The New Sacred Indie Underground: Beach Chapel, Lovkn, & Cross Worship Give Us A Tour

On this ground-breaking episode of the True Tunes Podcast, we
explore fascinating corners of the current - and quite compelling
- world of indie music being made by artists determined to use
their work for spiritual purposes. Many are crafting tunes
specifically for worship, while others are using their voices to
shine a light on issues related to justice, theology, or life in
general. Adam Lamah (Beach Chapel,) Stephen Lufkin, (aka Lovkn,)
and Troy Culbreth (Cross Worship,) act as tour guides into this
growing scene. We hear about their unique stories – and the
emerging community of young artists blazing these trails without
the support of traditional music business infrastructure. And
when we roll out the True Tunes Jukebox, we let our guests load
her up with records by Young Oceans, Lovelight, Taylor Armstrong,
Them Parents, Antoine Bradford, Worship Mob, Paul Zach & Liz
Vice, Andy Squyers, Wade Walker, John Mark Pantana, and then JJT
tops it off with a classic track by The Violet Burning.


 


Beach Chapel came to our attention a few weeks ago when we got a
message through the contact form at TrueTunes.com. Adam Lamah
heard about True Tunes via an Instagram post by our previous
guest, Natalie Bergman. He and his friends have been cultivating
a vibrant indie community, both online and in-person, and the
resulting music is often spectacular. After he attended the True
Tunes Live events in both San Diego (where he shared a couple of
songs) and Newport Beach, CA (where he interfaced with
second-wave artists Mike Stand of The Altar Boys, Chris Brigandi
of The Lifters and Wild Blue Yonder, and others,) we decided that
we needed to get Adam on the show to tell us about his
impressions of today's sacred indie underground.  He quickly
asked if he could bring a "plus one." Stephen Lufkin, aka Lovkn,
has been a lynchpin in this scene for years. We talked with both,
as well as Troy Culbreth, a visionary pastor, artist, community
leader and songwriter from Cincinnati who is using his indie
Gospel/Worship collective Cross Worship to bring people together
across all kinds of divides. Together we created a 100-song
corresponding playlist as well!


 


Young, fresh, exciting, idealistic, creatively uninhibited, and
passionate, this generation of artists - many of whom are working
way under the radar of today's music industry, might be changing
the way people think about art, community, and worship. One of
the main jobs True Tunes had 'back in the day' was to introduce
our friends to excellent new sounds. We are wearing that hat once
again - and it still fits!


 


See the SHOW NOTES page for a complete list of all of the music
used on this episode, and remember to check out the amazing work
being done by VisionTrust as they come alongside local heroes
around the world to lift children out of poverty and give them a
bright future. Click HERE to support the True Tunes Podcast with
a secure donation of any size.