Rock That Doesn't Roll: The Story of Christian Music
Apr 29, 2026 · 55 min · 18 segments
Tim Dillinger returns to the podcast to continue our examination of 1985 as a pivotal year in Christian music. This time his focus is on artists who tried to break *into* the Christian industry…
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Leah PayneHost[upbeat music] The influence of what we consider secular artists coming into Christian music informs a lot of why the output was so unique.
And I'm Leah Payne, author of God Gave Rock and Roll to You: A History of Contemporary Christian Music.
And today on the show we have a friend of the pod coming back for a second appearance.
A very talented gospel musician, and also an extraordinary historian of both gospel and contemporary Christian music, Tim Dillinger.
And in season three, we did a episode about 1985 with him, but we only talked about about half of what we were planning [laughs] to talk about.
Uh, it was such a crucial year in the history of Christian music, uh, becoming an industry, and Tim has such amazing insights into this, things that we're not always talking about.
Um, and so today we're talking about artists who were already active in the secular industry who were actually trying to do a reverse break-in.
... into the Christian music industry, um, something that almost seems insane to someone who [laughs] grew up in our generation.
And uh, one of my favorite things about talking with Tim is i- i- if he does not know it, it is probably not knowable-
So he has just the deepest, most nuanced understanding of the industry on both sides of the gospel/contemporary Chri- Christian music, mainstream music, both sides of that, and this is just a really fun conversation.
Instead of talking to one particular artist, today we'll be talking about artists, uh, Donna Summer, Tramaine Hawkins, Maria Muldaur, the band Lone Justice, Mr. Mister.
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[upbeat music] The influence of what we consider secular artists coming into Christian music informs a lot of why the output was so unique.
And I'm Leah Payne, author of God Gave Rock and Roll to You: A History of Contemporary Christian Music.
And today on the show we have a friend of the pod coming back for a second appearance.
A very talented gospel musician, and also an extraordinary historian of both gospel and contemporary Christian music, Tim Dillinger.
And in season three, we did a episode about 1985 with him, but we only talked about about half of what we were planning [laughs] to talk about.
Uh, it was such a crucial year in the history of Christian music, uh, becoming an industry, and Tim has such amazing insights into this, things that we're not always talking about.
Um, and so today we're talking about artists who were already active in the secular industry who were actually trying to do a reverse break-in.
... into the Christian music industry, um, something that almost seems insane to someone who [laughs] grew up in our generation.
And uh, one of my favorite things about talking with Tim is i- i- if he does not know it, it is probably not knowable-
So he has just the deepest, most nuanced understanding of the industry on both sides of the gospel/contemporary Chri- Christian music, mainstream music, both sides of that, and this is just a really fun conversation.
Instead of talking to one particular artist, today we'll be talking about artists, uh, Donna Summer, Tramaine Hawkins, Maria Muldaur, the band Lone Justice, Mr. Mister.