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From the site description: “Jon Watts is a dedicated member of the Religious Society of Friends as well as a prolific songwriter and poet. He has spent the last two years touring extensively throughout North America and is now in the studio recording his 3rd full-length album.”

His site has videos, tour schedules and a ‘vlog’ from this Spring’s bike tour!

The video itself is like a family movie. Every single archetype that defines our modern “Quaker experience” is there— older ponytail dude, graying bob haircut eyeglasses no makeup woman… The…

Announcing Quaker Maps.com

Quaker musician Jon Watts just left from a nice visit to the Convergent Friends South Jersey HQ (aka my dining room table!). Jon’s become world famous as the musician behind Youtube’s most watched Quaker video, Dance Party Erupts During Quaker Meeting for Worship (embedded below). Good conversation about Quakers inside and out, and the tensions between “what Quakerism is” versus “what it can be” and what that means for outreach. The discussion was too good to interrupt with a video interview, but the sketch we made while talking (above) should give you the gist. You can check out his QuakerPoet blog here. Those confused/offended/elated by his video should pay special attention to Dance Party Reflections Two Months Later.

Recording of old time Quaker singsong from Haverford’s Music and Quakerism project:

Singsong or Intoned Preaching: One method of “singing in the spirit” sometimes exhibited during Quaker worship was a form of singsong or intoned chant undertaken by those delivering a message. Documented from the 18th through the early 20th centuries, this practice has now died out, though a few examples have been recorded in sound.

Here’s the description in the credits: “Singsong or Intoned Preaching. Intoning by preachers Tom Jones & Esther Jones, recorded prior to 1968. Gift of Earlham College.”

Hat tip to Jon Watts’ comment on Joan’s guest post on Chel’s blog.

Young adult Quakers shared their deep concern that they had been shortchanged by their Friends meetings: pastoral Friends by the lack of teaching on Quaker distinctives and the testimonies; liberal…

My process for writing the song was to think back to my adolescence growing up in Young Friends in FGC and other Quaker organizations and to try to capture the attitude towards Christianity that –…