Music Friend: Josh Caterer

I have the deep privelege of being friends with Josh Caterer. Some of you may not know who this is, but Josh used to be the lead singer/songwriter for a group called "The Smoking Popes" back in the 1990's. A tramatic incident lead Josh to make a deal with God (Martin Luther style). His exploration for God led him through C.S. Lewis to become a sold-out believer of Jesus Christ in May of 1998.

He soon felt he could not be a Christian and play in the band he was in. He left the band, which immediately broke up. Won over by the supernatural life change she saw, Josh's wife, Stefanie, also became a Christian.

CT writes:

In 1998, lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist Josh Caterer became a Christian, leading him to disband the Smoking Popes because he was uncomfortable singing about melancholy romance: "God changed all my priorities. I wanted to express these things through our music, but it just wasn't working." Caterer took a nearly three-year sabbatical from rock to refocus himself, releasing an EP of acoustic gospel songs and often playing guitar with the worship band at Harvest Bible Chapel in the Chicago suburbs.

Josh formed a band to play the Christian songs he began writing called Duvall. Their latest full length got a fantastic CT review was a honorable mention for Christianity Today's top 10 albums of 2004. They released a Christmas album (which features some FANTASTIC keyboard parts, I must say). He's been hard at work, recording worship songs for a new project coming up. Check it out here.