John Newton

My name is John Newton and I am a former worship pastor and radio broadcaster from North Texas. I currently run a Christian multimedia ministry, Creative Media Ministry. I'm still a beginning musician/songwriter, having played the guitar about five years and the piano less than three. But I'm itching to grow in my musical gifting.

I grew up listening to the music of the 1970s and 80s, especially the young Christian music industry. I still have album tapes dating back to 1980 and sampler tapes from the early 1980s. I never had any interest in learning an instrument, though, until I got to college and saw the Christian music college community ignite in the mid-1990s, thanks to bands like Jars of Clay, PFR, Waterdeep and Caedmon's Call. I started writing song lyrics but not music. After college, I decided to teach myself the guitar and pretty soon I was leading worship at my little Bible church in Texas. I started writing songs immediately and my love for composing grew day by day. Now I want to use that love to share with others the songs the Lord has placed on my heart.

I play in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I was born and raised here and believe the Christian music market is poised for a boom in my area.

Rich Mullins, Phil Keaggy, Michael Card, Andrew Peterson, and John MIchael Talbot are my chief influences. My music is a folk-pop style and mostly acoustic in nature. My voice is folksy, like a James Taylor or Bob Dylan.

I use Gibson, Schmidt and Ovation guitars, a Casio digital piano, and mix in both Pro Tools and Apple's Soundtrack.

I am looking for song exposure. Any positive advice would be greatly appreciated!