Featured Musician
Glenn Kaiser
Voice of the Street, Sound of the Soul
Glenn Kaiser isn’t just a musician—he’s a movement. From the gritty streets of Chicago to stages worldwide, Kaiser has used blues-rock, soul, and sanctified grit to speak truth to power and bring hope to the broken. As frontman of the Resurrection Band (Rez Band) and a co-founder of Jesus People USA, he helped pioneer a raw, honest sound that stood apart from the polished sheen of mainstream Christian music. He played for addicts, prisoners, skeptics, and seekers—anyone hungry for something real.
Kaiser’s music is rooted in the blues but driven by a prophetic heart. He writes about injustice, addiction, redemption, and the struggle to live faithfully in a fractured world. His guitar wails with pain and prayer; his lyrics carry fire and mercy. Whether playing a cigar box guitar on a street corner or preaching through a mic at Cornerstone Festival, Kaiser delivers the gospel with no sugarcoating and no compromise.
Now, decades into his journey, Glenn Kaiser is still making music that matters—deeply spiritual, fiercely honest, and relentlessly human. His voice remains a compass for those looking to walk the narrow path between justice and grace.
Rez Band: Loud, Raw, and Righteous
When Resurrection Band (later Rez Band) emerged in the late ’70s, they didn’t sound like anything in Christian music. Blistering guitars, gritty vocals, and lyrics about poverty, racism, abuse, and addiction—topics most artists wouldn’t touch. Albums like Awaiting Your Reply and Colours weren’t just sonic statements, they were spiritual warnings and invitations.
Kaiser didn’t write for radio. He wrote for the kid in the back pew with a bruised soul. Songs like “Military Man” and “The Chair” gave voice to pain while pointing toward hope. This was ministry, not marketing.
Street-Level Blues: Glenn Kaiser Band
After Rez Band retired, Kaiser went deeper into the blues with the Glenn Kaiser Band. It was stripped-down, raw, and deeply personal. Albums like Winter Sun and Throw Down Your Crown tapped into the old-school Chicago blues tradition but with lyrics steeped in faith and fire.
He sang about Jesus and justice, pride and repentance. This wasn’t CCM polish—it was front-porch confession and alleyway prayer. Every note sounded lived-in.
Cornerstone Festival: A Platform for the Fringe
As a co-founder of Jesus People USA, Kaiser helped launch Cornerstone Festival—one of the most influential gatherings in alternative Christian music. It wasn’t just a concert. It was a countercultural sanctuary. Punk bands, spoken word artists, metalheads, theologians, and street prophets shared the same stage.
Kaiser wasn’t just a performer there—he was a pastor, mentor, and anchor. His sets were a blend of blues, gospel, and prophetic challenge. He made space for misfits and dreamers to find community and purpose.
Ministry Beyond the Music
Kaiser has never separated music from mission. He’s ministered in prisons, shelters, and recovery centers. He’s written books on worship, justice, and community living. His theology is grounded in lived experience—faith worked out in the grit of daily life.
He doesn’t chase platforms or popularity. He shows up where people are hurting and lets the blues do what it does best: tell the truth and carry the soul through.
Legacy: A Prophet with a Guitar
Glenn Kaiser’s influence is hard to measure. He helped redefine what Christian music could be—not safe, but sacrificial. Not sweet, but true. Artists from Derek Webb to Lecrae have followed the trail he blazed.
He’s proof that faith and art don’t have to compromise to coexist. And that sometimes, the most spiritual thing you can do is plug in a guitar and wail like your life—and the lives of others—depend on it.
5 Essential Glenn Kaiser Tracks
- The House is On Fire – Slide guitar meets prophetic urgency.
- Defending the Poor – A raw, bluesy rebuke of injustice.
- In the Soul of a Man – Gritty and gospel-soaked.
- Every Waking Hour (Rez Band) – Desperation and defiance in perfect balance.
- Winter Sun – A quiet masterpiece of hope and grief.
What Younger Artists Say About Him
Liz Vice: “Glenn’s music taught me that pain and praise can live in the same verse.”
Propaganda: “He made justice sound holy before I had the words for it.”
The Brilliance: “He doesn’t just write songs—he pastors with them.”
Influenced by Glenn Kaiser
Judah Wells
If Glenn Kaiser was the Jesus Movement’s electric blues prophet—gravel-throated, justice-driven, and always ready to preach through a power chord—then Judah Wells might be his spiritual godson: equal parts preacher, punk, and psalmist with a gospel in his gut.