Cover Story - Russ Taff (2025)

some 2025 releases I hadn’t gotten to yet

This is gonna be a long one, cuz I have thoughts.

First, i whinge a lot here about my faith and I’m gonna do it again. I always have a hard time connecting with modern American Christianity because it’s such a slick package that doesn’t do much. I stopped thinking of myself as a Christian when I was maybe 20, and i legitimately used to be mad at people like my parents and friends who seemed to get meaning out of a faith that I couldn’t see anymore. The fact is that life is messy and unpredictable and occasionally shitty, and the surface level of “Jesus takes care of everything” rings hollow for me. It seems more like spiritual bypassing than anything useful. Some people can get to that comfort and salvation when they really need it despite the noise and some can’t and none of it is because there are enough vaguely Jesus-y platitudes on posters and greeting cards and bumper stickers.

Russ Taff is a guy I liked a lot in my Christian-rock-only era. He had a tough upbringing dealing with abuse and alcoholism, and if there’s a story of someone who was able to find peace in the midst of pain, it was Taff.

He had struck out on his own after leaving a 70s praise music band, and after a couple of trend-aping pop rock records (not bad, just not great), he released an album called The Way Home that used a top-notch roots-rock / country sound to drive his message. This was one of many tours that came through the old Sioux Falls Coliseum (I recall his show being better than Bryan Duncan but not as memorable as Rich Mullins).

Fast forward to today. I find those moments of peace and joy and salvation often enough that I no longer resent it in others. I’m a lot more comfortable in my faith and spirituality, even if I’m not on board with the “God votes Republican” approach a lot of American Christians are caught up in. So I guess I was in a particularly good spot for God (the Universe, the Logos, whatever) to show me this new Russ Taff record out of nowhere.

Taff started a recording project exec produced by another of my favorite CCM artists, Steve Taylor (o_o), and they put together a collection of covers. These songs are (until the last two tracks) from outside of the CCM world, depicting those struggles and hopes that I was talking about. The themes rang true for Taff, and they ring true for me as well.

In addition, the songs are nearly all top-notch. He finds the wish for something to change in Tear This Building Down, a traditional tune done a few other times, sometimes under a different name.

He finds that real-world, non-theoretical grace and redemption I talked about at the top in songs by U2, The National, and Prince.

He ties it all together with Dylan’s I Believe In You and Bill Withers’ Grandma’s Hands, connecting past kindness and the present situation.

It’s a really striking album with a fantastic band. One of my favorites of the year, for sure.