John Michael Talbot


John Michael Talbot is an American Catholic musician, author, television presenter and founder of a monastic community known as the Brothers and Sisters of Charity.
WWW Official Site

Life and career

Talbot was born into a Methodist family with a musical background in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and started learning to play the guitar at an early age. At age 15, he dropped out of school and was performing as a guitarist for Mason Proffit, a country folk-rock band formed with his older brother Terry.
Talbot embarked on a spiritual journey that led him through Native American religion and Buddhism and finally to Christianity. At this point, he and his brother, Terry, joined the Jesus movement and recorded the album Reborn, which was re-released by Sparrow Records. He married his first wife Nancy in 1971.
Two solo albums followed for Talbot: John Michael Talbot and The New Earth. Both of these were recorded at Golden Voice Recording Studio in South Pekin, Illinois, and produced by Billy Ray Hearn. Reading the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, he was inspired to begin studying at a Franciscan center in Indianapolis. He and his wife divorced, and he became a Catholic and joined the Franciscan Order">Franciscans">Franciscan Order in 1978. His new beliefs influenced his next solo albums, The Lord's Supper and its follow-up, Come to the Quiet. In the years that followed, he continually released new albums and became the best-selling artist in the history of Sparrow Records.
He started a house of prayer called "The Little Portion". Talbot moved The Little Portion to Berryville, Arkansas, on land he had purchased during his Mason Proffit days. He founded a community, the Brothers and Sisters of Charity, at Little Portion Hermitage as an "integrated monastic community" with celibate brothers and sisters, singles, and families. By 1989, Talbot had married Viola Pratka, a former Incarnate Word Sister who had come to the community in 1986.
In accordance with the community's general constitutions, Talbot's title is "General Minister and Spiritual Father". For many years, he has promoted the work of Mercy Corps.
The hermitage suffered a fire in April 2008 in which the chapel, library and many common areas were destroyed. On April 10, 2010, the Bishop of Little Rock, Anthony Taylor, dedicated the new buildings. On October 2, 2010, the Brothers and Sisters of Charity at Little Portion Hermitage celebrated the opening of the new monastery church and common center.
Talbot is the host of an inspirational television program, All Things Are Possible, on The Church Channel which is owned and operated by the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Discography

With Mason Proffit

* double album reissue of Wanted and ''Movin' Toward Happiness''

Collections

  • 1980 Beginnings
  • 1989 Master Collection V1 - The Quiet Side
  • 1995 Collection
  • 1995 The Talbot Brothers Collection
  • 2003 Signatures
  • 2003 History Makers
  • 2008 The Troubadour Years

Books

  • St. Romuald's Hermitage of the Heart: 40 Days to Peace, Prayer, and the Presence of God —
  • The Music of Creation: Foundations of a Christian Life —
  • Changes: A Spiritual Journal —
  • Blessings: Reflections On The Beatitudes —
  • Come to the Quiet: The Principles Of Christian Meditation —
  • The Fire of God –
  • Hermitage: A Place Of Prayer & Spiritual Renewal —
  • Simplicity
  • The Joy of Music Ministry
  • Lessons of St. Francis: Bring Simplicity & Spirituality Into Your Daily Life —
  • The Lover and the Beloved: A Way Of Franciscan Prayer —
  • Meditations From Solitude: A Mystical Theology From The Christian East —
  • Reflections on the Gospels, Vol. 1: Daily Devotions For Radical Christian Living –
  • Reflections on the Gospels, Vol. 2: Daily Devotions For Radical Christian Living –
  • Reflections on the Gospels, VOL. 3: A Passion For God –
  • Signatures –
  • The Way of the Mystics: Ancient Wisdom For Today —
  • Reflections on Saint Francis
  • The World Is My Cloister: Living from the Hermit Within
  • The Universal Monk: The Way of the New Monastic
  • Blessings of Saint Benedict
  • The Jesus Prayer - A Cry For Mercy, A Path of Renewal
  • ''Nothing Is Impossible With God''

Video releases

  • All Things Are Possible With God
  • Nothing Is Impossible
  • Live in Concert
  • ''Quiet Reflections''

Information sources

  • Troubadour for the Lord: The Story of John Michael Talbot by Dan O'Neill —
  • Signatures: The Story Of John Michael Talbot by Dan O'Neill —