JT catalog now available on iTunes!

It had to happen! Just when you thought it was safe to download music, the JT catalog is now available for purchase on iTunes. If you ever loved us, ever truly cared for us, you will all go and immediately purchase our entire collection. We thank you, our wives thank you, and our hungry college bound children thank you.

Pastor Jerry's preachin' today!

Greetings Troublemakers old and new!
It's been a long while since the last post. Not much going on in the world of JT these days but I did want to share with you guys some of the chances I've been getting to speak lately. I love teaching God's Word as much as I love singing about it. Currently I am on staff at Church at the Ridge in Hiram, GA as the Creative Arts Pastor. We have a kicking band that I lead each week so if you are ever in the Atlanta area please stop by and check us out. But lately I have been getting more opportunities to preach and I wanted to share a few of the latest with you.
I preached two of four messages in a series called New Thru 30, where we challenged our people to read the entire New Testament through in 30 days. Each week we preached on one of the sections of the New Testament. Our lead pastor, Steve Whipple preached on the Gospels and the book of Acts. Then while he took a team to Burkina Faso in Africa, I held down the fort with the Epistles and the book of the Revelation. Want to hear me try to explain 22 of the 27 books of the New Testament in 2 messages? Listen here and here. Thanks for checking in!

The Wayside covers "These Thousand Hills" on their new CD

Our good buddy John J. Thompson and his band, The Wayside, have recorded a version of our song, "These Thousand Hills" on their new project, Spiritual Songs. We found this blurb from the band's biography on Last.FM:

The project came to life when the two enlisted the recording help of producer and engineer Stephen Leiweke to record their version of “These Thousand Hills,” a worship song they have been performing since its original release in 1989 by the Atlanta band Jacob’s Trouble. It was a special request by their good friend Pat O’Malley who was battling cancer. “We just wanted to capture the song the way we had been doing it for years,” John explains. “It was a favorite of Pat’s and he requested it be used at his memorial service when that time came. We decided not to wait, but to record it right away so he could enjoy it while he was still with us.”

Wow. We are so grateful to God that He is still using our music to comfort, encourage, and speak into so many lives. It's a testament to the greatness of God, not the goodness of our songs. He is awesome!

You'll never guess who I ran into today....

So I'm attending the one-day Sticky Church conference in Cumming, GA. today with some pastor friends, right? And I'm at this cool, hip, edgy church called Mountain Lake Church. I keep noticing that they are playing great music (Coldplay, U2, etc.) between sessions. I walk by the sound booth and just glance over at the front of house guy mixing sound and our eyes lock. I did a double take and practically fell out. It was none other than my buddy and former JT drummer, Ron Cochran! We both yelled and pointed. I'm sure everybody thought we were nuts!

It was an awesome surprise and a great gift from the Father. Ron and I haven't seen each other in a decade or more and to just happen to be in the same room at the same time was too much to be merely a coincidence. Ron tells me he and his wife, Kristen, just had their first baby 16 days ago. No pics, sorry. I didn't have a camera with me. Anyways we traded numbers and promises to call soon.

Just thought you guys might enjoy that. I know I did!

Return of Fan Mail Friday

Well, it's been a while since we cracked open the ol' mailbag. I guess that's because no one has written to us lately. Maybe that we have been defunct for 15 years has something to do with it...

Anyways, I got this email from a fan who caught our stuff on YouTube:

Jerry
I really am glad to be able communicate with you. I have so many things to say to you. You guys meant so much to me for just a short period as a band and continually through your recordings. While I like all kinds of music, I've always leaned heavily toward metal (Current fave's Demon Hunter, Skillet, Disciple). That's why it is so amazing to me that your music just reached out and grabbed me like it did. I think you guys were just great songwriters and that's what attracted me to Jacob's Trouble. I really enjoyed your last two CD's. You seemed to hit on all cylinders as musicians. I became a fan about a month before your last CD came out. I saw you tear it up at a church in Parkersburg WV in front of about 300. The last show I got to attend was in front of about 20 people at a Vineyard church in Cross Lanes WV. Most of the show you were literally only a foot from me. You could have played bongos on my head . I got to help you guys a couple of times tear down after about three of the four times I saw you in '93. I was at Ichthus where you put up some stuff on YouTube. I got a cool picture of a couple of you guys with Terry Taylor and my roommate. I showed you the picture and you said Terry looked like a demented Santa Claus.
I'm really happy to see you in ministry. I always dread finding out about some of my past favorites, because I fear hearing that they abandoned their faith. Remember the Roger Martinez issue from the mid 90's? Anyway I got a kick out of seeing the picture of you, Steve and Mark on your Facebook page. So what is everyone doing these days? I guess I expected to hear about each of you guys joining/starting bands but that didn't happen. Where are Ron and Keith? Did Keith ever find his "Pasta Mama"? Anyway I hope to hear from you sometime. Feel free to tell me about you church and living in Vegas. By the way I'm fond of CSI, LOST, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy too.

Bill Bias

Merry Christmas, JT style!

Seasons greetings to Troublemakers near and far, young and old! To help your Christmas be that much merrier, I am continuing the grand tradition of making rare JT music from my personal archives available to our fans ABSOLUTELY FREE for a limited time.

This year's download is a set we performed in February of 1991 at Mt. Paran Church in Atlanta, GA. as part of the Ron Hutchcraft Saturday Night Alive radio program. We were the special musical guests that week and they recorded our pre-show warm-up set. Click here and select the JT_live_1991.zip file for download. I think it's a right-click deal for you PC users and a control-click thingy for Mac people. Anyhow, please have a safe and peaceful Christmas this year! And thank you on behalf of Mark, Steve,Ron and Keith and myself for your love and encouragement that you still show us after all these years! Blessings on you and yours!

Jerry Davison

Yet another cover of 1000 Hills!

Check out this bluegrass version of "Third Day's" These Thousand Hills. :-D

Fan Mail Friday!!

Howdy Troublemakers far and wide!
It's time to open up that ol' mailbag and hear from you the fans. This week's letter comes from a guy who saw our videos on YouTube. He writes:

Jerry,
thanks for posting your videos. they bring back many memories. I had the awesome opportunity to see you guys in Evansville, Indiana many years ago at a place called, I think, the encore...
Also, I have been doing a CCM radio show since 1994 on a 50,000 watt PBS station and occasionally I will get a JT tune on.
Anyway, thanks for posting your vids, I loved seeing them.
Best regards,
Dave

Well, thankee kindly, Dave. Somebody's got to keep the dream alive! And since we don't have a radio show, it looks like it's up to you!

Have a great weekend everybody! And don't forget to get yer butt in church somewhere, you buncha postmodern, back-pack wearin' latte sippin' horn-rimmed glasses sportin' whipper-snappers!

JT gets a shout out from Third day...

My good buddy Mark Lee, guitarist extraordinaire from Third Day, gave JT a nice plug on his blog yesterday:

I had so much fun last week with Hair Metal Day that we've got to keep the party going. This week we're going to talk about our favorite old school CCM artists. I'm going to get it started with a list of 10 CCM bands. No particular order...

...3. Jacob's Trouble - Great live band - I saw them at least 20 times in concert.

Thanks, Mark! You guys are definitely in our Top Ten CCM bands that have covered a JT song! Wait, you guys are the only band to cover a JT song. Oh well...

Anyhoo, it's a cool blog post and if you want to read the whole thing you can find it here.

Behind the Scenes: "Further Up, Further In"

Here's another peek behind the curtain into the VH1-style drama that was Jacob's Trouble. I thought with all the hype around the Narnia movies I would give a little insight into our own C.S. Lewis inspired tune,"Further Up, Further In" from our second record, Knock,Breathe Shine (1990):

FURTHER UP AND FURTHER IN
I am a big fan of C.S. Lewis. Mere Christianity is second only to the Bible in terms of spiritual influence in my life. During the time between Door Into Summer and Knock Breathe Shine, I had been reading a lot of Lewis. My wife and I, both fans of fantasy literature, had bought a set of the Narnia books and were reading them to each other. The Last Battle became a favorite of ours, particularly the last few chapters where Lewis deals with the Narnian concept of heaven.

The characters in the book, having all died in the Last Battle of Narnia, discovered they were in Aslan’s Country (Heaven). What I love most is that he doesn’t waste time trying to describe what Heaven looks like, so much as what we will be like when we get there. His description of the changes that come over the characters is moving and produces a longing for God every time I read it.

At one point, one of the characters calls out “Come! Let’s go further up and further in!” It becomes a sort of cry that encourages them to explore the glory of God deeper and deeper. The further up and in they go, the bigger it becomes.

As with most things that touch me deeply, it squeezed a song out of me. I wrote it down and sang it to the band one night at rehearsal. They all liked it but didn’t really know what to do with it in terms of arrangement. So we didn’t really develop it further until we took it in the studio and recorded it with Terry.

The drum loop is actually Dave Raven’s drum machine. He programmed the loop for us to rehearse with but we liked the groove so much we used it on the recording. Greg played the accordion part, I think. Randy Stonehill came in and sang harmonies. It turned out quite nicely.

Now that full theatrical versions of The Chronicles of Narnia are being made, I’d like to see if they would use “Further Up and Further In” in the soundtrack to The Last Battle. Hey, maybe I could get Third Day to record it and pitch it to Walden Media!

Out of the blue...

...comes a letter of encouragement from a JT fan. I never ceased to be amazed that God continues to use a bunch of goofballs like us even long after we stop being a band. This one's from Skip in Saskatchewan:

Hi there, I was wondering if you could pass this along to Jerry:

It is the day before Canada Day, and being a Monday before a holiday, no one is here at work and I was putting some songs on my computer to listen to while I typed away. My diggin’ up bones cd didn’t have any album art coming up and so I went on line to find it and read a little article on where you and the band are now. It was really neat to hear about what went on, and what you are doing now.

I just wanted to say thanks for making the music that you did. I don’t have a ton of music in my collection. I tend to find things that I like and just listen to them over the years, and your stuff has been some of my favourite. I have the self titled one and diggin’ up bones, and I have really loved listening to those songs. You had some good words to say (sing) and I have really appreciated it. They have had an influence. I still listen to them.

When I wrote back to Skip to tell him thanks for the kind words, he responded...

You know, there was one more thing that I was going to tell you as well. Sometimes, when I am listening to those certain bands that I really like, I think “wow, these guys may have only made x number of albums (or one even), and they didn’t really go very far – from the world of music’s perspective anyway. But am I ever glad that they did what they did. And I wonder if they will ever know what a difference they made.”

So I really thank God for people like you who did (and are doing J) what they are called to. I don’t believe any art or work is done in vain if we are doing what we are called to do at that time and place. I guess I am starting to see that our job is to do what we are supposed to, and Jesus will take care of the impact of it – and most of it we will probably never realize. Even simple things, like a smile, or a prayer, or just treating our kids or wife well, let alone the “big” things. This helps me to realize that nothing is wasted when we are faithful.

Keep up your good work!

Skip

Keep them cards and letters and emails and blogposts and whatever else they come up with comin' Troublemakers. If you've got a story of how God has used the music we made to effect your life, we want to share it with the rest of our fans... all 27 of them!

New JT page on facebook

Good news, all you social networking geeks who also happen to like old Christian bands with bad mullets (and I know there are a lot of you!): My brilliant and talented son set up an official JT page on facebook. Go sign up and let your Troublemakin' colors fly high for the world to see! First 100 fans to join get a free Steve Atwell bobblehead doll (Just kidding... but wouldn't that be awesome? I'd buy one!).

It never ceases to amaze...

...the different interpretations on "These Thousand hills." My son found this incredibly caucasian version on YouTube. Thought you Troublemakers might get a grin out of this...

"Let Me Love On You" missions video

A JT fan from Georgia recently went on mission trip to the Dominican Republic and came back with some great pictures. And as if loving orphans in the name of Jesus wasn't cool enough, he put the whole in a video set to a JT song! Thanks to Joe Wright for letting us share it here with you all. Enjoy!

A slew o' new JT videos!

Hey gang!
I just posted a bunch of new (ol) JT videos from my personal archives. There are several choice live performances from Icthus Festivals 1992 & 1993 as well as our farewell concert in Atlanta from 1994. You can check them out on the player above or here.

Who the heck are these old guys?!

I ran into Steve and Mark on my trip back to Georgia recently and we posed for a photo together. Brace yourselves... It isn't pretty! The mullets are gone and the clothes are a little less colorful but it's still those same wacky ne'er-do-wells you all know and love!

New JT stuff on YouTube.com

Boy howdy rock music fans, what a week it's been for Troublemakers! Out of the blue, an old friend and probably THE original Troublemaker, Dale Suffridge, contacted me through the glory that is YouTube.com to tell me he had re-edited a music video he shot for us way back in 1993. He also sent me an old montage from our early days set to our cover of the Beatles' "Tell Me What You See" from our first CD "Door In to Summer."

So because I am the sharing type, here they are for your enjoyment....

New Interview on Banophernalia.com

I realize I haven'tposted anything in a while so here is a little nugget for all you Troublemakers enduring the long cold silence between posts. (kidding) I did an interview with a webzine called banophernalia.com. You can read it here.
In it I talk about what I've been up to lately as well as reminisce about the glory days when the music was rockin' and the mullets were flappin'! Enjoy, and don't forget to stop in at the guest book and give them a hard time for trashin' our self-titled record.

"The best Christian band no one has ever heard of..."

I got this great letter from a JT fan this week. Thanks for the encouragement, Rick!

Hello Jerry,
My name is Rick Starr from Irving,TX. I am so glad to see that you are serving our Lord in Las Vegas. I finally found JT's first two albums on CD and have been listening to them constantly. In my mind, JT is probably considered the best Christian band no one has ever heard of today. I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the music y'all created. It came about at the right time in my life. I was heavily into mainstream music and thought that there couldn't be any Christian music out there that was good quality and that was also convicting and challenging. Not to mention, a great sense of humor. JT proved me wrong. As I decided to focus my life on Christ and live for Him, your music help me put my Christianity into perspective. I truly think it is sad that Christian music fans don't hold as much respect for older Christian bands like fans do for Mainstream bands. I helped promote PfR's comeback after 5 years but it seemed they lost a lot of their fanbase. I would love to see a resurgance in the music of Jacob's Trouble. I would love to see more bands like Third Day cover your tunes. I would love to cover some of your tunes in one of my shows as well. Please let me know if this is ok. Well, thanks so much for reading this.
Thanks again and God Bless,
Rick Starr

It's amazing what you can find on YouTube!

"These Thousand Hills" has developed a life all its own! See for yourself