Religious Music

Amanda Udis-Kessler is a music-creation fountain whose recent project is QueerSacredMusic.com, 60-plus songs beginning with sacred music relative to LGBTQ concerns, but enriched by the spiritual experiences relative to the arrival of COVID-19 and the nationwide uprising against racism and other injustices. Amanda's theology is open, accepting, and rooted in a universal love, and is enriched by the training and talents of her Ph.D. in Sociology, her time in seminary, and her wide and deep lyrical and musical creativity. Raised as a secular Jew, her never-ending spiritual pilgrimage has included sojourns and enrichment with the UU, Quakers, UCC, Buddhism, Bahá'í, and much more.

Amanda Udis-Kessler is part of EverySoul, and their music has a message, often a counterpoint to narrow, doctrinaire, theology and thought. Having explored the highways & byways of the religious & spiritual world, Amanda identifies as Unitarian-Universalist, appreciating diverse points of view, but strongly rooting in love & hope. Her song, The Difference, was a finalist in the Songs for Social Change 2017 of RAWA.org. She is Director of Assessment and Program Review at Colorado College.

After 27 years devotion as a grade school teacher, Heather Jerrie has now freed up more of her time for her musical passion. As a cancer survivor, 12-step fan, and very engaged UCC member, Heather's beautiful voice sings of hope, service, depth, & devotion.

Micah Sommersmith has a real range to the music he's involved in. Part of his work is as a church music director, but he's also the kind of creative, quirky, musician you'd expect of someone who has played piano, trumpet, euphonium, guitar, and accordion, and who'd write a Song about Glass. He mixes deep and playful, and profound and surprisingly profound, lyrics.

While traditional Quaker worship, based on silence, has no scheduled singing as part of worship, Quakers are among the singing-est and dancing-est of folks around. Don Pardee did a simple recording of 6 folks from Milwaukee Friends Meeting singing a sampling of songs they share Sunday mornings before worship. Jim Schacht, Don Pardee, & Andrea Jehly share about the music they made, along with Sally Durgerian, Kay Augustine, and Jennifer Dahlquist.

Meg Barnhouse is a singer/songwriter/storyteller, plus she is minister of Austin UU Church. Raised in southern evangelical Christian circles, ordained Presbyterian, Meg's faith was lost and reborn transformed as a UU when she was 40. She sings and passion and deep heart.

SuZ Ogden is an angeltonk Baptist Buddhist living in Oklahoma, with visits to California, Russia and Israel. In other words, she's all over the map, from nightclub singer to minister in the United Centers for Spiritual Living.

Barbara Stephan loves R&B and Jazz best, but performs powerfully across the musical spectrum. She hales from Millwaukee and teaches music at the Waukesha County Conservatory of Music. With a passion for spirituality, her songs combine beauty, fun and depth with a message. Barbara's talents also include photography and you'll find some of her amazing pictures of presences in wood on her site NatureSprites.com and look soon for the calendar of her pictures to be produced by OneHeartInc.org.

Karen Taylor-Good is from Nashville and over the years she's made important splashes in that sizeable music pool. Her songs have been nominated for Grammys and she's recorded with a number of well-known performers like Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson & Kenny Rogers. Deeper glimpses of the power of her life show through her work with The Planet Earth Project, Hospice organizations and through her Jewish and Unity roots.

Devaa Haley evokes the many faces of the Divine Feminine on her new release, Sacred Alchemy. As an Interfaith Minister through The Chaplaincy Institute for Arts & Interfaith Ministries, with her degree in Anthropology from Stanford, in her post as Chief Transformation Officer for The Shift Network and in her work awakening women with Soulful Women Retreats or the Soulful Women Certificate Program, she sings powerfully and goes deep.