"I come from the performance world, but the idea of a worship song is different. It's useful music"
About this Quote
John Tesh is quietly drawing a line between two kinds of musical power: the kind that performs for an audience, and the kind that functions for a community. Coming from a career built on polish, ratings, and applause, he treats “performance world” as a trained reflex - music as product, spectacle, and personal brand. Then he pivots: a worship song isn’t just another genre slot. It’s “different” because its success isn’t measured by virtuosity or even originality, but by what it enables people to do together.
Calling it “useful music” is the tell. It’s a slightly unglamorous phrase, almost anti-rock-star, and that’s the point. Use implies purpose: singing that organizes feeling, cues memory, synchronizes bodies, makes belief easier to inhabit. In a worship setting, the song isn’t the main event; it’s infrastructure. It carries the room. It gives people language when they don’t have their own. That practical framing also doubles as self-protection: it sidesteps the suspicion that a celebrity entering sacred space is just rebranding. He’s signaling deference to function over flair.
The subtext is an ethical repositioning. In a culture where music is often treated as self-expression, Tesh is endorsing music as service - not less artistic, but accountable to a different goal. It’s a musician admitting that sometimes the highest craft is disappearing into the use others make of your work.
Calling it “useful music” is the tell. It’s a slightly unglamorous phrase, almost anti-rock-star, and that’s the point. Use implies purpose: singing that organizes feeling, cues memory, synchronizes bodies, makes belief easier to inhabit. In a worship setting, the song isn’t the main event; it’s infrastructure. It carries the room. It gives people language when they don’t have their own. That practical framing also doubles as self-protection: it sidesteps the suspicion that a celebrity entering sacred space is just rebranding. He’s signaling deference to function over flair.
The subtext is an ethical repositioning. In a culture where music is often treated as self-expression, Tesh is endorsing music as service - not less artistic, but accountable to a different goal. It’s a musician admitting that sometimes the highest craft is disappearing into the use others make of your work.
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| Topic | Music |
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