Speaking of my favorite podcasts, I haven’t mentioned “Art and Soul” lately. This is really a shame, since many of the guests the past year have been close friends.

If you haven’t heard of “Art and Soul of North Texas,” it’s a podcast created by my friend, Shelly Niedbuhr –quite an accomplished artist herself– that explores the intersections of creativity and spirituality.

And, as I mentioned, many of the recent guests are among my best friends.

Bill Nash was Shelly’s February guest, and he talks at length about his music, his illness and his songwriting process. Despite all I know of Bill, I still learned something new….about his formal music training during college.. It’s a great interview, found here.

Charles Geilich was Shelly’s January guest (right about the time the blog crashed!). Charles, as you may remember, is a good friend and a fine writer. (He actually interviewed me once on his now defunct radio show…and we continue to threaten starting our own podcast together…)

He’s finished two books, and he and Shelly have a great conversation about writing and inspiration. Listen here.

I’ve known Kelly Brown and her family since we were all back in high school and her Dad was my 10th Grace Sunday School teacher. (Yep. That’s a looong time ago…) Kelly’s quite a ball of energy and an incredible artist/musician who is highly supportive of other artists in the area. She was Shelly’s guest back in December, and you won’t want to miss their conversation.

Last July, Vicki Caroline Cheatwood was Shelly’s guest. Besides being an acclaimed playwright, Vicki and her family are also members of our church. She and Shelly had a great conversation about writing and life.

My dear friend, Annie Benjamin, is, literally, of my longest-running (see how I avoid saying “oldest’?) musician friends. She and Shelly have a great conversation about music and life here.

Cornell Kinderknecht is an acclaimed woodwinds player, and also a member of our band, Connections, and he was one of Shelly’s very first guests.

Finally, old friend, Marsha Webb, was Shelly’s very first guest. And Marsha’s deep insights into spirituality and music are things I lap up any chance I get.

It’s a great podcast, and I highly recommend it to everyone. You can subscribe to the podcast and get them on y hour iPod. Or, you can just listen online at the links in this post.

You might even want to check out this episode, with a preacher/musician you know.