Troubadour for the Lord: A Book Review

Troubadour for the Lord is a biography of John Michael Talbot. It was written by Dan O'Niel. Talbert was a rock star and early member of contemporary Christian music. He later became a Roman Catholic Franciscan monk. It is rare to have a Catholic in CCM. His entire story is very different from the usual.

He grew up with Christian roots but was not religious. He become famous with his group Mason Proffit. He toured with other groups, including the Grateful Dead. He was married at 17 but had a rocky marriage. He became unhappy with stardom. He was converted after his career was somewhat declining.

He had a very rocky early days with Christianity. He went through several different stages of Christianity. At first, old friends were happy with his direction. But when he became a strict fundamentalist, he angered several of those same friends. Even his wife was unhappy with his turn. He later mellowed out. He became more and more interested in a simple communal life. His view of Christianity was a lot different from his wife. He desired a total change from the world where she did not ant to give up the world totally. When he divorced, most in the music business still supported. A unnamed singer who died tragically in the early 1980's, probably Kieth Green, was very unsupportive and believed he might be going to hell. It was at this time that he was drawn to a Franciscan community.

He eventually became a Franciscan and set up a monastic village in Arkansas. His mentor advised him to stay in the music business and build bridges between protestantism and Catholicism. This has become a major theme in his life.

I started listening to CCM in the mid 1990's. I listened to a few of Talbot's hits but his career was winding down when I started listening. I had no idea that he was a Catholic or a monk. I was drawn to this book out of curiosity.

It is a very good read. It is interesting that his belief before conversion were comparable to his beliefs after. It was strange how he came to justify the use of Mary and the saints. He kind of just adopted what the Catholics believed and tried to justify it. He came to believe that the Roman Catholic church is the church that Jesus started.

While his career has declined, he does still perform. I've listened to his music and find it very pleasant. I did not like that he said when he was a fundamentalist that he got caught up in Biblolatry. There is nothing wrong with loving the Bible and making it your only rule for faith and practice. He seems to view the mystical encounter with Christ as more profitable than the Bible. He believes that contact with Christ is better than doctrine. This sounds good, but God has chosen to communicate through his word. This book does give an early glimpse into CCM. It also gives insight into John Michale Talbert's mindset.