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JP: Oh yeah, I taught music. After college, I was a music teacher for a few years and then I also was

a music director at a church for a few years. I worked at the mall for a while as a supervisor at a
department store. Yeah, I’ve had that. Fortunately for me, I’m able to do this now.

BiTS: I couldn’t help but notice when I was researching you before doing this interview, that in
your list of gigs, there’s something which is called the Gospel Duo. Do you go out regularly as a

gospel duo?

JP: Well, that’s something we started with the quarantine actually, when we were shut down and
we weren’t able to go play out. I needed to play because it’s my sanity, it’s my therapy, but I was
having a hard time writing. I was not able to write, that’s not how I write. I kinda write after I’ve
gone through the hard time, but not while I’m in it. I just kind of was shut down creatively and so I
decided that we would do a few shows on Sundays as a live stream, just Mark and I. I went really

far back. I found really old mountain music,
old-time southern gospel, blues gospel, that
kind of stuff and then just really old school
acoustic blues and we made up this show and
just found a bunch of different music to play

and so it kinda became a thing for us and so
we actually got hired to do it now, so now we
have a show on the calendar to do it.

BiTS: Have you ever recorded any gospel
stuff?

JP: No, but we really are considering it
because we really love it and Mark, he has a
National Resonator guitar and I play my
acoustic and he’s really great on the Resonator,
so we have a really unique sound and we’ve

been doing really well at it, so we actually just
were talking about that a couple of days ago.

BiTS: The reason why I’m so interested is because I’m one of the very few, I think, blues DJs who
has a regular gospel spot in my show and I would love to be able to include your music if I can
sometime.

JP: Well, if we do it, you’re the first one I will send it to [laughing].

BiTS: [Laughing] That’s absolutely terrific. Tell me about the new record. I only just came across
this just a couple of days ago. You’re advertising it, I think.

JP: Yes, so it’s called “Out of the Dark”. The last record we did not use a producer, we did it all
ourselves and this time I hired a producer, and his name is Kevin Bowe and so this is our foray into
having a producer and it was really great to have somebody who really understood what I was
going for. Kevin is one of those guys that you don’t know his name probably, but he’s been behind