7 Answers From: Jonathan Allen Wright

A conversation with Jonathan Allen Wright.

Hi Pal,

Welcome to 7 Answers From. This is a newsletter where I have conversations with artists, composers, producers and other creatives in and around the Christian alternative indie scene by asking them 7 questions.

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You have the option of either listening to or reading the answers to the questions I ask.

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Introduction

Jonathan Allen Wright is an indie Christian artist from the foothills of North Carolina. His music is heavily inspired by 80s rock/pop and West Coast harmonies.

My first contact with his music was his 2021 album — Wind — and I was struck by how clearly biblical his lyrics were. While Wind is an atmospheric indie folk album, I have since listened to his entire discography and I have discovered that his sound is quite diverse.

In this newsletter, I ask him questions about his life, career, the creative process behind his latest album, Doorways & Tombstones, and many more.

The Conversation

Q: What has your Christian walk been like over the years and what (two at most) major lessons have learnt from your journey with God so far?

I was raised in a Christian home and my Dad was a Pastor for most of my life at home. I have awesome parents and great brothers who are also believers and we all attend the same church where I’m currently serving as Youth Pastor.

During that time, my walk with God was pretty cool because I could go to my parents and ask them questions and I never felt like they were pushing me to the side or afraid to talk about things and I really appreciated that about them.

When I was a teenager, that shifted to being in a youth group and serving in a youth worship team in the church where my Dad was a Pastor. That was really important for me because it solidified the fact that I loved music, even though I’d been playing it with my family all my life.

It also solidified the fact that I had to be intentional with my relationship with Jesus because I was now leading others — and other teenagers — in worship, so that deepened my relationship with Jesus.

Later, when I moved out of the home and started working full-time for a Christian Retreat Center, I worked with a lot of really awesome believers that I learnt a lot from and I worked with a few people that didn’t have Biblical theology and ideas. That really pushed me to learn more and to know what I’m talking about for those conversations and needing to answer questions with Biblical context.

After I got married, I learned more about God’s love because marriage is supposed to emulate the Gospel and I learned more about God’s love for the church through my love for my wife. In this time, I have learnt how difficult that can be sometimes and that I’m not always great at emulating God’s love. This has given me a deeper understanding of who Jesus is and just how much he loves us in spite of what we might do.

Q: I’ve listened to most of your albums and it’s safe to say that you incorporate a lot of different elements into your sound. If you could describe your music in one fun statement, what would that be? 

I have no idea what to call it (chuckles). It’s a lot of 80s influence and a lot of east-coast, Beach Boys surf music influence as well. But I also think some Steven Curtis Chapman snuck in there and some old Michael W. Smith. So I think I’d like to call it, ‘80s ish, Beach Boys ish, Independent Christian Rock Pop’? (laughs)

Q: Your new album, Doorways & Tombstones – released on April 1st – is one of my favourites of the year so far. Can you talk to me about the inspiration behind the album?

I do a lot of writing late at night — my wife usually goes to sleep early, and I do not — so I usually stay up and search the internet or draw or write lyrics down on my notes app on my phone. So there was one night when I drawing and I drew a shape that looked like a tombstone or a doorway in its shape.

I don’t really know why that stuck with me but it did. A while later, I was thinking about that same drawing late at night and I was thinking about how we get so many things right as Christians but we also get so many things wrong.

We sometimes move forward with things or go towards an entry that we think is correct when it is something we should be avoiding or putting to death. And there are things that we put to death and put away that God is actually moving us towards.

It’s this idea of not doing what we want to do and wanting to get it right. So, with this album, the inspiration is trying to approach difficult questions in a non-difficult way.

The idea of wanting to discuss things like deconstruction, hypocrisy, eternity (and what that looks like), why we suffer and like God is absent etc. Yet wanting to approach that in such a way that we circle back to the fact that all this suffering is nothing in light of eternity, which is straight from scripture.

Q: In what ways was the creative process of Doorways & Tombstones different from past albums (particularly Wind from 2021)?

The first album I recorded —from start to finish — is called Entries. I tried to write a song every day for a month and I released 17 songs on that one they were not very good (chuckles). But it was kind of a bucket list and the songs were not really focused on Christian topics. The second project I did, Thoughts, was like writing a journal and there was some alluding to God in the lyrics, but nothing very specific.

Then I started feeling bad because I am a believer and God is the most important person in my life so I began wondering why I’m not writing songs about Him and my relationship with Jesus. I realized it was because I was scared of being corny and of not being very good or sacrificing creativity for the sake of trying to make a popular Christian song.

After that, I just did a worship project, it was called Worship, and it comprised mostly covers and two originals and that got me towards writing Christian music. Then I recorded Wind and at first, I thought it was going to be a congregational worship album but then it turned out to be an album with worship lyrics and different instrumentals, and I really liked that idea.

From that point, I decided that I wanted to make an indie rock/pop album that was interesting musically but also talked about the tough stuff so I started that process after writing Doorways & Tombstones (the song) and it all just snowballed into this full album.

Q: In your opinion, how has the Christian indie music scene grown over the years and what things can still be improved? 

The Christian indie music scene is so interesting because I know so many people in it now which is awesome. It’s grown in such a way that you can actually talk with and collaborate with other artists that you don’t even live near through technology. Also, people can distribute their music through independent platforms at a really affordable rate. It’s cool that it has grown in that way and I also think that it’s cool that people are being creative with style and production so it doesn’t sound like your typical radio stuff that can sometimes come across as pretty boring or shallow.

As for things that can still be improved, I would say that there is a weird, almost mystic view of God in a lot of the independent Christian scene where it begins to feel like this weird blend of New Age and Christianity. Where people are sacrificing sound doctrine for creativity a little more looseness in what they can write about. So I think there can be — not all of the time — a lack of reverence and sound theology in those words, sacrificed at an altar of wanting to come across as more creative.

It is possible to be creative musically and lyrically while also remaining Biblical in your words and I try a lot to do that. I probably have some lyrics that can be confused by people but I’d never want to lean too far into that mystic idea because I think there is a little too much of that in the scene right now.

Q: When you’re not making music or performing, what are you usually up to?

I don’t really perform. I have played my own stuff maybe three or four times in front of other people. This past release, I did a live stream concert where I played a couple of originals and that was really scary honesty (chuckles). When I’m not recording or performing in some way, I’m spending a lot of time with my wife, and my friends from church. I work full-time in Youth Ministry at our church (Hope Church, Danville), so I’m spending time with the students working on things around the church and I love doing that.

Q: “I can’t get enough of (insert song or artist here)”. What Christian indie/alternative artists or song(s) is currently having this effect on your playlist? 

I can’t get enough of Dawn till dusk by Gwil Davey and Christian Singleton because it is just an amazing worship song that is very alluring and I can’t get it out of my head. It’s also very prayerful and I appreciate the effort that was put into it. So if you haven’t listened to Gwil Davey’s music, particularly the Prayer Meeting EP, go ahead and do yourself a favour and listen to that.

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Jonathan is married to his wife Kristin and currently serves as a leader in the youth ministry at Hope Church in Danville VA. Feel free to follow him and his music using the links below:

Streaming Platforms
Instagram
Website

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Thanks to Jonathan for taking the time to speak to me. It was an enlightening conversation and I hope you were blessed by it too.

That’s it, everyone.

See you soon!

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Looking forward to reading your thoughts.