The True Tunes Podcast

We are back where we started, in more ways than one, with songwriter, artist, producer, and musician’s musician – Charlie Peacock. In this comprehensive conversation, recorded in person at Charlie’s home studio in Nashville, JJT and CP revisit his earliest days as a young musician in California. The release of his recent memoir, Roots and Rhythm, and an EP worth of previously unheard recordings from 1981 called The Kahne Sessions, frames this story of formation and transformation. We then follow the man as he becomes one of the most successful producers in the history of pop music. A special 30-minute Jukebox feature traces the evidence – from his earliest production work with The Choir and The 77s, to a Top 40 pop breakthrough, his discovery and launch of one of the great 90s alternative rock bands, and multiple Grammy Awards in the 2000s in the Americana and Folk space.   This may be our longest show yet (and it features over 60 musical cuts), but when considering the work of someone like Chuck, it seems more than fitting. His voice, both literally and as experienced through his piano, pen, and studio control board, has done as much to shape our concepts and imagination about the redemptive potential of art in a broken yet beautiful world as just about any other artist. So, sit back, relax, and let the words and the music wash over you as we give thanks for the gift that is Charlie Peacock.   If you want to support the show, please join our Patreon community or drop us a one-time tip and check out our MERCH!   For full show notes, (including a list of all of the songs used on this show,) photos, and more, visit TrueTunes.com/CP25 (coming soon)   Music List: Set 1 Watching Eternity Winsome Kelly Blues One Man Gets Around Charlie Peacock-Ashworth - Redbones In The Shadows John McLaughlin - Extrapolation Jeff Beck Group ft. Jan Hamme - Freeway Jam (Live) Scrappy Lil’ Cat We The People Dance 4 Me All Night (Afrobeat ’23) Jamming with Edward - The Boudoir Stomp Refuge of the Wild (f. Eric Harland, John Patitucci, Chris Potter & Marcus    Printup) Suddenly Big Man’s Hat (Live) Istanbul, Gate To Prosperity (ft. Jeff Coffin & WonderTwins)   Set 2 High Risk Casualty American Music Lie Down In The Grass (Bruce Neher STEM mix) Rhythm Girls Charlie Peacock Group - Motion Sickness (Last Vestiges of Honor) Charlie Peacock Group - No Magazines (Last Vestiges of Honor) Hot Night Downtown Vector - Running from the Light Charlie Peacock-Ashworth - Jude, as in Hey Jude Vector - Mannequin Virtue Congolesia I Will Need Your Help Iridium-2022-07-09-Demo-Mix   Set 3 Message Boy (Video remix) Experience Rainbow Motherfunk Monkeys at the Zoo Blue for You (ft. Eric Harland, John Patitucci, Chris Potter & Marcus Printup) This is How the Work Gets Done Sexy Chill Sway Beauty Left the Room Go Light, Go Free (ft. Turtle Island Quartet) One Small Pebble A Boy and His Dreams Whole Lot Different, Whole Lot the Same (Pandemic version, ft. Jimmy Abegg, Sam Ashworth, Brent Bourgeois, Eric Heilman, Michael Roe, Aaron Smith, Bongo Bob Smith and Roger Smith)   All songs credited to Charlie Peacock, except where noted.   Jukebox Playlist   77s Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba Caught In An Unguarded Moment Someone New You Don’t Scare Me   The Choir Fear Only You Render Love   Russ Taff Down in the Lowlands   Margaret Becker This Is My Passion The Hunger Stays Simple House All I Ever Wanted Soul Tattoo   Jimmy Abegg Entertaining Angels Touch of Love   Out of the Grey He Is Not Silent   Charlie Peacock Every Heartbeat (Live at 3rd & Lindsley)   Amy Grant Every Heartbeat   dc Talk In the Light   Aaron Smith Again and One Mo’ Time   Sarah Masen All Fall Down   Switchfoot Ode to Chin Dare You to Move   The Civil Wars If I Didn’t Know Better Poison & Wine Barton Hollow   Charlie Peacock Damnation   Charlie Peacock ft. Sam Ashworth & Ruby Amanfu Good Things   Charlie Peacock (ft. Brian Blade, Scott Mulvahill, Roger Smith & Jeff Coffin) Promise of Fellowship Kept   Also heard: Phil Keaggy - God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen Charlie Peacock - Blue for You (ft. Eric Harland, John Patitucci, Chris Potter & Marcus Printup) Charlie Peacock - 88 Tons of Awesome  

Millions have been impacted by Charlie Peacock's Grammy Award-winning production and songwriting work. A smaller, but devoted group has been with him since his days as a Sacramento-based alternative pop artist and member of the progressive Exit Records scene. But very few have ever heard the work he did prior to his 1983 debut, Lie Down In The Grass, until now. On the heels of the release of his expansive and revealing memoir Roots and Rhythm, Peacock just dropped a never-before-heard collection of songs he recorded in 1980 and 81 with the legendary rock producer David Kahne (later named among the 500 most important Rock Producers by Rolling Stone for his work with Regina Spektor, The Bangles, Paul McCartney, Fishbone, Lana Del Rey, Springsteen, Tony Bennett, Stevie Nicks and others.) The Kahne Sessions reveals a young diamond in the rough, and on this special episode Charlie takes us back to those early days in his career and puts it all into context. And there is a LOT more where this comes from. This conversation, recorded in person in Charlie's home studio, covered everything from his earliest days as a musician, to the transformation sobriety and faith brought to his work, to concerns he has over the ways commodification, dehumanization, and artificial intelligence are impacting the way today's artists are engaging with the work. That will all be coming soon, but we wanted to get THIS part - celebrating the release of The Kahne Sessions out to you right away. Be sure to subscribe to the show on whichever platform you prefer so you don't miss a beat. And if you missed our very first episode - way back in 2019 - it featured none other than Charlie Peacock. You can find that show HERE. For more information, including a list of all of the songs used on this episode, visit the show notes page at TrueTunes.com/CPKahneSessions If you want to support the show, please join our Patreon community or drop us a one-time tip and check out our MERCH! Follow Charlie on Substack HERE: https://charliepeacock.substack.com/ 

In the final installment of our "True Tunes Live at Audiofeed 2025" series of 45RPM episodes, we listen in on John J. Thompson's speaking session dubbed "The Sound of Revolution." What does revolution sound like? What is countercultural music all about? This spirited conversation with a roomful of aspiring radicals provided some actionable perspective. (You'll have to forgive the challenging sound quality on this one. The tech was not in our favor. But it sounds much better than the boombox recordings we used to treasure after going to seminars at Cornerstone back in the day.) For more information, including a list of all of the songs used in this episode, visit the show notes page at TrueTunes.com/SoundOfRev  If you want to support the show, please join our Patreon community or drop us a one-time tip and check out our MERCH!

Chuck Girard, one of the architects of Jesus Music and founder of the band Love Song, recently passed away at the age of 81 after a battle with cancer. On this special episode of the podcast, we visit with fellow Jesus Music veteran, Alex MacDougall, who recently survived a very close call with esophageal cancer, and our own Bruce Brown, who is in the midst of chemo as he edits this very episode. We also hear from Terry Scott Taylor via a special clip from the upcoming documentary "Us Kids" about the role Chuck and Love Song played in his own musical story.  Might there be some wisdom in the ancient Christian practice of "memento mori" in times such as these? Did Chuck Girard leave us a song for this very moment fifty years ago?  For more information, including a list of all of the amazing (and in some cases extremely rare) music used in this episode, visit the show notes page at TrueTunes.com/Girard.  If you want to support the show, please join our Patreon community or drop us a one-time tip and check out our MERCH!

In part three (of four) of our "True Tunes Live at Audiofeed 2025" series of 45RPM episodes, we open the floor for questions about anything! The panel included Gileah Taylor, Chris Taylor, Matt Hammitt, and JJT. For more information about Gileah visit Gileah.com (and be sure to check out her Bandcamp store.) For more information about Matt Hammitt, check out his website: https://matthammitt.com/  For more information, including a list of all of the songs used in this episode, visit the show notes page at TrueTunes.com/AudioFeedAMA If you want to support the show, please join our Patreon community or drop us a one-time tip and check out our MERCH!

In part two (of four) of our "True Tunes Live at Audiofeed 2025" series of 45RPM episodes, we visit with Matt Hammitt, former frontman of the rock group Sanctus Real and currently ramping up a new band, Lo Cloud. Hammitt joined JJT and a small live audience in the "Subculture Tent" for a conversation before his performance to discuss growing up in the rock and roll scene, choosing to walk away, and his return. For more information about Matt Hammitt, check out his website: https://matthammitt.com/  For more information, including a list of all of the songs used in this episode, visit the show notes page at TrueTunes.com/Hammitt If you want to support the show, please join our Patreon community or drop us a one-time tip and check out our MERCH!

In part one (of four) of our "True Tunes Live at Audiofeed 2025" series of 45RPM episodes we visit with one of our favorite independent artists, Gileah Taylor. The Velvet Blue Music artist joined JJT and a small live audience in the "Subculture Tent" for a conversation before her performance later that night.  For more information about Gileah visit Gileah.com (and be sure to check out her Bandcamp store.)  For more information, including a list of all of the songs used in this episode, visit the show notes page at TrueTunes.com/Gileah. If you want to support the show, please join our Patreon community or drop us a one-time tip and check out our MERCH!

The public may best know Phil Madeira as an ace-in-the-hole sideman for high-profile Americana artists like Emmylou Harris, while Nashville insiders know him as a songwriter's writer and a go-to studio musician as well. While his career goes back well over 50 years, over the last decade or so, Madeira has released a series of superb, highly-focused solo albums and creative collaborations that have focused on various aspects of his musical, lyrical, and overall artistic skillsets. On his latest project, Falcon, (releasing July 18), Madeira combines all of these elements seamlessly. It presents as a sort of "Best Of Phil Madeira" project, that happens to be comprised of all new tunes.  On this episode we catch up with Madeira to hear about Falcon in detail, and how it fits into his larger body of work. We will also peek behind the curtain a bit, into the deeper personal work this music reflects in the life and heart of the artist.  For more info visit the full show notes page at TrueTunes.com/Falcon and to learn more about Phil Madeira find his website at PhilMadeira.net.  If you want to support the show, please join our Patreon community or drop us a one-time tip and check out our MERCH!

The Tony Award-winning musical Hadestown is a fantastic retelling of the myths of Orpheus’ journey to the Underworld to rescue Eurydice alongside the marriage of Hades and Persephone, set amidst the visual and musical elements of New Orleans during the 1920s and 1930s. On this episode, we visit with guitarist, songwriter, and producer Sam Wade, who has been on the road with the traveling version of this stunning musical for most of the last year and will continue in that role again next year. Wade has been a friend and collaborator of ours for a few years. He has produced a few songs for my wife, Michelle Lynn Thompson, including her song “Riptide.” (Listen closely for an instrumental snippet in the background of this episode.) He will also be joining me (JJT) for my set at the Audiofeed festival this summer and backing up Michelle for hers as well. We jumped at the chance to see him and the rest of the company in action with Hadestown when they came through Chattanooga recently, and to catch up with him to see what it’s been like to travel with a production like this. For more information, including a list of all of the songs used in this episode, visit the show notes page at TrueTunes.com/Hadestown If you want to support the show, please join our Patreon community or drop us a one-time tip and check out our MERCH!  

King's X, the band formed by bassist, songwriter, and vocalist Dug Pinnick, guitarist Ty Tabor, and drummer Jerry Gaskill roughly 40 years ago, has pushed musical, lyrical, and even technological boundaries since its debut. Before that, these musical adventurers brushed up against the Christian music subculture as members of Phil Keaggy's band and others. But despite their early connection to the Jesus Movement - or perhaps because of it - they decided to specifically avoid any connection to the Christian music market when they formed King's X. Thousands of Christian rock fans nonetheless embraced them, parsing the imagery in their lyrics and wondering where they were coming from. 35 years into their journey, King's X continues to  innovate in the studio and rock on the stage. Listen in as Dug reflects on a long and - at times heartbreaking life in hard rock.  Find the full show notes (including a list of all songs used on this episode) at TrueTunes.com/KingsX .