"Some people think of me as this C.S. Lewis-like intellectual, and I'm
not like that at all", says Jeff Johnson.
Hmmm. An image problem? Unlikely; he's not well enough known to have
an image that can be a problem. But among those who know of any of
his 16 albums on his own label Ark -- why would that be? Let's
see..... Johnson has a strong but small 'cult following', is rarely
seen outside of his home area, lives on a mist-shrouded mountain near
the eerily-beautiful Oregon coast in a Portland suburb, plays a music
with affinities to mystical 'New Age' music, sings from his love of
paintings and sculpture as well as his awareness of the presence of
mystery in life, writes of far-away places such as Carcassonne and Mont
St. Michel and philosophers such as Plato and Pascal, and writes songs
that use words like (groan) 'juxtaposed'. His latest vocal album,
Pilgrimage, draws even more upon the imagery of dreams and dance
and the search for Truth. Do you still wonder how he got a 'mysterious
intellectual' image ? Well, that doesn't -- and shouldn't -- faze
Johnson : "All I do is write about the things that interest and inspire
me, and thus a lot of my references are literary allusions. Many of
the songs that started with some idea from a literary work ended up
being very biographical, but because of the literary references people
don't realize it."
He answereth truthfully, saith the Sage. It helps to know that if
someone called the number found on some Ark albums and promos, they'd
find him at home and quite likely in the midst of carrying out the
garbage or changing diapers for his young family. And he isn't put
off by talking to those who call; it's made him many friends in places
where he's never been.
There are a number of places on Pilgrimage where the abstractions become mere backdrop for the person. For example, in 'South Toward Carcassonne' :
" Earlier I made the big mistake of pulling out your photograph -- is there nothing I can do to keep my heart from .... ..... funny how the things you write for someone else come back to you : It's in His hands, Yes I know it's in His hands, And I know that it can be no other way."
"It's really just a song about me being lonely in the village of
Beaune, France", according to Johnson. "I was driving by myself down
toward a medieval castle village in the very far southwest of France
called Carcassonne, to meet my friends David and Kathy Hastings [who
are responsible for that wonderful art work on all Ark albums] and
their son Ryan, and we traveled for several days together before
meeting up with my wife Susie. But all this time I had been away from
Susie and my little daughter Hailey, and I didn't figure on how much I
would miss them. It drew me back to a song that appeared on my first
album, called 'It's In His Hands', which reiterates that truth that
regardless of one's situation, God is still in control."
A Jeff Johnson album doesn't start with a set theme; one develops as he
goes along. In this case, the emotions of his trip to Europe took hold
of the developing album, "seasoning", as he puts it, the direction that
had already started to take hold.
The songs on Pilgrimage contains hints, echoes and even quotes of his
many previous records. (See Discography, to 1990)
"I'm very conscious of the albums I've already done", he says. "In the short paragraph that
I wrote on 'Pilgrimage' I say that listening to my albums is like
looking at old photograph albums. They each represent where I've been,
ideas that I've had, things that the Lord has taught me, and people
that He's brought into my life. As I develop a body of work, there's
quite a stream already developed and it's hard not to continue rowing
in it. It's not like I'm stuck in the mud by quoting myself now, but
I find myself going back to the ideas I've already had, to pick up
where I left off. On the surface, Pilgrimage is a spiritual
travelogue, but underneath the skin there are many of the continuing
themes that have already shown themselves on my previous albums, and in
some respects are resolved now."
It's hard to critique Jeff Johnson. His shimmering sound is so awe-
inspiring that it's easy to overlook the soft spots. One does not
turn to Johnson for street savvy. He sometimes overblows the
artistic references, such as in 'Closed Please Call Again' from
Icons
. A few times his sound lapses into his own stylistic stereotype, as in
Fallen Splendor's 'Time Waits For You'. And he could rely just a
little less on his electronic wizardry and a bit more on acoustics.
But that's nit-picking. Nobody else anywhere sounds quite like Jeff
Johnson. It's hard to compare his work with anything but his own
previous work; talk of the Moody Blues, Peter Gabriel (when mellow),
Vangelis, Paul Winter, and the Windham Hill artists does little more
than point out the listeners who would most appreciate the sound.
His music is modern popular-style led by keyboards, but with the
grandeur of classical music. Listeners who don't believe in Jesus may
well enjoy his albums, but they would find themselves wondering what
he's saying. Bully for them !
A good example of the Johnson soundis 'He Is Not Here' from Fallen
Splendor, where he combines two originally separate works into a stunning
whole -- a refreshing Spanish-style acoustic guitar instrumental by Sandy Simpson
takes us right into upbeat hard rock that celebrates the discovery of
the empty tomb: "This darkness that I move in cannot keep me from Your
light/ Things are not what they're s'posed to be here !" In
'Monet's Failing Eyes' from Splendor, Johnson uses abstractist sounds
just as some abstract painters drew inspiration from the strange new
things the painter Claude Monet saw after an eye operation. Johnson
sings as an aging man struck by how deceiving appearances are : "What
is true and what is not are often dressed the same". He asks for
guidance, and wonders if he'll ever understand what he sees going on.
Or, in what may have been Johnson's best work, 'Windemere' from Icons,
the approach of dawn startles the hills overlooking England's Lake
Windemere, moving from from a silent drowse to a bright awakening of
life in the world and in the soul, all revolving around a line from
Keble. The weaving back and forth between the theme for the night and
the theme for the awakening day give way in the end to the church bells
which beckon one and all to come together.
Johnson wants to clear away some of the spiritual doubts caused by the
'New Age' label that is usually used to describe his music. "Just by
being more accessible in interviews and in concert, people are less
confused as to what I'm doing", he says. "For the last couple of
years I've been caught in the crossfire of this whole 'New Age' scare
because of my musical style, and I've had to do a lot of explaining of
myself. [Concert performance] gives me a place to say, yes, I really
am a Christian. It's a different kind of music than they're used to
hearing, but it comes from the same kind of desire and sincerity and
context that other sincere Christian artists are working from."
In a sense, the whole body of Johnson's work over the course of
fourteen years has been a pilgrimage, from being a single teenager
fresh out of high school to being a family man soon to enter mid-life.
God often uses pilgrimages to teach us lessons and remind us of things
that we lose track of in the bustle of day-to-day life. And what are
the key lessons he's learned from it all?
"God has a tendency to work like a hand in front of my face", he says.
"By that, I mean that one needn't go to Europe or have these earth-
shaking experiences in far-away places to be inspired by God. God
works through the people that He brings into your life. God has the
most profound effect on us through the community that we're involved
in. I mean that in many respects; of course, the community of
believers, the church, and the communities we live in and that we are
a neighbor in. God works through all of those things. In America,
that idea has gone to the wayside. We've really lost our sense of
community. You read a book like Robert Bellah's Habits Of the
Heart
and other works that evaluate how our society has changed, and the one
thing that rings loud and clear is that people make their decisions
based on individualism rather than based on community , and I think you
could apply that right down into the Body of Christ, the Church.
"You never know until they're gone how much of God was written on that precious face you thought you knew....." (from 'All These Faces')
"The album Pilgrimage is a recognition of the history and culture that
have gone on before us in the Christian flow", notes Johnson.
This is one guy who knows the flow he's going with.
(c) Copyright Robert Longman Jr, 1990. All rights reserved.