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

Found this on YouTube...

...thought you might get a kick out of it! Enjoy!

The Story Continues...

So a few months back I posted an excerpt from my personal journal of JT memories. I decided to go ahead and tell the next part of the story for anyone who might be interested...

THE FIRST SONGS
After that night (the night we decided to be a Christian band -- Jerry), things began to move really fast for us. God began doing things that only He could have done. We began writing songs. They came fast and furious, too. One of us would bring in an idea and we would all hash it out.
One of the first songs we wrote together was “Psalm 151.” Mark had the music all worked out and played it for us one night. I began to work out a vocal melody. It felt like a praise and worship type song so Steve and I began looking through the Psalms for lyrical inspiration. We all added lines here and there, some from scripture, some from our own ideas. The hook line became “Your name is the Great I Am.” We called it Psalm 151 as a sort of in-joke for the biblically literate. There are, of course, only 150 psalms and this was a new one so…
It is amazing how many people have come up to us at concerts and said, ”Wow! I love how you guys put Psalm 151 to music!” One guy even told us tearfully of how he looked it up in his Bible to follow along!

Other songs came to us around that same time. I had ideas for “Million Miles” and “Wind and Wave.” Mark brought in an old demo of “If You Believe” that he had recorded with another band earlier. Steve and I played Mark our recording of “Eden Again” that we had done with Transit (an earlier band that Steve and I had played in -- Jerry). We changed some of the words to make it more doctrinally sound (Although I heard it the other day on my son's iPod and I think it is too "works" oriented, personally -- Jerry). Before we knew it we had a nice little set of music, between our originals and our covers.


HOW WE GOT THE NAME
All we needed now was a name. We kicked around a few but the only one I remember was Zilch. It was a favorite Monkees’ track off their 1967 album Headquarters. Not only was it a hip nod to the influence of the Monkees but we felt it had some spiritual significance because as the Bible says, “Without Him we can do nothing.” Nothing. Zero. Zilch. Get it?

Well, it wasn’t great but it was all we could think of. Then one day I was watching a videotape Mark had let me borrow. It was one of those old 70’s end times movie from Mark IV productions, I forget which one. But one of the characters in the movie mentioned that the Bible called the seven-year tribulation right before the return of Christ as “the time of Jacob’s Trouble.” I sat straight up. What was that? I rewound it. “The time of Jacob’s Trouble.” I ran to find a concordance. There it was in Jeremiah 30:7. How cool was that! It had everything; it sounded like one of those hip college radio bands and it had spiritual significance. Heck, it was even in the Bible! I called the other guys on the phone. They all liked it and so the name became Jacob’s Trouble.


THE FIRST CONCERT
The very first Jacob’s Trouble concert ever was in August of 1988 at the church Steve and I attended, First Baptist Acworth. We only knew about 8 songs and we played all of them. A few of them twice, I think. We called in an old buddy from high school, Brad Nash (later to be sound guy and recording engineer for Janah -- Jerry) to run sound, which was whatever the church had on hand.

Anyway, we were booked by the youth pastor to be the opening act for a Billy Graham film they were showing. I have the flyer for the gig in a scrapbook somewhere. I think there were a total of maybe 12 people there. In spite of the somewhat humble circumstances, we were a hit! Mark was whirling and spinning and windmilling and jumping. They loved us and we had a pretty good time playing. A splendid time was had by all.

Rare JT VHS for sale

One Troublemaker hipped me to an online music store that has new copies of our ultra-rare, ultra-cheesy VHS "The Best Christian Videos We've Ever Seen" for only .99. Click here to buy your copy of the most inappropriately named video in the history of Christian music. I might order one myself just for grins and giggles. They also have some good deals on our other records.

JT reunion cancelled

I'm having trouble as I write this picking the words that will convey the facts without revealing too much private and personal information. It is not a little difficult to hide my frustration but here goes...

Due to an irreconcilable difference with one of the participating members, the Jacob's Trouble reunion show at AtlantaFest 2007 has been cancelled. For the past two weeks we have been praying through this and talking it out, but the end result is that the show will not happen.

On behalf of the band I want to apologize to those of you who have made special arrangements and shelled out money to be there for us. I can only say that the matter is entirely out of my hands and I pray that no one has been too terribly inconvenienced. I can assure you, no one is more hurt and disappointed than we are.

Again, I apologize from the bottom of my heart on behalf of the band and I hope you will continue to pray for us as we each individually seek what God has for us and our families. Do stay tuned to this blog for more behind-the-scenes stories, reminiscences, and archival audio and video. We love you guys and thank you for sticking with us all these years!

In His grip,
Jerry Davison

Reunion Update!

Hey!

Thanks for all the encouraging emails and phone calls! It's exciting to know so many Troublemakers will be there in force at AtlantaFest to see a bunch of old guys try to relive the glory days. Many of you have been asking, "Will Mark be there?" and the answer, unfortunately, is no. Mark Blackburn, a founding member of JT and the original guitarist known for his jangly Rickenbacker sound, has declined to participate for personal reasons. Rest assured that there is no ill will or bitterness, just a simple "No, thank you." Please no gossip or rumor-mongering among the faithful! :-)

There is still no venue yet for the second show, but we will keep you posted as details come.

Now it's our turn to ask a question of you, the fans: What songs would want to hear us play? We have a fair idea of what we would like to play but we want to hear from you. Just click on the comments link below and leave us your fantasy JT set list. Please keep it to about 10 songs max. We look forward to hearing from you.

One last note: I fixed the link to the "Walls of Doubt" video. Thanks for the heads up, Joe! If I can, I hope to be able to add some more video from the many archived JT shows I have. Spare time these days is a rare commodity indeed!

Thanks again for the encouragement! Keep them comments and emails coming!

Jerry

How the Band Got Started

It's time to peel back that dusty layer of time and get a glimpse into the early beginnings of JT. Many have asked us through the years how we got started. So here from my personal journal is the beginning of JT the best I remember it...

About a year and a half after quitting Transit (my band prior to JT) I began to crave playing again. My wife and I were talking one night and she said, “I really it miss it when you used to play. Why don’t you find some guys to play music with again?” Now I’m sure that she only meant that I should play again “for fun.” And to be honest that’s all I wanted out of it. When I left Transit, I packed my drums up in a closet and there they had stayed for the last several months. I had surrendered my lifelong dream of playing in a band and left it in God’s hands. If it ever happens, I thought, it would have to be a God thing. For now, if I could play “for fun” that would be cool.

I looked in the Musician’s Exchange section of a local entertainment paper called Creative Loafing. For the next several weeks I answered a few ads, even tried out with one or two bands, but nothing seemed to fit. So I decided to take out my own ad to find musicians who were into the same things I was into.

I had come up with this idea, which is still a pretty cool idea, I think. I advertised for musicians to form a faux 60’s band. The idea was to become a fictional band from the sixties, dress the part, play the hits on vintage instruments, dress the stage up with memorabilia from the period, Even adopt fictitious names and personalities. Then we take the show on the road, renting ourselves out to private parties, dances, corporate functions, etc. I guess it really was a good idea because the response to my ad was phenomenal.

Among the callers was one Mark Blackburn. Mark was a guitar player, a Rickenbacker player, to be more specific. And he was a big Monkees fan! The more we talked, the more we had in common. He had played in the college frat circuit also. He loved sixties music, especially the Byrds and he had a 12-string Rick he played through a Vox amp. Wow, how cool was that!

Then a neat thing happened. A God thing. Mark and I started talking about Jesus. We discovered that we were both Christians. In fact, we were trying to witness to each other! Not only that, but we discovered that we each really knew who the other was. I was that guy who sang and played the drums for Transit, and Mark was that wild, whirling, windmilling Rickenbacker playing guitarist from Ron’s (Cochran) band, N3D.


THE FIRST PRACTICE
It was at that moment that the whole faux sixties band thing went right out the window. I suggested that we get together with a certain bass player I knew and see what kind of noise we could make. Steve (Atwell) had told me if I ever got anything going to call him. So I called Steve and within a week the three original Jacob’s Trouble members held our first rehearsal in the basement of my mom’s house. It consisted almost entirely of talking, about ourselves, about music, especially about our relationship with Christ. In fact, most of those early rehearsals were just the three of us talking about the Bible, where we were in our walk with the Lord, and praying.

We did play a little. We played a couple of Byrds' tunes, “Turn, Turn, Turn” and “Feel A Whole Lot Better.” We played the Monkees’ “Door Into Summer.” I can’t remember anything else we played but it wasn’t much and it was only covers. We didn’t start writing until later. It was late December 1987 so we decided to reconvene after the New Year and start rehearsing in earnest.

We returned to mom’s basement in January 1988 and hashed out respectable versions of the same covers we had played at our first meeting. We had absolutely no P.A. equipment so you couldn’t even hear us singing. It was noisy but it was a beautiful noise!

It was just me with my 4-piece black Slingerland drums and a hodge-podge of cymbals, Steve with his Peavey T-40 bass and some rig I can’t remember, and Mark with his blond 12-string Rick running through a Vox AC30 amp on that cool little chrome stand with squeaky wheels. He also had a black 6-string but that day he only brought the 12 if I remember correctly. I was doing all the singing at first. Mark had a cool voice but he was initially reluctant to take any lead vocals. Fortunately for us and our fans, Steve and I persuaded Mark to sing.

We spent a long time talking that night. We agreed to stick together and give it a whirl, so next week we were back at mom’s again. A funny story about Mark and my mom: Mark had arrived early and came in to set his rig up. I went upstairs to the kitchen to fix Mark and I a glass of sweet tea. Mom was there and she motioned for me to bend down so she could whisper something to me (she is only about 5 feet tall!). I leaned down and she whispered, “Mark has an earring!” Pretty shocking stuff for my mom at that time. “I whispered back, 'I know!' She shook her head with a disapproving frown and said, “That’s worldly.” I gave her a little hug and said, ”No, mom, judging somebody because they look different is worldly!” She just shook her head and I laughed. That’s one reason I have never gotten my ears pierced, because I know my mom would be disappointed. Right or wrong, I love my mommy!


A GOD THING
After a month or so of meeting at my parent’s house, I really began to feel that we should commit ourselves to being an openly evangelical Christian band. Up to that point we were just getting together and making music with no intention of being a Christian band, even though we were all believers. I decided to share my thoughts at the next rehearsal. But before I could open my mouth, one of the other guys, I can’t remember which, said, “You know, I believe we should be a Christian band.” The other said, “Wow! That’s amazing! I was going to suggest the same thing tonight. I’ve been thinking about it all week.” I added my two cents, “You’re not gonna believe this, but I had come here tonight prepared to say the same thing!” It was clear we were experiencing a God moment. One that would define Jacob’s Trouble for the next six years.

I want to take a minute here and clarify this distinction between being an evangelical Christian band as opposed to just a Christian band. One may think that to be a Christian band at all would be evangelical, and to an extent that may be true. However, there is definitely a difference in emphasis and approach between those artists whose first priority is to see people come to Christ and be saved and those artists whose first priority it is to make really good music that honors Christ and draws people to Him. There is no right or wrong. Both schools of thought are legitimate. The problem arises when one side maligns the other: “You’re too cheesy” over here, and “You’re too vague” over there.

Our hope in JT was to be the middle ground. I think we managed to strike that balance fairly well. Too well, it would seem, as we were never fully embraced by either side! To the artsy types we were a little too bright and happy and used the J-word too freely. To the preachy types we were too artsy and alternative. As a result, we never really caught on, even though we were a crowd favorite at festivals and a kind of critics’ darling in the Christian rock press. The inevitable result: poverty!

From that night on, we dedicated ourselves to being an evangelical Christian band. We committed ourselves to begin every practice with prayer. The prayer usually took up most of our time! But when we would play it would be so much more productive and creative than it had ever been. I remember one of us praying that night, saying, “God, we want to give ourselves and our music to You. If we never leave this basement, that’s fine with us as long as You get the glory.” Man, let me tell you, God honored that sincere prayer.

Jacob's Trouble Reunites!

It's true! We have been in talks about a possible one-shot reunion show in Atlanta for several months now. Now it looks like it will be at least a two-shot deal. JT will perform Friday June 15 at 1:00 PM at AtlantaFest '07 and then, the following night,Saturday June 16, we will be performing a full 2 hour show at an as-yet-undisclosed location. If all goes well, we are planning to record that show, mix it down and release our first ever live CD later this year or in early '08. This is particularly exciting for us as we have always wanted to do a live record properly. Add to it the excitement of the first new JT CD since 1998's Sampler Pak extravaganza and well, we're smiling bigger than Mister Rogers when the trolley rolls up!

Also, we will soon be launching our own website for the first time. We will still maintain this blog as well as the MySpace.com page. But it will be the Troublemakers' first stop for all things JT. I'll be back with more details as they happen.

Until then, thanks for being the faithful fans that you are!

Rooty-toot-toot!