AL GREEN WAS a born pastor, an Arkansas church kid raised in a family so devout they threw him out at 16 after his father found a Jackie Wilson record the young singer had smuggled into the home. This war between secular and liturgical music raged in Green throughout his early-’70s hot streak, until the scales tipped in 1974, when his sometime girlfriend, Mary Woodson, doused him in boiling grits in the bath and shot herself. By 1976, Green had renounced secular music and become pastor of a Memphis Baptist church. Bob Dylan had a silver cross thrown his way by a fan at a San Diego gig late in his 1978 world tour. Instinctively, he picked it up. Ill in Arizona the next day, he put the cross around his neck. His next three albums—1979’s Slow Train Coming, 1980’s Saved, and 1981’s Shot of Love—explored spiritual themes and Christian eschatology, to what critics considered to be diminishing returns.
There comes a time when musicians devote themselves to big questions, where the biggest question of them all rears its head. Sometimes, mercurial ones whose work views the world from a birds-eye perspective see purpose and intent behind the rhythm and balance of human life. Some take to calling that intent “God.” Inquisitive ones might go long, poring over readings as one might sponge up culture on a trip to another country, as Dylan did in an intensive three-month Bible-study course in the late ’70s and as Kanye West has this year, meeting with pastor Adam Tyson to flesh out questions of faith that have informed his art since “Jesus Walks.” West’s new album, Jesus Is King, turns sharply away from the druggy, horny moods of The Life of Pablo and Ye, but can music’s biggest ego be tamed?
This story is from the November 11-24, 2019 edition of New York magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the November 11-24, 2019 edition of New York magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Unmasking Diddy
The rap mogul shook off decades of rumored bad behavior with wholesome PR revamps. Now the allegations against him are his legacy.
Staging Sufjan
How playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury turned a classic indie-rock album into a Justin Peck-choreographed dance piece that's now Broadway bound.
Justin Kuritzkes Serves an Ace
With his first movie script for the erotic tennis drama Challengers, he has gone from struggling playwright to in-demand screenwriter.
To Brooklyn, by Way of Paris and Rome
A whirlwind week with Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri as she stages the brand's first New York runway show in a decade.
A Burlesque Family at Home
Showbiz couple Angie Pontani and Brian Newman’s high-spirited Marine Park house.
A Bistro With Shish Barak
Huda impressively balances its many influences.
THE 'DEBATE ME BRO
Mehdi Hasan's aggressive interviewing style landed him a Sunday show on MSNBC. Until he started talking about Palestine.
THE MAN WHO GOSSIPED TOO MUCH
For almost two decades, JOHN NELSON anonymously published blind items skewering the Hollywood elite on the blog CRAZY DAYS AND NIGHTS. Then his identity was revealed in the midst of a messy affair.
TODD BLANCHE IS A SURPRISINGLY COMPETENT LAWYER. AND HE'S ON TRACK TO KEEP HIS CLIENT OUT OF JAIL UNTIL THE ELECTION. IN DEFENSE OF TRUMP
TODD BLANCHE WAS looking for his man. Or it could be a woman, but probably not.
Self: Emma Alpern
In Outer Space Why do so many women believe their bodies are controlled by the moon?