Russ Taff: I Want to Change
Revisiting the catalog of this CCM icon after watching his latest interview for the Soft White Underbelly's channel.
Hello again!
It’s been a big week! Don’t miss The Second Disc’s feature on the forthcoming First Choice box set which was a collaboration between them, myself,
and for SoulMusic Records and Cherry Red Records. I’m also wrapping up a series of reissues for two of my favorite artists ever…but there is more coming on that soon!This week’s newsletter is centered around the incredible Russ Taff.
Russ’ music is part of the soundtrack of so many of our lives.
I first heard him as a child when he was a vocalist in The Imperials and he led some of their biggest hits of the seventies. His voice drew me in. There was an earnestness and soul that was so compelling. Songs like “Praise the Lord,” “Trumpet of Jesus,” “Water Grave,” “I’m Forgiven,” and “Be Still My Soul” are songs that dominated the airwaves during one of CCM’s most creatively expansive eras. When he left The Imperials and branched out on his own, his solo albums began to tell the fuller story of his faith experience, replete with certainty and doubt, ecstasy and agony, and desolation and fulfillment. Musically, he revealed a deep relationship with a broad swath of American music—he brought southern and Black gospel, soul and country, rock and standards together, refusing to settle comfortably in one commercially viable genre.
Over the last decade, he has bravely shared the story of his addiction and recovery (Chronicled in the documentary, I Still Believe), but his new interview with the Soft White Underbelly channel is astoundingly honest, painful and beautiful in a very different way. It is an hour and twelve minutes that you will not regret investing. So often Christian artists re-write their stories to be glowing, smiling testimonials that lack any of the grit one would presume their stories should have—but in this interview, Russ wears his story proudly and unashamedly lets all of us in. My love and respect for his life and work has only grown after watching.
If you missed my 2022 article about Russ’ 1985 blockbuster, Medals, and my conversation with his wife and co-writer Tori, you can read and listen here.
The Russ Taff Starter Kit
If you’ve never heard the music of Russ Taff, here are seven of my favorites to get you started. I intentionally left out Medals, because I highlight the entire album in the article above!
Poignant interview. Listening to Water Grave. Wow.