Honoring the legacy of a Christian musician

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming next on The World and Everything in It: the legacy of a Christian music icon.

Rich Mullins was one of the most influential figures in contemporary Christian music of the last 30 years. His life was tragically cut short by a car accident in 1997. But his music left an indelible mark on the music industry—some songs even becoming staples of worship music.

NICK EICHER, HOST: A fan-funded project released late last year pays tribute to Mullins’ music. Here’s WORLD Reporter Steve West.

MUSIC: [“Creed”]

STEVE WEST, REPORTER: Rich Mullins was memorable…both as a songwriter and a performer. He had a penchant for obscure instruments like the hammered dulcimer. In concerts, he often appeared barefoot on stage, and he mixed his songs with honest, heartfelt reflections on a life of faith.

Last year, old friends and younger admirers gathered to record an album of Mullins’ songs. They met in his old house in Bellsburg, Tennessee, just outside of Nashville. Let’s listen in, as author and musician Andrew Peterson kicks things off.

MUSIC: [“Hello Old Friends”]

If the songs on Bellsburg sound intimate and less produced than Mullins’ recordings, that’s intentional. Producer Chris Hoisington compared the songs’ spare renditions to the last demos Mullins recorded shortly before he died.

Hoisington also wanted to recapture the feel of those musical evenings that Mullins regularly hosted at his home, when he and other Nashville musicians would hang out and play music together.

HOISINGTON: We thought, well, what if we take it a step further and try to get ahold of the lady that lives in his house now and see if she’ll let us record ‘em in his living room where he probably wrote a bunch of songs and kind of record these songs in a very communal style,

MUSIC: [“Both Feet On the Ground”]

Ashley Cleveland toured with Mullins. She remembers those Bellsburg gatherings.

CLEVELAND: He had all these friends, and they would all come for extended weekends, and you couldn’t even get in that room because there were so many instruments in there. And I thought, OK, this is my kinda crowd.

Mullins was known for his lightning fast playing of the hammered dulcimer. But he composed most of his songs on the piano. His songs convey the tenderness and affection that Mullins had for Jesus, even in the midst of struggles. That’s something Sara Groves—a songwriter influenced by Mullins— captures in her rendition of Mullins’ song, “Hold Me Jesus.”

MUSIC: [“Hold Me Jesus”]

Bellsburg is a testimony to the affection many musicians held for Mullins.

MUSIC: [“If I Stand”]

Veteran musician Phil Madeira didn’t appear on Bellsburg, but he recollects Mullins well from a tour with him in 1994.

MADEIRA: Every night he would say this: ‘There is nothing you can do to make God love you more than He already does, and there’s nothing you can do to make Him love you less.’ And two years after that, those words would actually get me through some difficult times of my own.

MUSIC: [“Bound to Come Some Trouble”]

The last night of the tour, Madeira went to Mullins’ hotel room to thank him and to ask about that nightly reminder of God’s grace.

MADEIRA: And I said, you know, every night you said this remark. There's nothing you can do to make God love you more. There's nothing you can do to make God love you less. And that really means something to me. I said, I was just wondering if you hold that to be true for yourself. And he just looked at me with this really weary expression. And he just said ‘it's hard man. It's really hard.’

MUSIC: [“Bound to Come Some Trouble”]

Mullins achieved a lot during his short career—both chart-topping songs and albums. Yet he had little regard for fame. He paid himself the average salary for a laborer in the U.S. every year, and gave the rest to charity. He challenged any notion that following Jesus was easy.

MUSIC: [“Holy Pretenders”]

Mullins spent the last two years of his life on a Navajo Indian Reservation, teaching music. He wasn’t a holy pretender. What he preached in concerts about God’s steadfast love was what he preached to himself—and to us.

MUSIC: [“Here in America”]

I’m Steve West.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.