Joshua Tree’s Steve Lester Releases Church of Easy
No one can tell the story behind a collection of work like the artist themselves, especially if the artist is Steve Lester. Lester is a Joshua Tree long ti mer, whose music career is laden with stories that would keep a campfire gathering adding logs for a week just to hear more. However, those stories only slip out to a trusted few and in short bursts, so it a great honor to share his own words about his latest project. Enjoy the story and then the music:
Church of Easy is a collection of songs spanning around 30 years. The majority of the songs are unreleased, as they are not ‘commercial’ material. Instead, they are songs about my inner life as a musician, husband, father, and truth-seeker. They are my most personal work.
I have chosen to release these songs as an album. True, the album format is out of fashion, but these songs are more or less a biography of my life since arriving in Joshua Tree, my adopted home. They can be approached singly, or as chapters of a story.
Although I was dragged out of it kicking and screaming, I was lucky to escape the rock ‘n’ roll business and was able to become a functional adult and raise a family. If things had been different, I could’ve easily missed the seminal experience of my life. I never quit playing music, I just quit trying to make it ‘big’ in the music business. I played on weekends with friends or solo, put together several bands to play regionally, and continued to write and produce music. That’s what I still do pretty much. I play songs for people, if you enjoy them, I enjoy playing them for you, and that’s a bigger reward for me than fame and fortune.
As a recovered rock ‘n’ roll singer, and lately an old-ti me-roots-music musician, I have not released many songs I’ve written over the last 30 years or more because they did not fit into a genre that I had an audience for. Also, the various record labels that released my music over the years, bless their hearts, always complained that my songwriting style was not consistent enough for the “modern” music market (i.e.: whatever style was currently selling); so be it. I always looked at my original music as a photograph of sorts of what I was experiencing inwardly and outwardly at a given time. My next several projects will be to hopefully make up somewhat for the mistakes I made trying to be popular and commercial. I would also advise younger songwriters to ignore what other artists are doing and especially ignore what the labels and suits would like you to do. Be yourself, tell your own story, and express your true feelings in your music. Never lie. In the end, you are the only one you have to please.
I hope this collection of songs will help you reflect on your own journey. I also hope you will share them with any of your friends and family that may enjoy them. Onward and upward.
Steve Lester, aka: JT Easy
www.jteasymusic.com
www.facebook.com/jteasymusic
Church of Easy by JT Easy on Apple Music
CHURCH OF EASY | JT EASY (AKA: STEVE LESTER) | New Moon Records
Church of Easy by JT Easy on Amazon Music – Amazon.com
www.new-moon-records.com
Photo credit: Kathleen Cle
