Whether you're looking for Christian music for your children, your family, or just yourself, the music of Jamie Soles is a sound, biblical, and highly listenable choice.

Hear the sounds, embrace the story!

Introducing the man behind the music, in his own words....

Biography

 

Upbringing

I was born into an evangelical Christian home, the youngest of six children. I grew up attending an Evangelical Free Church every Sunday, hearing the Word preached and taking part in the life of the church community. I can never remember a time when Christ was not exalted in my home, and a relationship with Him was kept ever before us. Bible stories, sword drills, and Bible memorization were a part of the fabric of our life. I have thanked God many times for giving me such a firm foundation in a Christian home. It is a great blessing.

My mother passed away when I was 9, and shortly thereafter my father remarried to a woman who had five of her own. I became number 11 of what became 12, when my little brother was born in 1976.

Becoming Reformed

I began attending Peace River Bible Institute in Sexsmith, Alberta, after my graduation from high school. I had never heard the words "Calvinist" or "Arminian" until I went there. My first year theology prof (John Barach Sr.) identified himself as a Calvinist ("What’s that?" said I…), and it was from him that I first heard the doctrines of grace formulated. They didn’t sound particularly shocking to me; I found that I could affirm total depravity, and unconditional election wasn’t too much of a reach, after all, the God that I knew from my childhood was sovereign. I recall being troubled by the idea that God chose some and not others, but irresistible grace and the perseverance of the saints were no trouble to me. I didn’t lose any sleep over any of these doctrines, however. They were like stars in the night sky; they looked good up there in my collection of beliefs, but I didn’t perceive any order to them.

When I was 21 and 22 I began to be faced with some serious problems. I was raised my whole life long to believe that Christ could be coming back at any moment. At the same time, my reading of Scripture was convincing me that it was my task to be active for the sake of the kingdom of God in the world, working to expand that kingdom, and I found it difficult to reconcile these beliefs. What was the value of trying to push back the darkness when the darkness was a sign of Christ's soon return? This was quite a conundrum to me, for I had never heard of anything but premillenial eschatology. I never knew there were any other options.

I was working at the Christian bookstore one day, when a shipment came in of a new book from Hal Lindsey. I was quite familiar with him already (and by this time, thankfully, the Lord had given me the sense to take the Hal Lindseys of the world with a grain of salt), but I thought I had best familiarize myself with his book if I was going to sell it. It was called "Road To The Holocaust", subtitled "The Dominion Theology movement among us could lead us.and Israel.to disaster!" "What is Dominion Theology?" said I, so I looked in his book to find out. Lo and behold, some of the promoters of this nefarious theology were sitting on our shelves, and I picked up one called "The Reduction of Christianity" by Gary DeMar and Peter Leithart, and began to read for myself what was so bad about these guys.

I never even made it through the foreword before I knew that these fellows were onto something that Lindsey was missing. They expounded several things in that book; covenant theology, Calvinism, presupposition apologetics, theonomy, and most importantly to my need at the time, postmillennialism. My conundrum was fixed. 1 Cor. 15:58 really was true, I could work for the upbuilding of God's kingdom in full assurance of faith without having to worry that all my labour was going against God's plans. God was sovereign not only over men but over history as well, and He would certainly accomplish all that He set out to do. What a relief! It was like being born again, again!

Suddenly, Calvinism made perfectly good sense to me, now that I had a framework for it. If God can choose the ends for all of history and accomplish them, then surely He can do so for men on an individual basis as well. If He can do it on a grand scale, surely He can do it on a small scale!

This shift in thinking started with a flash, but it was a long process, probably 3 or 4 years, of rethinking everything I had ever thought. I never understood how much one’s eschatology impacts just about everything else in one’s life! I went through what many call the “cage stage”; you know, when someone is new to Calvinism it can be pretty heady stuff, and one can do a lot of damage without even trying…I probably should have been in a cage!

This was what set me on the Reformed pathway. I have certainly modified some of the views that I held in my early reformed days, But I thank God for them just the same. So now when people ask me when I was saved, I say “I was saved 2000 years ago, by Christ on the cross, but I accepted Calvin into my heart when I was 22.”

Interest in music

I remember singing as a small boy with my family. One day when I was 6 years old, my father came home with two nylon-string guitars that he had picked up somewhere, saying something about how his kids weren’t getting enough music. Two of my brothers took some lessons at the school, and they came home and taught me some chords. I loved it, and I have not stopped loving it yet! I remember a picture that my Dad used to have of a small, six-year-old Jamie trying to play the guitar…I could reach the chords, but only if I strummed way down on the neck!

The music that played in my house in those days were things like Johnny Cash, the Kingston Trio, and Rolf Harris. The first song I ever learned to play was “Egg-Suckin’ Dog”, by Johnny Cash. Not too auspicious to start with!

I was beginning to aspire to be a recording artist by the time I was 13, and I had it in my mind that in order to do this successfully, I needed to write my own songs. I stewed over how to do this for a couple of disappointing years. When I was 15 I worked at a Christian camp, and a girl at camp showed me the wonders of finger picking. Wow! This opened whole new worlds for me musically, and I was so inspired that I sat down and wrote a song, my first. It was about the beauty of the things God had made and done, and when I played it for one of my friends, he had me play it for the whole camp. It seemed to be well received, and it affirmed to me that this was something of which I was capable. I started writing as many as I could write, and I have now somewhere around 350 songs.

I learned how to read music in high school band class, where I played a baritone horn. Though I won the band award in my grade 12 year, I never saw much future in an instrument that tied up both my hands AND my mouth, and which would still play only one note at a time…so for me, the brass instruments went by the wayside. When I went to Bible College I took some music history and music theory courses, which were helpful in understanding what was going on when I was playing, but most of my direction in music has come from being a songwriter and having something to sing about. I played in a Christian band called Damascus Road for about six years, beginning in my second year of college. We played music that ranged from quiet harmony ballads to heavy rock, and we were quite popular with the young (and rebellious), and less than popular with my parents generation… We recorded 2 albums; “Walk By Faith” in 1988 (no longer available), and “All Right With Me” in 1990. I was also doing some solo work during this time, and in 1990 I released my first solo album, “Fidelity“, and in 1992 another solo album called “Over The Line”.

When I began to embrace Reformed theology, the first outworking of it relating to my music was that I began to see the primacy of worship for the Christian, and the importance of the Church. I began trying to write worship songs which could be sung not just by me, but by a congregation. In the baptist church where I worshipped we began a worship team, which I led for 8 years. In 1994 we recorded a CD of some of the songs that we were using in our worship, called “Prayers Of The Saints”. It was my intention as a songwriter to try to direct us away from the subjective, this-is-how-I-feel songs, and back to the objective Psalter and this-is-what-God-has-done kind of songs. It was my desire to steer our congregation back in the direction of reformation, but as time went on it became more and more clear to me that the steering wheel is behind the pulpit and not behind the guitar, and if the driver doesn’t want to go, you’re not going.

Jamie and Val

Life always happens on many fronts at once, and mine was no exception. In 1989 I was married to my wife Valerie (The best deal I have ever made!), and we began having children in 1991. By 1996 we had four of them, and a full-scale training task on our hands. I began to write Bible story songs in 1996, and to play them for my children. They seemed to like them, so they had me sing them to our Bible study group. There was a terrific response to these songs, and people began asking for me to record them. We began to incorporate the kids into our concerts, and it was very well received.

When I began writing kids songs, I remember once thinking “What can I write next?”, when an old frustration arose unbidden. As a boy in Sunday school, I learned a little ditty which was designed to help me remember the books of the Bible, and I recall thinking even as a boy how that was not a very good song; it didn’t rhyme, it had no rhythm, and it only did the New Testament. My “Books Of The Bible” song was born from that frustration, and I have had countless people tell me how that song has helped them find their way around the Bible. Kids seem to love List songs just as much as Story songs!

In 1997 my first kids CD was released, named “Good Advice”. This has been my best seller to this point, and it has been good to find something that is both useful for the people of God and very enjoyable to me. In 1998 I had another solo release called “River”, which is an album steeped in Scripture, but oriented more to adults. And in May of 2002, what I regard as the best album I have ever made was released, my second kids album, “The Way My Story Goes”. It is full of Old Testament story songs, all with a view to showing forth Christ in the Old Testament stories. It begins with Noah, and sweeps through the OT till near the end, where a version of Psalm 80 (“Give Ear”, a longing for the Messiah to come) provides the transition to the New Testament, where there are some songs of glory in Christ and a forward look to the resurrection.

A statement made by C.S. Lewis about children’s literature has shaped my understanding of how to build a kids song. It was something along these lines, that if a book cannot be enjoyed by a fifty year old, it won’t make good and lasting children’s literature. By the same token, if the song is unbearable for an adult to listen to, it won’t be a good kids song. I have been pleased to hear reports of fathers taking this new CD out to the barn where they can listen to it by themselves! J (“Wait yer turn, kid!”)

Musical influences

My musical influences have been quite varied. In my early teens, I was very much influenced by Randy Stonehill and Larry Norman; as a young adult U2 and Petra; as a kids writer Steve Green, Sharon, Lois, & Bram, Judy Rogers; as a maturing adult (I think I can call myself that now!) Mark Knopfler, Phil Keaggy, Paul Simon. There are many others harder to pinpoint. A sample of what is in the 25 CD exchanger right now is Wes King, Gilbert & Sullivan, Phil Keaggy, Steve Bell, 50 Favorite Hymns, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto vol. 2, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Bebo Norman, 48th Highlanders, Palestrina, Wynton Marsalis, Bruce Cockburn, Mark Knopfler, Liona Boyd. A pretty fair variety.

My Style, how it developed

I always find it difficult to classify my style. I have many, all based around an acoustic guitar. My style has followed the course of my life. When I was young and solo, my songs were mostly thoughtful quiet stuff. When I became part of a band, I wrote songs with the band in mind. When I was a solo artist again, it was a mix of the quiet and the loud. When I was a worship leader, it was worship songs. When I was a father, it became kid songs. When I was a choir leader, it was choir songs and arrangements. I’m not much of a heavy rocker any more like I was, but I can still dredge it up if I need it, which I hardly ever do…

Full-time?

It has been my desire to make a living from my music from the time I was young, but the Lord has never seen fit to open those doors, which is fine. I work as a guitar teacher, piano tuner, janitor, and concert musician, all depending on the need of the moment, and the Lord feeds us plenty every day, so we are happy. There are pressing reasons which hinder me from doing what musicians everywhere tell you is the only way to make it financially; touring. That is hard enough to do when you have one child, but the Lord has blessed us with seven. I don’t want to “make it” in the music business so bad that I am willing to sacrifice my family to do it. And I also don’t like the notion that the musician can feel free to visit a different church every Sunday, and not just to visit, but to lead. This seems to me to exalt the status of “musician” to something greater than what it was meant to bear. The Lord has set me in an influential place with my children, and I don’t want to teach them that it is all right to be rootless. I want them to love their home church, and for it to be truly “home”. I want them to have the benefits of regular fellowship with believers who live and eat and hear and pray together. The local church is very important; far more so than my desire to make a living doing my music.

If it could be arranged that I could tour for 3 week days, say Tues-Thurs, and be at home the rest of the time for church’s sake, that would be ideal. Sorry. Just dreaming out loud!

Jamie's family

We do love to do family concerts when we get the opportunity, so long as we can avoid usurping the church’s regular worship. I know that the Lord has given me gifts in being able to strengthen the hands of God’s people through our music, and I love to see it happen. We try to present a concert that is reverent, joyous, and full of Scriptural content. I like to do concerts in places where folks have been listening to our CD already and their kids know the songs. We sometimes get your kids up to help us sing some songs, and that is great fun!

CCM thoughts

I have spent much of the last 10 years ignoring the world of CCM, so I don’t feel too qualified to speak. I long ago became thoroughly disgusted with the star-making machinery of Nashville which had virtually swallowed up the Christian music industry at the time, and with the high divorce rates among purportedly Christian artists, and with the fact that all the major Christian labels were owned by big, godless money men from organizations that hate my Lord. Perhaps things have changed since then. I am quite sure that the Christian radio stations aren’t very good at representing what is really happening in Christian music, so perhaps there is some hope…I have taken a chance on a couple of cds in the last year and been pleasantly surprised by what I found, so that’s good. I am sure that I am not the only musician in the Christian world who has been less than pleased with CCM’s state of affairs, and I suspect that there are many who are trying to skirt the system like I am doing. May God bless their efforts!

How can the Church make use of those of its members who have special musical talents?

A church cannot use what it has no use for. I believe there needs to be a serious re-ordering of our thinking about the arts. Once we can again find a prominent place in our hearts for the development of art, music, poetry, etc. which glorifies God, then we will be in a better position to suggest what such development might look like, and where the specially talented members might fit in. Churches need to do serious work on developing community within each local body. If the people of God never get together on any other day than Sunday, there will be no room for the artists, poets, and musicians in her midst to use their gifts to bless God’s people. There are, however, creative ways that the musically minded of a church can exercise their gifts. One can visit a church member in the hospital, or shut-ins, etc. with an instrument and a song of praise, for example. Not all rewards wind up in one’s wallet! One could do house concerts. One could write a song especially for a sad friend. The Church would be wise to facilitate such things. Perhaps the elders could be in contact with the musician to let them know when Mr. Jones was admitted to the hospital, and could you please go and sing?

To the aspiring artist

The star-making machinery which bombards us on every side would have us believe that the successful musician is the one who plays 200 concerts a year and tours the globe, playing for sold-out venues wherever he goes. Don’t believe it. The successful musician is the one who does what he does to the glory of God, and does the best possible job he can do. We mustn’t set our eyes on the ends of the earth, because God wants us to use what He has given us to serve His people and His cause here and now.

Set the Church as primary in your efforts. Seek her good above all, because God loves His Church and has tied the future of the world to her performance. When she shines, the world is blessed; when she languishes, the world rots. Work to make her shine. Love her. Honor her. Submit to her. Try to resist the temptation to bypass her for the sake of your own gain. Use your gifts and abilities to further her work, and to bless her people.