A Church With No Walls
Transformative music in challenging times: Leon Bridges, John McGregor, Sam Cooke
I remember driving in my car a few years ago listening to Leon Bridges’ song “Sweeter” and being blown away. As I listened, the song opened a powerful space. It didn’t have a steeple, or stained glass windows, but somehow this space felt like a church—a place of reverence, a place to really pause and feel something, a chance to connect with something deeper. The heart, and grief, and power in the song were so real, so sincere, that the music opened a door, and I found myself not just listening to a song, but sitting in an atmosphere the song created—a different place than I had been in before it started.
This kind of experience is something I’ve felt and been inspired by—and grateful for—with different music at different times, and recently it’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about. A song—both live and recorded—can change the space we’re in, and the atmosphere that opens can be transformative. With a recorded song, this can happen while we’re driving, sitting on a couch, cooking dinner. We don’t physically change locations, but the space feels changed. The song surrounds us, and that surrounding is rich with a different kind of possibility than our day-to-day—the potential of feeling things in a different way, of opening new thoughts, and deepening understanding.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been thinking about this particularly in relation to times of challenge. In difficult times a song can offer a sanctuary—a space that can help hold and support us in connecting with the depth of heart needed to work with grief, to access healing, strength, and new perspectives on ways forward.
The space I experience through listening to the song “Sweeter” has this kind of quality. I wanted to share it, and two other songs below, because these are songs that have been doorways for me—songs that feel healing, supportive, powerful.
We all find these doorways in different ways, and songs and musical styles resonate differently with different people. I’m choosing three songs that are distinct in terms of style to highlight that the same person—in this case me—can experience something powerful through many different types of music, and also with the idea that this might give more of a chance for different people to find something here that resonates.
I’m also really interested in the similarities between these songs. What’s the common thread they share, and the common thread—or feeling—shared by inspired music in general? I’m interested in what happens if we listen not so much with the question, “Do I like this?” but more with the question, “What do I experience listening to this?”
Lastly, before we dive in… The title of this article is “A Church With No Walls,” but the space I’m talking about isn’t connected with a particular religion or belief system. It could also be called a temple, or any other word that refers to a place inspiring reverence, wonder, inspiration—a place inviting us to pause for a different kind of experience. It could be called a forest, a beach, a living room. It can be accessed anywhere, and is open to everyone. It doesn’t have walls, but has many doorways. An inspired song is one.
(Click links to listen on Spotify or Apple Music)
“Sweeter” - Leon Bridges, featuring Terrace Martin
The song “Sweeter” was released two weeks after George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, in 2020. The lyrics speak from the perspective of a Black man living life under the scrutiny of continuous judgement and profiling, unable to find peace under these conditions, and eventually losing his life to racially motivated violence. He speaks to us from the other side, painfully recounting the loss of his own life and how his mother and loved ones cry and sing over his body. The grief is deeply palpable, as is the heart—the love with which the song holds this extreme pain, and extends itself as a prayer for justice, healing, and the potential for a different future.
Saxophonist and music producer, Terrace Martin, who plays sax on the song, calls it meditation music: “not music for the ears, but rather for the heart.”
(Click links to listen on Spotify or Apple Music)
“Eilinen” - John McGregor
For the first time listening to this song, I would recommend listening to just the audio without watching the video—letting the music alone open a landscape, in the way it so powerfully does.
John McGregor is a friend, and also a musical inspiration. He has a gift for opening richly meaningful and reverent spaces with his music. John lives in Finland (and has both English and Finnish heritage) and though the lyrics of this song are in Finnish, I think the essential message can be felt even without understanding the words. In my experience, so much can come through the atmosphere this song opens.
(Click links to listen on Spotify or Apple Music)
“A Change Is Gonna Come” - Sam Cooke
Many of us have heard this song many times. It’s become such a cultural icon that it can make it harder to have a fresh, new experience of it. That said, some years back I started to really hear this song in a new way—experiencing it as a living artistic work beyond my past associations—and it’s been powerful.
What would you experience if you were hearing this song for the first time? Is it possible to listen in a new way? What happens if we shift our focus from “how does it sound?” to “what do I feel as I listen?” What does the space this song opens feel like? What do I find here? How does it speak to me personally?
The way we approach listening can sometimes be helpful too. If I have this song on in the background while I’m doing something else, the experience can be really different than if I sit, and really listen. Maybe I close my eyes. Maybe I put on headphones. A song like this can offer us a powerful moment—an opportunity to pause and connect.
Like so many American musical pioneers, Sam Cooke started his musical journey in church. And years later, when he transitioned from gospel to “popular music,” and became one of the originators of American soul music, the understanding was that his music had “left the church.” But listening to “A Change Is Gonna Come,” and having the powerful experiences I’ve had with this song, makes me wonder: Did Sam Cooke leave the church, or is it possible that he helped expand it? Did he take it beyond conventional chapel walls and help create an expanded sacred space—a place where meaningful, transcendent experiences could be available to anyone?
These are the kinds of questions that are inspiring me to explore this idea of “a church with no walls,” and inspiring me to share these songs.
Sam Cooke’s story of “leaving the church,” and the question of an expanded sacred space has countless parallels among the founders of virtually every major American popular music style. From blues to country, jazz to rock ‘n’ roll, we could say that American popular music as a whole has its roots in sacred spaces—a compelling origin story to explore, especially considering how deeply influential American popular music has been, and continues to be, globally.
I’m really interested in this lineage and path of American music, but am also very inspired by music from around the world. I’m excited to continue exploring the space songs can open, through experiences with all kinds of music, and I’m also interested in hearing what other folks are listening to, and experiencing. Are there songs that have been inspiring you recently? Feel free to share thoughts or links with the comment button below. Thank you for reading, listening, and joining this exploration. I look forward to continuing with the conversation.
Love Bravely is a cross-genre music project and creative community founded by rapper/singer-songwriter, Matre, in collaboration with a wide network of musicians, artists and creatives. For more information visit us on Substack.
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Leon Bridges is a contemporary Soul / R&B singer. To listen and learn more visit https://www.leonbridges.com/
John McGregor is an English / Finnish singer-songwriter with work both in Finnish and English language. He’s also a member of the group Kaspar, together with bandmates Mikael Hakkarainen and Tuomas Hakkarainen. To check out the band’s latest single, “Who Am I” click here. And to hear more of John’s music, listen on Spotify or Apple Music.
Sam Cooke is a widely celebrated, and highly influential, American singer and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of soul music. To hear more of his music, listen on Spotify or Apple Music.