woke up in a hotel room last Thursday morning, and I honestly had no idea where I was. I opened my eyes and looked around and thought, "Is this Boston? Or Austin? Or Phoenix?" Turns out it was Fort Worth. It took me about 30 seconds of thinking to figure it out. Very weird when that happens. Imagine how Obama and McCain felt these past few months!

+ Macaroni Grill is a great place to stop for lunch. Chicken Caesar Calzonetta, baby.

+ I hit a lot of used-CD stores in Texas, and got some real gems for $1!
Rodney Crowell: Diamonds and Dirt
Bob Bennett: Songs from Bright Avenue
Pierce Pettis: While the Serpent Lies Sleeping
Will Kimbrough: EP
Sheena Easton: Best of
Todd Rundgren: Best of LIVE

and the surprise of all,

Larry Tag: Rover
Larry Tag was one half of '80s synth-duo Bourgeois Tagg (who I love...got their only two albums!), and it turns out that his solo work is super-slick and tasty guitar-pop. Sort of like Squeeze meets Steely Dan or something. I love it.

+ I had a free evening in Austin, the live music capital of the world. It just so happened that one of my musical heroes, Michael Hall, was performing at the Cactus Cafe with his new band the Savage Trip. I'd shared the bill with them at South By Southwest this past March. They played a full set, and Michael did some of my favorites from his solo albums including "I Just Do," "Revolution in Cuba," and the brilliant "Baby You Scare Me." I think of Michael Hall as one of my professors in the graduate school of songwriting, and it was a pleasure to hear him and his friends play there on the campus of UT.

+ A couple of my concerts on the tour were fundraisers for Water To Thrive, a Texas-based organization working to build wells in Ethiopia. I was very pleased to support their work, and it was exciting to see what Lutherans in Texas have already done to help with this important project.

+ Finally, I enjoyed supporting the SW Texas Synod of the ELCA by providing the music for their youth events. The kids were cool, the adults were selfless and fun, the leadership was pro, and everybody had a great time. Musical highlights for me was playing Taize music during evening devotions....my favorite Taize tune being "Stay Here and Keep Watch With Me."

Thanks to all who hosted me, and came out to the concerts! I'm off to Oklahoma on Thursday...

FREE MP3 "No More Walls" (emerald anniversary remix)

2008-11-03T22:50:00.003-06:00

I became a songwriter 20 years ago when I was in 11th Grade. Before then I had collaborated with my cousin Bruce on a couple songs, and written some experimental music with my classmate Dave Casimir, but I never composed anything on my own until April 19, 1988 when I wrote the song "No More Walls."
In those days I was learning to play guitar and sing along with my cousin Bruce. (Here's a photo of us from the mid-90s) We had our first public performance in 1988 at Michigan Technological University opening for folk legend Greg Brown. A pretty cool debut gig!
Bruce had a couple of original songs of his that we were playing, and my first contribution to the setlist was "No More Walls"...a very very slow chiming song in 6/8 time that I'd play on my acoustic 12-string guitar. It sounded good when Bruce and I sang it together, but when I played it alone it was way too long and way too boring. After high school graduation in 1989 when I went on the road playing music full-time, the song got shelved for a few years.

In 1992 I spent the winter living alone in Upper Michigan listening to the first Uncle Tupelo album No Depression, and that music gave me some ideas on how I might re-work my very first song "No More Walls." I scrapped the slow tempo, streamlined the chord changes into a rotating four-chord progression (G, C, F, Am7), and the song finally found it's appropriate arrangement.

In 1994 Bruce and I founded our record company Salt Lady Records and thought a good way to launch the label would be to have our first release be a duo project. That album was billed as The Chandlers, and we used a cassette 4-track recorder to capture those early songs that we had sung together back in high school, including a fast and trashy take on "No More Walls." Lowell Michelson's always-incredible drumming was the backbone of the album, but unfortunately the vocals and instrumental overdubbing left much to be desired. In a few years the album went out of print and faded away from any public consciousness.

"No More Walls," however, would carry on. I had been playing it as a concert closer with my early-90s Oregon-based band, and it was always great fun to perform, so I recorded yet another version of it which appeared on my 1994 album Wherever. By the late '90s that album, too, was out of print, so in 2002 I recorded the third full-band version of the song with all my musician friends from Chicago playing on the recording and released it on the Salt Lady Records Extra Credit CD sampler. Just last year, when my Best of the 20th Century album came out, it featured a remix of "No More Walls" using the audio tracks from the Extra Credit version. Yup, the FOURTH full-band version of the song that has appeared on my albums over the years.

In 2005 I found the original cassette 4-track emergency back-up tapes from The Chandlers album sessions. Preserved in decent quality was Lowell's great drum performance of "No More Walls" with little bit of my original acoustic guitar and vocals bleeding through. When I dumped it in my computer I realized that I had one more chance to salvage that particular interpretation of the song. Bruce was visiting Minneapolis one weekend, so I had him re-sing his harmony vocal. Then, while recording bass tracks for my forthcoming Insomniaccomplishments CD, I had bass guitar whiz John Kerns take a pass at "No More Walls" and the results were fantastic. The song was reshaping itself again, so I finished it up with a double-tracked lead vocal, one more acoustic guitar track, and a brand new melodica solo. John Simshauser mixed it earlier this year, and now, 20 years after it was written, I'm pleased to offer this free download of "No More Walls" (emerald anniversary remix). Go to the AUDIO PAGE and scroll down to get the MP3.

The lyrics were written by me as a 16-year-old, tortured and crushed as my sweetie (Dawn, even back then!) was to go off to college many hours away. Since then, the song has taken on a much wider scope for me, representing any kind of longing and hope for reconciliation. I still like playing it, too. But now I promise to stop recording it. Really.

ASK THE INDEPENDENT SINGER/SONGWRITER: questions from a seminary class

2008-10-30T21:55:00.004-06:00

Here's a picture of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, PA, where I am currently a virtual guest in a class called "Song, Mission, and Culture." I'm not physically there right now, but I'm appearing in the class through an online discussion.

One year ago I was on tour in Pennsylvania, and I got to perform at the Seminary and conduct an audio interview with the professor for this class. His students listen to our interview, listen to my albums, and then ask me questions about faith, church, art, and showbiz. It's a great honor for me to be a panelist for a Graduate School class (especially since I only have a high school diploma!), and the students have been shooting off excellent questions all week. I thought it might be interesting for some of you blog readers to see what we're discussing in the class, so I've posted some of the discussion below, as part of this blog's "Ask the Independent Singer/Songwriter" series:

You describe yourself as making snapshots of moments in church. But I was wondering what kinds of moments inspire you the most. When is it that you feel most compelled to write? Some artists talk about how they feel inspired by their environment, so they go somewhere alone. Other artists find inspiration in being with people.

These are great questions! I'll boil them down to two:

WHAT inspires me to write:
This year is my 20th anniversary of being a songwriter. As I look back over all that time, I've found that the one thing that inspires me the most is ABSENCE. I love to write songs that fill a void, bridge a gap, or say something that I want to hear (because nobody else is saying it). I think it's the reason that I don't write "praise songs" or songs where God is the object. There's no void there...from Psalms to the Hymnal to Christian Rock, there are thousands of years worth of songs about God. SO, that's why I've been so interested in writing songs about the Church, or about Christian People, or about religious behavior. Those topics are hugely important in the life of faith, but songwriters rarely address them. That was the motivation for writing the Heartland Liturgy, too...I wasn't finding many liturgical resources that were singable, easy to play, and friendly for a rock band, so I tried to help fill that void.

WHEN am I inspired to write:
At the beginning of my career I would only compose music after being hit with some sort of surprise idea or inspiration. These days, it's much more of a craft...like a carpenter going into the shop to build a dresser. Once in a while I'll get hit with a song like a bolt of lightning (my new album has a song that came that way, called "Dialysis Carpool"), but usually I'm more deliberate about it. It took many years to learn certain tricks to crafting a song out of thin air. But I think a songwriter gets better with practice.
Also....I've found that I write music in phases. I'll be in a creative phase for 6 months or so, and I'll write 10 songs. Then I shut off the songwriting valve and pour all my time and energy into recording the songs in the studio. Then I shut off the studio valve, and put all my time and energy into business stuff: booking concerts, getting press coverage, writing blogs, networking. Right now in my life, I'm in the business phase, and I'm enjoying it. I don't really have any desire or plans to write new songs at this point. I imagine that by the Summer of 2009 or so, I'll be ready to come up with some new tunes.

Also, I was wondering how you would like your music to be used. Would you like to see it used for/in worship? How would you like people to view your music? I'm particularly interested in this topic, as I am doing my final project as a study from a theological perspective in the use of rock music. Is it meant for performance-type situations? Or would you like to see it used in worship?

When I first started writing/recording/performing I thought of myself only as a performing artist...somebody who wrote songs, with the expectation to only play them myself. Even now, I suppose, that's mostly how I operate.
BUT, I added a new dimension in 2006 when I wrote and released the Heartland Liturgy, because for the first time I had created a set of songs that didn't depend on ME to play them and perform them. I wrote them specifically for OTHER people to play, and I even created a songbook to help that happen. So, for that group of songs, I'm really hoping that congregations will use them in worship. I've found it to be greatly fulfilling to know that there are people out there singing my music every week at church, and they've never met me or been to my concerts, or heard my albums!
I'm trying to follow in the footsteps of the great contemporary Lutheran liturgists who have gone before me...people like John Ylvisaker, Marty Haugen, Ray Mackeever, Richard Bruxvoort-Colligan, Jay Beech, etc.

But I imagine that I'll always have a whole series of rock/pop/folk songs/albums that exist only for ME to play, and for an audience to listen to.

I would like to have my cake and eat it too.

We are the X-Men of Lutheran Church resource artists.

2008-10-29T22:06:00.006-06:00

For some random reason, many of us musicians/artists that travel around the country sharing our creativity with Lutheran Churches happen to live here in the Twin Cites of Minnesota. So once a month or so we have lunch together. I suppose, if we were Los Angeles musicians in the '70s, it would be like a monthly lunch meeting with Don Henley, Glen Frey, Linda Rondstadt, Warren Zevon, and Jackson Browne. Here's a photo from last month:
Top row is: Baby Owen Rimbo, Dave Scherer (Agape), Troy Loken (manager/booker of Lost And Found), Justin Rimbo, Aimee & Joel Pakan (Tangled Blue), me & my daughter Svea.
Bottom row is: Nica & Charlotte & Wes Halula (Happy Fun Time), Micah Taylor

We all occupy a weird niche in showbiz and church-work. There's great comfort and support amongst other folks who understand this strange vocation. It's fun and meaningful to get together and share our triumphs and tragedies. And to eat, too. During our most recent shindig, we took a moment to celebrate Svea's 2nd birthday!

A Reformation Week conundrum: what to do at my first Catholic gig?

2008-10-29T21:52:00.002-06:00

Happy Reformation Day week to you all. Here's a question for my wise and dear readers:

Next Wednesday, November 5th, I have my first Catholic gig! I'm playing for a Catholic school assembly in the afternoon, and later that evening I'm playing an annual youth rally for 500 kids. (The parish youth leader saw me at an inter-faith service last year, liked me, and booked me.)

Questions for you:

+ My main CD of youth event music and group-participation songs is called "Protestant Rock Ethic"....it's a joke title, of course, playing off of the sociological term "Protestant work ethic." But is the title of the album gonna sound weird to a Catholic audience? Will they be insulted? Should I put the CD on my sales table?

+ One of my most signature tunes is called "Workin' My Committee," and features a verse about Luther nailing the 95 Theses to the door. Should I play that song? Or skip that verse?

+ I have some songs and stories about my (Lutheran) understanding of vocation. From what little I know, the word "vocation" has some different connotations in the Catholic world. What should I do about that?

Maybe Catholics are really chilled out and flexible and cool, and none of this stuff would bother them. But I don't want to be a jerk! I love the Catholics, and I don't wanna diss 'em!

Ideas?

Insomniaccomplishments CD review at Absolute Powerpop Blog

2008-10-27T22:45:00.004-06:00

Okay, one more photo from Saturday's show at the Nestor Tavern in Fargo. That sunburst Telecaster is a beautiful machine.

I'm very pleased that my new album Insomniaccomplishments is finding its way out into the media universe. Another review of the album has surfaced, this time at a fine blog called Absolute Powerpop. Thanks for the kind words!

Read the review in at the site here, and check out the text below:

Jonathan Rundman-Insomniaccomplishments.
Jonathan Rundman has been one of the more underappreciated artists of the decade in the genre, and his 2004 release Public Library was a real treat: smart, literate, wry and rocking. For the unfamiliar, you might also want to get a start with his recently-released best-of. Or you can jump right in with his latest, Insomniaccomplishments, consisting of songs written while going through the sleep-deprived days of being a father of a newborn child (been there, done that). Rundman's at his best mixing rock, power pop, Americana and singer-songwriter balladry, and his latest is 18 tracks of just that. Tracks to check out: "If You Have a Question", "Imperfection", "Nothing Downtown" and "Here at 2141". Worth staying awake for.

North Dakota Tour Recap

2008-10-27T21:37:00.005-06:00

Got home yesterday from a delightful musical adventure with some good friends. I haven't taken a band on an extended tour since 1998 (when Andy, Benji, Dave, and I gigged from Chicago to Minneapolis and back). This time I brought three talented Twin Cities-based musicians with me on a tour to the Upper-West corner of North Dakota and back again, and indeed we rocked. This was the band:
Justin Rimbo sang harmony, played bass and videogames.
I sang and played acoustic guitar and electric guitar and harmonica.
Graham Peterson drove the vehicle, hooked up the trailer, and played drums. Very well.
Nate Houge sang harmony, played electric guitar, banjo, mandolin, and lap steel.

WEDNESDAY: We hit the road, cruising Northwest out of the Twin Cities in the rain, listening to the new Lucinda Williams album "Little Honey." We stopped in some little town (I forget the name) and had a great lunch at the Boondocks Diner.
That night we played the first concert of the tour at Redeemer Lutheran Church way up in Thief River Falls, MN. Here's a shot from the stage. The audience was way into it, as you can see. We all had fun. And afterwards we ate pizza and the locals told us tales of a career at K-Mart and the store's shoplifting issues. Musical highlights included a bluegrass version of "The Princess Wants To Spend Her Time With Me" (nice banjo, Nate!) and a group-sing of my new favorite hymn "How Small Our Span of Life" from the cranberry colored Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal.
THURSDAY: we headed West on US-2 (the same highway I drove a week ago in Escanaba, MI!) across the top of North Dakota. Here's a picture of us in Rugby, North Dakota at the exact spot of the Geographic Center of North America. We felt like the center of attention, if not of the entire continent.
Later that afternoon we arrived in Minot, and provided music and liturgy for 375 of these lovely folks at the Western North Dakota Synod Youth Gathering. We tried to avoid talking politics with the hired-gun sound engineer. He told me during dinner that we should've "finished the job in Iraq, nuked the entire place, and turned it into glass." Nice. I wonder who he's voting for? Politics aside, he was a good sound guy, and it sure was nice to have stage monitors.
FRIDAY: more music and more fun with those rocking teenaged Lutherans. During our free time Nate got himself a new/used Peavy tube guitar amp at the local music store, and I found some $0.99 CDs at the used record store: Damon & Naomi, Darden Smith, and Phantom Planet. We bandmembers went to the Mall in Minot to see the new Oliver Stone movie "W." I'd been to that theater before, in 1989, when I was on my very first musical tour...I saw "Driving Miss Daisy" at that exact same place nearly 20 years ago.

SATURDAY: We wrapped up the youth event in Minot, with many a fun musical moment. Some faves of mine were playing full band arrangements of hymns like "I Love To Tell The Story" and "My Song Is Love Unknown" as well as wall-shaking versions of "Hey Hey Samuel" with hundreds of folks singing along. Justin, Graham, and Nate never ceased to amaze me with their musicianship and enthusiasm and down-home joyous fun-ness.

We loaded everything back in the trailer and hauled back East to Fargo during the afternoon, stopping in Bismarck long enough to get a blizzard at Dairy Queen and check out the blandest state capitol building in the whole country. That night in Fargo we played a grungy bar-band show at the Nestor Tavern. It was truly a delight for us as musicians...we were loud and loose, with a fresh set-list which included such rarities as "List of Things-to-do," "Prophetstown Tornado," "Daniel & Peter & Thomas," and a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter." The club was full of people, we drew about 20 listeners who came just to see us, and we scored a feature story in the local entertainment paper the High Plains Reader.
SUNDAY: We wrapped up the tour ringing in Reformation Sunday at Trinity Lutheran Church in Moorhead, MN. 'Twas fun to hang out with Lutheran Rock legend Jay Beech, and kick off the morning with a Larry Mullen, Jr.-inspired take on "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God."

The tour was a smashing success, and now I'm inspired to try to set up another like it. Anybody out there want to book me with a band in your town? Let me know, eh!

Fargo concert preview in the High Plains Reader!

2008-10-23T21:56:00.003-06:00

I'm writing from Minot, North Dakota, where I'm playing for the Western North Dakota Synod youth gathering. I've got a wonderful band along with me on this trip, bringing the ROCK: Nate Houge on electric guitar, mandolin, and lap steel; Justin Rimbo on bass; and Graham Peterson on drums!

On Saturday we'll be playing a show at the Nestor Tavern in Fargo, and the local weekly entertainment paper the High Plains Reader has written a concert preview for our show.

Click here to read the article in context. Text is below:

JONATHAN RUNDMAN: AN UNCOMMON SINGER/SONGWRITER
by Janie Franz

When Jonathan Rundman opens for the Fargo band Go Steve Jones and the Michigan group The Green Room on Saturday, area music lovers will be treated to an evening of great music.

It is extremely unusual to place a singer/songwriter in front of two rockers, but Rundman is definitely the musician to tease an audience and whip them up for these two lyric-driven bands.

Rundman has been around for nearly two decades, offering up gentle ballads, tongue-in-cheek commentaries on society, alt-rock tunes, and many very funny songs.

But he isn’t a satirist or a comedian. Nor is he an angst-ridden folkie or a grunge pop artist. He is all that, but so much more.

His recent CD, “Insomniaccomplishments,” on Salt Lady Records captures the broad spectrum of Rundman’s subject matter and his musical tastes.

Originally from Ishpeming, Mich., Rundman absorbed music from his Finnish community and everywhere he could find a recording or a radio.

He began a touring career immediately after graduating from high school, quickly making a name for himself.

He moved to the Pacific Northwest and soaked up the rich garage scene there.

Eventually, he ended up in Chicago and began collaborating with Midwestern musicians, becoming well known as a prolific alt-folkie songwriter with a string of independent CDs following in his wake.

Last year, his “20 Songs From the 20th Century” included early demos, rough tapes, and pre-production album recordings.

Today, he is thriving in Minneapolis and receiving a lot of attention, garnering rave reviews in Billboard, the New York Times, Performing Songwriter, and Paste.

In fact this year, a song included in a Paste CD Sampler, “Front Row At the Fashion Show,” was licensed by Starbuck’s for airplay in 10,000 locations around the world.

Rundman’s 2004 album, “Public Library,” is worth mentioning, not only for the quality of those eleven songs, but because of the merits of one cut. “Smart Girls,” the initial track on that album, is a refreshing look at romance. This is one song every young lad and lass should listen to.

Rundman sings: “Listen to me boys and learn important things......when you look for love, look for intellect....smart girls know the human heart/cause love is science, love is art/you’ll do well if you take my advice/fall in love with a smart girl.”

This is the kind of advice we need in this world (and coming from a guy) to remind us that the pretty faces of Barbies or Sarah Palins may not always be the best choices.

The eighteen songs on “Insomniaccomplishments” are equally stirring. Each is in a different genre as Rundman uses all of his musical influences to tell the story he needs to tell.

His alt folk-rock “Dialysis Carpool” takes on the environment, and “I Saw Greenland” uses a grunge tone to underscore a tune about his experience of beauty.

In contrast, the deceptively simple country tune “Little Bible” takes on Bible-thumpers as Rundman sings: “I love the lover not the love letter/I drive down the highway not the map/I dance to the music not the radio.”

Jonathan Rundman is definitely a singer-songwriter to watch. His gift of intelligent lyrics and wide musical styles marks his work as nothing less than brilliant.
Go see Jonathan Rundman Friday, even if you aren’t into the other two bands. You’ll be very glad you did.

If You Go

What: Jonathan Rundman (opening for Go Steve Jones and The Green Room)
When: Saturday October 25, 10 pm
Where: The Nestor, Fargo
How Much: $3
Info: 701.232.2485

Concert recap: Bethany Lutheran in Escanaba, MI

2008-10-19T22:11:00.003-06:00

I just got back to my in-laws' house after playing a fun concert at Bethany Lutheran Church in Escanaba, MI. This is the hometown and home congregation of my wife Dawn, and it's played a big role in my life for the past two decades, although I'd never played music here until today.

For the concert I stood on the top of the chancel steps, in the center of the aisle, on the exact spot where Dawn and I were married 16 years ago. Kind of amazing to occupy that exact piece of floor, after so many years and in a totally different situation. On our wedding day, I wonder what I would've thought if someone had told me that in 16 years I would play a concert from that same spot, with my children running in the aisles!

It was a nice crowd, about 50 people...a lot of Baby Boomers, who are becoming my favorite demographic. Here are some musical highlights:

+ "If You Have A Question" from my new album...I feel very strongly about this song.
+ "Dialysis Carpool" also from my new CD...after playing this one in concert a few times now, I've been able to use the song to connect to the memory of my Grandma Rundman (see the blog post with the You Tube clip from a few days ago) and I've been getting really misty eyed
+ "We're Creating Monsters"...this song is always a bit risky, but I love to play it...especially the chord progression from an A-minor chord voicing to a B-flat chord voicing. It's a weird move, and I don't know how I managed to think of it, but it sounds strangely good, and it's great fun to deliver.
+ "Oh Morning Star, How Fair And Bright"...a newer favorite hymn of mine, that moves me every time I play it. "Now, though daily, Earth's deep sadness may perplex us and distress us..."
+ "Smart Girls"...this one's been off the set list for awhile, but I played it tonight for Dawn, who impressed me so much (and continues to do so) with her nuclear intellect back when we were teenaged lovebirds
+ "Narthex" is always a delight to play in a beautiful church sanctuary, and Bethany is the perfect place for the lyrics of this song. I never tire of this song, and feel very strongly about the content, although nobody in the audience ever really comments on it, or considers it a favorite. I guess I play it for myself every night.

Anyway, it was a wonderful evening (and morning too....I played the Heartland Liturgy with some awesome local musicians for the church service this morning). Thanks to Dawn's family and friends for coming out and having fun and tolerating my musical rantings and ravings.

Parenting, McDonald's, and shame.

2008-10-16T20:56:00.002-06:00

I love McDonald's. I have since I was 18 (before this I was in a Burger King family) when I traveled in a musical group with my friend Joel, who had just finished a many-year stint as a career climber in the McDonald's Corporation. We'd go to a McDonald's restaurant and I'd learn the inside story on the "7 steps of customer service," "suggestive selling," and other deep dark secrets beneath the arches. But I also love free refills on Super Size Iced Tea, cheeseburgers with ketchup only, and of course the french fries.

When Dawn and I had our son Paavo we did a good job sheltering him from TV, child marketing, and fast food. He didn't go to McDonald's until he was almost 3 years old, and even then, we almost never exposed him. Eventually he caught on to the marketing, and became very interested. As a stay home parent of a preschooler in a cold, snowy climate, I discovered the joy of an indoor McDonald's playland. Paavo could climb and explore the colorful tunnels while I sat comfortably in a booth nursing my caffeine and reading The Onion. Everybody wins.

Now that we have a second child, our daughter Svea, it's a bit disturbing to see the effects of this exposure upon her. As a younger sibling, her eyes have been opened to the extravagant wildness of McDonalds at a much younger age. Way before she was 2 (her birthday was yesterday, by the way) she would see the Golden Arches passing by outside the car window and she'd yell "AH-NALD" (for "Ronald," of course). Her brainwashing has begun.

I still love the Playlands (Twin Cites secret: the best McD's playland is in St. Louis Park at the location just to the West of Highway 100....don't bother with Nicollet and 494 'cause it's always gross and dirty) and the parenting respite they offer, but I must say I'm getting annoyed with Ronald's effect on my kids.

Today we drove from Minneapolis to Upper Michigan, a seven hour journey. Me alone, with the two kids. I stopped in Wausau, WI at McDonald's for lunch (Clean spacious restaurant, but no playland! Baah!) Svea was yelling AH-NALD the entire time. I get Svea the apples (fear not, I always bring other food for her), Paavo gets a Happy Meal, and I get a Number 2, religiously. Here's what bugs me: Paavo only cares about the toy. He east about 2 bites of the burger, shares the fries with Svea, drinks his milk (thankfully), but I usually end up throwing most of the food away. He's totally only into it for the Hotwheels Car (or Batman toy, or Star Wars toy, which were much much cooler). So I get kinda miffed that we come there to eat, but the kids don't really care to eat. Maybe I should just take them to Toys R Us instead and eliminate the step of throwing away the food.

All this is yet one more reason I struggle with shame for going to McDonald's. Yes, I've read the book Fast Food Nation. Yes, I've seen the movie Super Size Me. Yes, I know unhealthy my favorite order really is. I think many of us Americans are filled with shame about our McDonald's patronage. I witness it constantly with other parents. It's like this:

+ you catch a ride in a friend's car and there's a McDonald's bag or cup in the front seat. The person says "Uh, I never go to McDonald's but, uh, I had to the other day 'cause it was my only option"
+ you go to the home of someone with small children and you see a McDonald's Happy Meal toy: the parent says "I know I'm a horrible parent, I took my child to McDonald's. I really try not to do that!"
+ you hang out with hip, healthy, good looking people. You go out to expensive and healthy restaurants. Everyone talks about how gross McDonald's is. Jonathan stays suspiciously quiet.

Shame shame shame, we're all filled with shame.

Are my ears burning? Talk about me at the 92nd St Y blog out of New York City.

2008-10-16T20:39:00.003-06:00

This is the 92nd Street Y in New York, a Jewish Community Center, but also a resource for all New Yorkers in many aspects of life....culture, music, art, education, health, etc. I've heard about the Y for years, but I have never been there.

Turns out the folks at the Y have a blog where they discuss upcoming events. On October 19th David Rakoff will moderate a discussion at the Y with fellow authors Daniel Radosh (Rapture Ready!) and A. J. Jacobs (The Year of Living Biblically). As they prepare for their presentation, the 92nd St Y blog has posted a conversation between Jacobs and Radosh that mentions little ol' me! Here's the blurb below, plus a link to the entire blog posting:

What are the best Christian bands?

The ones that don’t get played on either mainstream or Christian radio. Actually, the first Christian rocker, Larry Norman, was pretty incredible. His late 60s and early 70s albums have a visionary artistic integrity that holds up quite well. The problem is that for most people, Christian music is still defined by the era of bland, imitative, corporate crap that came next — the Stryper and Amy Grant and dc Talk years of the 80s and 90s. You still hear that on Christian radio today, but there are also a lot of indie Christian bands that reject the notion that Christian music is supposed to be all about either spreading the gospel or providing a safe alternative for church kids. Artists like mewithoutYou, the Myriad, Over the Rhine, Jonathan Rundman, Pedro the Lion, and Derek Webb, to name just a few, write really compelling and enjoyable music that challenges stereotypes about Christian rock in ways that befuddles non-Christians and freaks out other Christians.

Ha! I've got to give serious props to Daniel Radosh for mentioning me all over the place in the past months, from his book Rapture Ready, to a piece for the New York Times, and to other writer friends of his who have contacted me. Thanks Dan!

If you haven't checked out Daniel's book Rapture Ready yet, you must. Funny, insightful, respectful, sneaky, fun, and more.

Jonathan Rundman Dialysis Carpool

2008-10-14T20:33:00.001-06:00

"Earth and All Stars" for Cy Warmanen

2008-10-14T20:31:00.001-06:00

Here's a video of me playing "Earth and All Stars" (lyrics written by Herbert Brokering) from last week's show in Cambridge, WI. This coming weekend is the anniversary of the death of Rev. Cy Warmanen (of Fortune Lake Lutheran Camp fame) who taught this song to me when I was in elementary school and the LBW hymnal was new.

Also, this weekend is the once-every-three-years chance to hear the reading about King Cyrus in the lectionary cycle...another great way to remember the life and music and joy of Cy Warmanen!

Concert recap: full band gig at East Koshkonong Lutheran Church in rural Wisconsin

2008-10-08T23:50:00.000-06:00

Here are some photos of the lovely place where I played tonight. The church building was constructed in 1897. It's literally a few steps from cornfields, about a half hour outside of Madison, WI....a sort of unlikely place to play loud rock music, but even so, 205 people came to the concert!

And yes, we were loud! It was great fun...I got to perform as a little trio along with a couple of my musical friends:
JASON MORRIS played drums. We had performed together years before in the Chicago-version of the Beki Hemingway Band.
DAVID CASIMIR played bass. Dave and I first played together in the trombone section of sixth grade band, but our main collaboration has been in The Muckrakers.

Some of my favorite musical moments:
+ We opened with "Wide Awake" a song I wrote 20 years ago (yikes!), but I haven't played it for a while. I still like the song, after a couple decades.
+ We played a couple songs from my new Insomniaccomplishments album: "If You Have a Question" and "Dialysis Carpool." I got a little misty eyed when we played "Dialysis Carpool," a song about my Grandma Rundman. It's an unusual song, and it's brand new, so I've had a tricky time finding a way to introduce the idea to audiences, but tonight I felt like I set it up clearly.
+ We played my current favorite hymn, "How Small Our Span of Life" from the new cranberry ELW hymnal. Text by Herman G Stuempfle, and a beautiful English folk melody called KINGSFOLD.
+ We got an encore! So we played one of my all-time favorite songs "Gimme Shelter" by the Rolling Stones. It was a powerful moment for me to sing those words "If I don't get some shelter, yeah, I'm gonna fade away" in this beautiful sanctuary that has given shelter to those parishioners for over a century.

After the show Dawn and the kids and I got in the car and zipped down I-90 a few miles where we got to our hotel. Once we got Paavo and Svea in bed, I went across the street to the world's largest Culver's (seriously!) for a late dinner, and I sat there alone in blissful silence and read the newest issue of TapeOp. How's that for hopelessly geeky behavior.

Thanks to Dave and Jason for playing nice and loud with me, to Clint for hosting us, and to everyone for coming out in the midweek for an evening of nerdy Lutheran rock, hymns, and a great song by Mick and Keith.

My new album Insomniaccomplishments: the first review is posted!

2008-10-06T12:49:00.003-06:00

Whenever a musician releases a new album, amidst all the excitement, there's a sense of suspense, wondering about the public and media reaction to the music. I'm very pleased to say that the very first review of my new Insomniaccomplishments CD has been posted, and the writer really "got it."

The weekly church/culture online magazine Journey With Jesus features a music column, and this week my album gets reviewed. David Werther, a philosophy professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison wrote the piece.

(By the way, if you are a music journalist or a music blogger, and you'd like to review my music, email me at rundman at msn dot com with your credentials and contact info.)

Click here to read the Journey With Jesus review in context. The text is below:

Jonathan Rundman, Insomniaaccomplishments (Salt Lady, 2008)

Jonathan Rundman is a thirty-seven year old, sleep-deprived, stay-at-home dad. In the night watches, he attends to his music. His work on Insomniaaccomplishments spans a cappella (“December Chicago”); acoustic instrumental ("Kuortane"); pop (“I Thought You Were Mine”); and rock (“I'm Alive and I'm Sleep Deprived”). In addition, his topics are as wide-ranging as his music: the comforts of home (“Here At 2141”); disease (“Dialysis Car Pool”); disagreements (“Imperfection”); dejection (“I Thought You Were Mine”); and a kiss on a cold day (“Her Lip Balm”). Most of the songs are Jonathan Rundman's, though “Kourtane” is a 19th century folk tune, and he shares writing credits with Jeff Krebs on "New Eyes" and with Tim Rundman on "I'm Alive and I'm Sleep Deprived" and “I Saw Greenland.”

Some of Rundman's writing is explicitly theological. In "Little Bible" he enlists Martin Luther to make his case that the written word is no more the living word than a lamp light or radio music. In "Imperfection" he expresses exasperation over battles about the second birth, and the age of the earth, but rather than taking a superior position above the fray, acknowledges his own ignorance and looks for a connection with those with different beliefs and different choices in the voting booth. Two songs later, he finds it in a fellowship of suffering, "Dialysis Carpool." (You can hear it on his MySpace Page http://www.myspace.com/rundman. While you are there, don’t miss "Smart Girls," a selection from an earlier CD, Public Library.)

The closeness that comes from taking someone to the hospital, the relief of reuniting with one's spouse at the end of the workday, and the exhaustion of caring for young children are nearly universal experiences. Yet Jonathan Rundman is almost alone in writing about them. By doing so, he underscores the goodness and significance of ordinary life and, borrowing one of his song title, he gives us "new eyes" to see our lives.

ASK THE INDEPENDENT SINGER/SONGWRITER: who are you supporting for President, and why?

2008-10-02T00:01:00.000-06:00

I'll be voting for Barack Obama on November 4th.

I guess I never intended to blog about politics during this election season, but a couple days ago I got an interesting email from one of the readers of this blog. Here's what the person wrote to me:

"I was wondering if you wouldn't mind considering a topic for the blog - one that is timely in this highly political part of the year. Coming from a more conservative and Republican family and circle of friends and acquaintances, I find it refreshing at times to actually be able to say that I know people like you who are not of the same background, yet can connect on different levels, like music and worship practices. Being interested in the election and the lead-up to it, and watching my share of commentary about it, I find myself wondering something: what is it that makes people side with a certain political party? Is there one issue that is the lock-down issue, and others that don't matter, either because we don't know much about how they affect us or that we don't care about how they affect us or others? Is it related to how different segments of the Christian church interpret the Bible on certain social issues? I'm not into judging. I'm just curious. I just can't put myself into others' shoes very easily when it comes to certain beliefs or understandings. So, I guess my question/topic suggestion that I think may be an interesting read for people is 'Why I support so-and-so for whatever political office and how his views and core beliefs line up with my Christian/Lutheran/ELCA beliefs' (or something like that)."

So, I've chosen to respond because I'm learning more and more about the value of me "going public" about certain issues. Because I often play concerts in churches, many people consider me to be a "Christian Rock Artist," and therefore lump me in with Conservative Republican Evangelical America. That's why people are often shocked when they find out stuff about me like:
+ I'm supporting Obama
+ I want gays and lesbians ordained and married in the Church
+ I'm not 100 percent thrilled with Compassion International
Saying stuff like that might not seem radical or outrageous to many folks in the general public, BUT to be a churchy-rock musician and to say this stuff....it blows the minds of many people in American Christian Culture. Just read the dozens of comments on my blog post about Compassion International, or for an entertaining read, check out what happens in the comments when Christian Rock Star Tyler Burkum posts some positive words about Obama on his blog. Whew!

Thankfully, amidst the flood of miffed Conservatives who email me and comment whenever I go public about these issues, I also hear from a few other people who express agreement, relief, and appreciation...consider this comment to my controversial Compassion International post:

As a homosexual believer, I'd like to thank Dave and JR for their incredible compassion and insight. It's folks like you who help me still have faith, period.

When I hear encouraging feedback like that (and I heard some more similar words just a few days ago at church on Sunday), I realize that it's important for Obama-votin', gay-marryin', hybrid-drivin', Bible-interpretin', church-goin', Jesus-lovin', stay-home-parentin', peace-makin' hippies like me (credit to singer/songwriter Todd Snider for inspiration here) to say what we believe in public.

Regarding the initial question: Why am I voting for Obama? Well, there are many reasons. I agree with him on the issues, mainly. But, like all people of faith (I suspect), we vote for the person who seems to "ring" with us, theologically. It's really hard to explain...but one of my favorite theologians, authors, thinkers, and bloggers Kelly Fryer has done such a nice job summing it up, I'd like to refer you to HER blog for the details.

Aside from the normal great stuff about Obama that everybody knows (he's brilliant, he can communicate clearly, he's inspiring), another thing about him that's good is that he's not John McCain. Allow me to consider some things in the negative, which is certainly allowed when making such a huge decision:
+ McCain is too old to elect President. I'd say the same thing if the Democratic candidate was 72.
+ His choice of Sarah Palin as the VP (although a brilliant PR move) was a credibility train wreck, and it totally ruins his "country first" motto. It was a "campaign first, country last" move if there ever was one. I'll be watching the VP debates tomorrow, and I predict the Palin pick will prove more and more disastrous as the days and weeks go by. We shall see if I am correct.

But of course, I'm not voting for Obama because he's the lesser of two evils. I'm voting for him 'cause I think he's incredible and brilliant. And yes, I must admit, there's a familiar ring to his story, his values, and yes, even his theology. Like Kelly Fryer says in her blog: "Obama...sound(s) more like a Lutheran than most Lutherans I know."

FREE MP3 "If You Have A Question" and new album preview

2008-10-01T22:01:00.005-06:00

I'm very pleased to present a FREE DOWNLOAD of the acoustic demo of a song from my brand new album, Insomniaccomplishments. The song is called "If You Have A Question" and it was written exactly one year ago as a commissioned work for a lectionary resource called Sundays And Seasons. If you'd like the gory details of my writing process and studio recording session, click here to read my blog post from last October when I recorded the album version.

This version that I'm posting here today is the acoustic songwriting demo that I made at the very moment the song was written. It's a song I'm very proud of, and it's fun for me to listen back to the tune at the moment of its conception. Download it and give it a listen:

CLICK HERE to download the acoustic demo version of "If You Have A Question."

You can sing along. Here are the lyrics:

IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION
words and music by Jonathan Rundman
cp 2008 Salt Lady Music (ASCAP)

if you have a question just raise your hand
and the teacher will call on you

there's a lot of things that I don't know
there's a lot that I can't see
there's a lot of doubt and wondering
there's a lot of mystery

when you lie awake at 3AM
trouble going through your mind
you don't need to be afraid to ask
you can leave your fear behind

everybody's on a search for truth
questioning is not a sin
there's a lot of love to pull you through
sow the seed of faith within

There was a wonderful moment of appropriateness with this song, that happened this past Sunday. I was sitting in with our awesome band at Edina Community Lutheran Church. I was supposed to play a song during the offering, but I didn't know what to play. The bandleader Paul Andress said to me, somewhat jokingly, "Whatever you choose to play will be perfect."

So I decided to do "If You Have A Question"...we rehearsed it with the band, it sounded great, and we got ready for the 8:30AM worship service. Along comes the Gospel lesson for the day, and Pastor Pam's sermon, based on Matthew 21:23-32...check this out:

23Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. "By what authority are you doing these things?" they asked. "And who gave you this authority?" 24Jesus replied, "I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

So of course, it was the perfect song for a Gospel reading and a sermon about questioning. And the band rocked it out. And little kids in the congregation all raised their hands during the chorus. It was awesome. I love those unplanned moments where everything comes together.

Obi Wantelope Kenobi

2008-09-24T19:53:00.000-06:00

My brother Tim created this inspiring work of art about 20 years ago. I've been carrying it around with me everywhere I've ever lived ever since it was conceived. I thought it was time to share it with the world.

Perhaps with the release of the new Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated film, this Jedi-antelope hybrid will find an appreciative audience. I totally love it. It's like a centaur gone horribly wrong.

Sick of Summer, Welcome Autumn: a look back in photos

2008-09-23T01:00:00.000-06:00

I'm sick of Summer. Thank goodness that Fall officially arrived on Sunday. I'm tired of being hot and sweaty. I want to wear pants. I want to wear a coat. I want to be cool and dry. Although I'm thrilled to be entering my favorite season of Autumn, I thought it might be fun to reflect on some of my favorite moments of this past season, the Summer of 2008.

The first highlight was Dawn's 20 year high school reunion, held in Escanaba, MI over the 4th of July weekend. Here's me and my girl on our way to the big reunion dinner. It was fun to see old friends, and remember those glorious Reagan years. They played Rick Springfield during the dance. I love Rick.

Had some great musical opportunites this past Summer, and the big highlights were getting to play on the main stage of some festivals here in the Midwest. In mid July I did a series of performances at LiFest in OshKosh, WI. I got to perform on the main stage with my long-time collaborators Beki Hemingway and Echelon. Here are some cool shots of that set, photographed by the media-queen Tracy Apps.

Then, at the end of July, I got to play a couple sets on the main stage at FinnFest 2008 in Duluth, MN, one of them with an acclaimed country/bluegrass band from Finland, the Ninni Poijarvi Trio. Here are some photos taken by my Mom from my soundcheck on that amazing stage overlooking the city on one side, the harbor on the other. What a venue!

More celebrity lookalikes at age 37

2008-09-22T22:03:00.004-06:00

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

It's been kind of a fun tradition for me to use the MyHeritage face recognition software somewhere around my birthday each year. Here are the results for a couple of current photos of yours truly. I'm 37 years old now, a prime number. I guess the thing about my current age that seems kind of new for me is that, more so than ever before, I FEEL old, and I feel like I LOOK old, too. Not old, like 80, but old like, somebody's suburban Dad. Which is what I am. I'm struggling with some body image issues these days, but at the same time, I'm also developing a more pronounced "who cares" attitude about it. It's as if I'm getting MORE and LESS worried about it at the same time.

My job is to stand on stage in front of groups of people, and I think that that reality contributes to my struggles with my physical appearance. I imagine it's true for anybody with an "up front" profession: teachers, pastors, TV newscasters, even sales people. But folks in the performing arts, especially. And of course I'm totally aware of the truth of life, and of After-School-Specials: it's what's on the inside that counts. But the fallen nature of humanity is forcing me to be a bit too self-aware. At least I have a computer to tell me that I look like Hilary Duff and Glenn Danzig. There's some relief in that, I suppose.

My celebrity lookalikes at age 37

2008-09-22T21:55:00.002-06:00

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celeb - Collage - Morph

A musical weekend in Arizona

2008-09-15T23:52:00.002-06:00

Just got home today from a weekend at the Mexican border. I don't get down to Arizona very often, and I always enjoy the drastic change of scenery.

Spent the weekend in Sierra Vista, just a few miles from the Mexican line. Got stopped by the Border Patrol and everything! They had me roll down my window, and asked me "State your citizenship, please, sir." I answered loudly "United States!" and the guy waved me on. It was a strange feeling...I got a big swell of national pride at that moment. The same way I feel when I've traveled abroad. Usually, I'm not exactly John McCain when it comes to patriotism, but when I'm literally looking another country in the face I experience a deep connection to the USA.

I played for a youth retreat in the mountains from Friday to Sunday and had a great time with everyone there. Highlights included leading music for the Compline setting out of the LBW (nerd alert!) and climbing up a mountainside switchback trail to a Catholic shrine way up high overlooking the desert. We could see the Mexican border road off in the distance, as if somebody drew a black line with a Sharpie marker across a giant map of North America. I've been to Tijuana from San Diego a couple times in my life, but I'd never been out in the middle of the desert before and seen that man-made divider stretching across the valley. I kept thinking how weird it was that the USA was on this side, and another country was on the other....obviously, the two sides looked exactly the same. Strange that some dude a hundred-plus years ago decided that's where the border should be. It's just a made-up line in the sand, but man, what a serious line it is.

Here's a shot from a house concert I played last night in Tucson. I was the guest of folks from Our Saviours Lutheran Church (they've got a super-speedy blog). A couple from the church hosted the show at their beautiful home in the foothills. We hung out by the pool beneath the full moon and had grilled salmon for dinner. Then I played in their living room. I was excited to test drive some songs from my brand new album Insomniaccomplishments, including "If You Have a Question," "Dialysis Carpool," and the timely "Daniel & Peter & Thomas" (Rather, Jennings, and Brokaw), plus I played some selections from the Heartland Liturgy, and a cover of "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" by the Police. Thanks to Lars, and the young adult group from OSLC!

Paavo, cigarettes, and The Rolling Stones

2008-09-12T16:29:00.004-06:00

For at least a year, my 4-year-old son Paavo has been fascinated and curious about cigarettes. Whenever he sees someone smoking, he gets very serious, points the person out to me, and then asks me questions about smoking for at least an hour. When he sees cigarette butts discarded on the sidewalk, he gets very disturbed. He cannot fathom why anyone would choose to smoke if they know that smoking is bad for them. And he can't understand addiction...he doesn't get that for some people, it's almost impossible to quit.

When I fold laundry in our basement playroom (sometimes for hours a day!), I like to put music/concert videos on TV to have something to watch as I fold. Paavo enjoys concert videos, and always learns the names of each musician, and what instrument they play. We've watched a bunch of music DVDs...Tom Petty, Crowded House, Genesis, Telluride Folk Festival, and many more .

A couple weeks ago I found a quadruple DVD of the Rolling Stones 2002 "Forty Licks" tour, so I've been slowly going through the nearly seven hours of footage as I match up dozens and dozens of pairs of tiny pink socks. Paavo is interested in the Stones, I think because they're so old, and their songs are good. Paavo's favorite Stones song is "It's Only Rock and Roll (but I like it)."

As we've watched the videos, Paavo is very concerned when Ron Wood and Keith Richards smoke cigarettes while on stage. We've also seen tour documentary footage of Mick Jagger's health and workout and nutrition routines...as you can imagine, Mick has to keep himself in ridiculously high levels of physical health, so he doesn't smoke. Charlie Watts (drums) doesn't smoke either. But Ronnie and Keith puff away unapologetically. Here are some questions I've been fielding for the past couple weeks, many many times a day.

+ Dad, why do Keith and Ronnie smoke?
+ Do they know that it's bad for them?
+ Why did Charlie and Mick quit smoking?
+ How come Keith and Ronnie can't quit?
+ How can Ronnie hold his cigarette and play his guitar at the same time?
+ What does Keith do with his cigarette when he's not holding it?

I could go on for days.

I guess it's either this topic, or Star Wars related stuff, like:

+ When Han and Luke took the Stormtrooper costumes, what were the Stormtrooper actors left wearing?
+ How can Yoda be so powerful, and be so small?