I love John Mays.
In 2000 I began meeting with record label presidents and he was my favorite. That’s not to slight the others, but he stood out to me as someone I connected with on a more important level than just business. He was the only one of the five, for starters, who warned me about the downsides to being a successful artist and advised me on how to deal with them. He talked about the need for true friends, a solid marriage, accountability to other Christians. We talked about what a Christian is, he didn’t assume I knew. He asked me what I’d tell someone after a concert who asked me how to become one. He stressed to me how much more important it was to him that I be a good follower of Christ than it was that I be a good singer.
I was so impressed with his character, his concern for me that I wanted to sign with his label after one meeting. But it didn’t feel right. It’s the only time in my life I can remember being certain about a decision but unexplainably unable to carry it out.
I remember the day I met with John to break the news. I told him I wanted to work with him but that I didn’t think it was the right move for me and I had no idea why.
The next week his label was closed down by its owner, folded into another unexpectedly. His artists, who signed with him, then had to work with another man, another philosophy, another label and had no choice in the matter. I dodged that bullet but from time to time I wish things had turned out differently and I had signed with John at a label that was still around today.
John is still making music. He heads a new label, Centricity records, home to my friends in Downhere. And John and I still bump into each other from time to time. Like this morning.
This morning was one of those moments when I found myself wishing I could have worked with John. This morning I spoke about “the Good News” to a crowd of indie artists gathered for GMA‘s Academy event in Nashville. And John introduced me. But first he encouraged the group with a few words.
He relayed a story from Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, who wrote about his experiences in the concentration camps during Hitler’s reign. One day Viktor witnessed a fellow Jew being badgered by a Nazi guard. The captor put a gun to the prisoner’s head and the man, knowing he was seconds from death, spoke only three words: “I’m not repeatable.”
John asked us all rhetorically why a man would say this to his executor. Could it be, John asked, that this man wanted his killer to know that for a hundred generations before him and for a hundred generations after him there would never be another like him? Could it be that he wanted to assert how special he, a Jew, was? What a valuable creation God made him to be? And John went on to encourage these indie artists, and me, to be what God made us to be, to use the criticisms and successes of this weekend and of life to grow into the unrepeatable valuable person God planned us to become.
I felt like writing music again. I felt like hopping in a time machine and signing with John Mays’ label even if it only lasted a week and I’d spend the next seven years working for another man. Because John is unrepeated in this industry I’m in.
(Tomorrow I’m talking about why being independent is better, for some, than being signed.)
Scott says:
He sounds like a great guy. Do you find him to be an exceptional example of a “genuine” Christian in the Christian music business? I listen to, observe, and hear stories about some “Christian” music people who are appear to be in the “Christian” music business, because they live in Nashville and not L.A….perhaps the field is less crowded?
Anyway…. I would have enjoyed hearing your presentation at GMA….. Did you SHLOGCAST it?
Shaun Groves says:
The Christian music business is like any other, full of people who both make mistakes and outshine everyone around them. And most of us do both every day.
John is someone I’ve been around during more shining moments than mistake making ones – that’s all. The things he’s said when I’ve been around have often been things I needed to hear and at the moment I needed to hear them. Sometimes our needs just line up well with another person’s wisdom and generosity like that.
Most of the people I know in the music business, in both the country and Christian markets, are people I wish more people knew – people I’m glad to know. They have bad days or weeks or months but we all do right? It’s rare that I meet someone who consistently acts unChristian when I’m around them and yet claims to be one. In the couple of instances that come to mind tonight, those folks were artists and not label employees. The only frequently occurring quirk in label folks I’ve noticed, and that bugs me personally, is that label folks rarely if ever care about what their artists care about most or about the artists’ personal and spiritual lives as much as I think they should…but then again our personal and spiritual lives aren’t part of the contract are they?
As far as the field being less crowded? True. It is. But I’m not sure that’s the reason people on the business end are here. I don’t know. I’ve never asked.
No, I didn’t record it. GMA did but, honestly, it was an off day. I don’t speak well in the morning – not fast enough to make transitions well.
Brad says:
Very encouraging. I had many similar experiences at the GMA in the Rockies event. I was (I’m almost embarrassed to say) surprised at the amount of focus there was on actual ministry and spiritual integrity in what we do. I think it was John I remember speaking in a question and answer session. I was impressed by his directness, no beating around the bush. I came away with a renewed enthusiasm to do something for the Lord, not just build a career. Pretty cool for an “industry” event. Oh, and even if it was an off day, I still would have loved to hear your presentation. Don’t forget that for some of us, depending on our circumstances, a little goes a long way. You know, like a drop of water in the desert. Blessings.