The Self Portrait Gospel :: Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Season 9 Ep. 08 - Jeffery Silverstein Jul 02, 2026

Show notes

Portland, Oregon-based singer-songwriter, teacher, and DJ, Jeffery Silverstein, first came on the scene during his participation in groups such as the Brooklyn-based duo Nassau and Baltimore's Secret Mountains, before releasing his 2020 solo debut "You Become The Mountain." Since living in "Rose City," he has carefully crafted his atmospheric artisry within the cinemtaic cascades of spiritual soundscapes and the liberating landscapes that make up the cosmic country community, and beyond. Following up on his 2023 sophomore album "Western Sky Music," Silverstein returns to the sonic surface with perhaps his most eagerly ecstatic effort yet, 2026's debut on the London-based label Full Time Hobby, "Doggone."

On this episode of The Self Portrait Gospel Podcast, we sit down with Silverstein to talk about the unique universe of friends and collaborators he's built in his Pacific Northwest, private press record rarities, finding one's voice, working with muscians like Dana Buoy (Akron/Family), Ryan Oxford (Y La Bamba, Rose City Band), and Devendra Banhart, to name a few, touring London, and Sweden with Bobby Lee, no not the comedian, and much more.

Season 9 Ep. 07 - Jerry David DeCicca (Dedicated To Edward Crane Askew: December 1, 1940 – January 4, 2025) Jun 19, 2026

Show notes

Bulverde, Texas-based singer-songwriter, producer, and beverage connoisseur, Jerry David DeCicca, has been intimatley involved in music for more than two decades, tending the gardens of a creative career that has seen him both on the scene as well as behind it, working with folks such as our mutual friend Ralph E. White, Larry Jon Wilson, Bob Martin, and our main focal point for this episode of The Self Portrait Gospel Podcast, the late great Edward Crane Askew. Having met each other over a decade ago, the dynamic duo not only toured together on the release of 2013's "For The World," but have since secured a friendship that has explored melody, memory, philosophy, and the poetic production of sound.

After a decade between projects, DeCicca and Askew's paths crossed again for what would soon become the legend's last breath of melodic meditation on life and death, 2026's "The Final Painting". A postumous masterpiece that echoes from the artistic afterlife, DeCicca sits down to chat with us about his personal and professional relationship with the late artist, the overall process, and approach to the album's metamorphosis from one song to another, and critical contributions from the likes of Sharon Van Etten, Eve Searls, Canaan Faulkner, Bill Callahan, William Tyler, Ryan Jewell, Dustin Laurenzi, and Fulvio Sigurta. With another single out on June 22nd, the album is set for release on the beloved Drag City on July 31st in all its gripping glory. "The Final Painting" may be Askwe's last album, but the metaphysical mist will soon clear, eventually revealing a body of work that truly stands the test of time.

"When I Didn't Have A Home" - An Amps For Christ Podcast Season 1 Ep. 03 :: "Modified Meditation & The Search For The Path w/ Erik Shumpert" Jun 12, 2026

Show notes

Longtime friend and cosmic collaborator on such works as 1997's "Thorny Path" and 2024's "Rising Phoenix" Erik Shumpert, and his twin brother Paul first met Snarb in the early 1980s, and would soon all move in together in a tiny, historic abode on Brooks St. in LA county where Barnes had been laying down some of Amps For Christ's earlier works like "Plains Of Alluvial," and "Beggars Garden." Influenced by the West Coast punk explosion, Thorn takes us through the melodic memories of Claremont's thriving community of creative culture, catching some of the most influential acts of the Hardcore/Punk scene, recording the infamous track "Pain Of The Fire," and receiving spiritual schooling from Barnes and his unique universe of electronic ecstasy.

"When I Didn't Have A Home" - An Amps For Christ Podcast - Season 1 Ep. 02 :: "Songs Of Now And Then And Then In Now And Now In Then" May 28, 2026

Show notes

This episode takes place right in the harmonious heart of Barnes' liberating laboratory at the legendary Folk Music Center and Museum, located in Claremont, California, where he's worked as a luthier specializing in the setup and repair of sitars, banjos, mandolins, and volins, fret replacement and fret dressing of all stringed instruments, neck resets, electronics, and pickup installation for over two decades. Our journey picks up with Barnes telling us about the early releases of AFC, such as the highly influential debut cassette "The Plains Of Alluvial" that came out on the legendary Shrimper label back in the mid-1990s, which has since become a sonic staple in the legend's radical repertoire, as well as 1997's "Thorny Path." With freedom, the overall goal for everything and anything, AFC, Barnes' cosmic connection to science and spirituality collide in an esoteric explosion, making his sacred style seem like something from a time that reflected riches under the ancient sun, similar to a metaphysical mystery in music that only he knows the secret song to.

Season 9 Ep. 06 - Chris Kysor (Artist behind the cover of the Silver Jews' "American Water") May 21, 2026

Show notes

Having first met the late great David "Cloud" Berman sometime in Dallas in 1984, poetic painter Chris Kysor has been an incredibly important individual in the world of the Silver Jews before they even lifted off the ghostly ground in the 1990s. Friends since high school, Kysor tells us about his dear friend, and poet, the only way he knows how: through his intimate connection and precious friendship with one of the greatest artists of our time. From local concerts where they saw the Cure together, and several of the punk pioneers that were coming through the "Big D" in the 1980s, to Berman's days briefly spent in Austin, the two would eventually reconnect in 1998 while Kysor was living and working in Brooklyn as a painter, and Berman during the Jews' recording of their definitive album, "American Water".

The story goes that Berman visited the artist's studio where he first encountered the unnamed painting, which he instantly became transfixed by, and would later call Kysor to ask if they could use it for their next album. Stunned by his dear friend's interest, Kysor happily agreed, and the rest is harmonious history. Neither of the two knew what was coming their way, both personally as well as their careers, but it's the stuff legends are made of. Kysor breaks down the atmospheric anecdotes that make this episode so enduring and a delight to hear, just how "American Water" became so intensely iconic from the music to its fanous cover.

Season 9 Ep. 05 - John McCauley (Deer Tick) May 14, 2026

Show notes

Logtime Providence-based rockers Deer Tick have been releasing aggressively atmospheric, sonically seductive music for over two decades now. Since forming in the winter of '04 as a duo dynamic for McCauley's melodies, the group has spiritually secured a poetic place in the creative cosmos, alongside their peers and critical contemporaries. We had the chance to sit down with McCauley to talk about the band's brand new album, "Coin-O-Matic", which is set for release on ATO Records in early June, and the thriving traditions, historical harmonies, and memories of the mafia that once thrived in New England at that time. With everything that's going on in this country, the madness and the cruelty, Deer Tick hace risen from the artistic ashes since the release of the their 2023 album "Emotional Contracts" to serve the people a delightful dose of splendid songwriting and self-produced purity, but above all, superb storytelling.

"When I Didn't Have A Home" - An Amps For Christ Podcast - Season 1 Ep. 01 (Season Premier) :: "The End Is The Beginning and The Beginning Is The End" May 08, 2026

Show notes

Hailing from Claremont, California, a suburban city in eastern Los Angeles County, Henry Branes (Ranger Barnes, Enid Snarb) first began connecting with the meditative melodies of music through his incredibly talented parents. With a mother who played guitar and a father who was a member of the local collective The Real Jazz Band, Barnes' exciting enviroment eventually led him down the endless path of folklore, melodic mythology, and traditional tunes. Having participated in several groups in grade school and high school, the young industrious musician began to hone his craft during the cultural crossover from rock and roll to punk in the late 1970s, and decided to combine the two in one liberating location, and hasn't looked back since.

In this first episode of "When I Didn't Have A Home," An Amps For Christ Podcast, Barnes takes us all the way back to the biblical beginning when he was born in La Verne before relocating to Mexico with his family and siblings, for a few years before returning to California, where he would eventually begin to connect with the spiritual sounds, and tonal textures that would later go on to define the visceral vibrations, and enviromentally epic messeages of LA-based "power violence" trailblazers Man Is The Bastard, and later Amps For Christ. Join us as we unpack the unique universe of all things AFC on this season's first episode, "The End Is The Beginning and The Beginning Is The End", where we initiate the first peel of the Glass Onion before discovering what lurks within its cosmic center.

Season 9 Ep. 04 - Rich Wilkes (Screenwriter/Director/Actor/Musician) Apr 24, 2026

Show notes

Born and raised in Princeton, New Jersery, Wilkes relocated to the West Coast with his family, where he would go on to earn a BA at UC Santa Cruz, before eventually deciding to study screenwriting at the American Film Institute (AFI). Having worked as a screnwriter on such cult classics as 1994's "Airheads" (Adam Sandler, Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi, Chris Farley, and Michael Richards) and "The Stoned Age" (Michael Kopelow, Bradford Tatum, and Clifton Collins Jr.), which was released this past Monday as an exclusive cult collectible Blu-Ray in celebration of 420, Wilkes officially made his semi-autobiographical coming of age tale "Glory Daze", starring a pre-Kevin Smith Ben Affleck, Sam Rockwell, and French Stewart, and has since paved way as a legend in an intense industry that is changing quicker than you, and I could ever fathom.

While combining the existential elements of youth, relationships, career, and the brave balance of life, Wilkes may be your new favorite obsession when it comes to cult comedies, and subliminal stoner stories. On this episode of The Self Portrait Gospel Podcast, we sit down with the veteran screenwriter/director to discuss the old glory daze of long-lasting youth in the 1990s, films legends such as Spielberg, Fincher, and Soderbergh, the never-ending narrative of nostalgia, the impact of AI, and much more.

Season 9 Ep. 03 - MC Taylor (Hiss Golden Messenger) Apr 10, 2026

Show notes

Remaining a romantically revolutionary voice among his peers and contemporaries for nearly two decades, Durham, North Carolina-based singer, songwriter, and producer MC Taylor (Hiss Golden Messenger) returns to the sonic surface with his latest effort, "I'm People", which he says is "An intensely human record." Written and recorded throughout Bolinas, the North Carolina Piedmont, and a Santa Fe motel room, with the harmonious help from some of his longtime friends and creative collaborators, Sam Beam, Bruce Hornsby, Marcus King, Sara Watkins, Eric D. Johnson, Amy Helm, and members of Dawes, Taylor effortlessly exposes a liberating light to help guid listeners to a much safer soundscape where endless wars, polluted politics, and chaos cease to exist if only for a moment.

For this episode of The Self Portrait Gospel Podcast, we had the wonderful oppurtunity to sit down the veteran songwriter and producer to talk about the album, the Grateful Dead (of course), skateboarding, Jack Johnson, and the intimate influence of music and its harmonious healing properties. "I'm People" is a brilliant collection of songs that push against the body like a whispering wind in an open field during a spirtual storm somewhere near the Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area in Hillsborough. This will be an album people call on during the inevitable hardships of life to recieve peace and ultimate understanding.

Season 9 Ep. 02 - Chik White Mar 27, 2026

Show notes

Maybe you've seen his vidoes while doom scrolling on your phone at two a.m. in search of elementary enlightenment or a break from the gravitational gloom of the world and its lunatic leaders. The universal use of his entire body through the meditational medium of the acoustic guitar, jaw harp, harmonica, nose flute, and vocals radically radiates the revolutionary reaction of the avant-garde in all its esoteric essence. Darcy Spidle, commonly known as Chik White, is a melodic moniker adopted by the Nova Scotia-based musician and performer for his work in films such as, (Lowlife, Tin Can, The Sinner) and music over the last twenty years. He is a force of great poetic power, improvisational intimacy, and elemental energy.

Having first come onto the punk scene in Halifax, White toured and performed with several bands and projects, which critically connected him with his love for improve and the sometimes romantic reality of not only challenging his audience and listeners but himself within the experimental ecosystem he's created around his art. With the release of his latest effort, "Face Across the Door" on the Italian-based label Music a la Coque, as well as a spring tour to follow, White brings his melodic messages to the mortal masses in hopes of connecting, inspiring, entertaining, and distracting various audiences, even if just for a moment, from the chaos of the world, with lyrical laughter and humble harmonies.

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