By Lee Hurley
Photos by Jordan Wald
The Reverend John Burruss will tell you that his musical life is not merely a hobby or an interlude from his calling in the ministry. Music and ministry are not separate tracks in his life. They are different forms of the same calling.
Burruss, rector of Saint Stephen’s Episcopal church in Mountain Brook, traces his musical roots back to his childhood in Memphis. His mother played piano, and when he was around seventh grade, she bought the grand piano that lives in his kitchen today. Piano became more than an instrument for him; it became an emotional outlet, especially through his high school years. Even when other expectations pressed in—his father, seeing his gift for math, nudged him toward engineering—Burruss felt pulled toward music, toward “playing rock and roll,” as he cheerfully puts it.
That instinct followed him into college at Purdue, where he played in a band writing original music and spent Monday nights in a Grateful Dead cover band at the Wabash Yacht Club. The habit of making music, by necessity waxed and waned as Burruss moved on through school, seminary, marriage, children and ministry.
Then the pandemic arrived, and with it came both isolation and a renewed sense of need. Burruss had come to Birmingham from Memphis and found himself longing for musical community. He reached out on Facebook, and a fellow musician, Tom Thagard, invited him over to play. What began as a Sunday night session became a regular outlet, and a smaller remnant of that group still gathers about once a month. Burruss credits that invitation with helping music become a regular part of his rhythm again.
That return mattered for more than artistic reasons. For Burruss, music became a faithful response to a culture in which he tried to reason out why everyone seemed so angry with each other. Songwriting, by contrast, gave him a way to process what he was seeing and to make something constructive. One of his most meaningful songs, “Where Are the Days?” grew out of that impulse. It reflects on a changing world and asks whether we might learn to see it differently.
Burruss draws a direct parallel between ordained ministry and making art. In pastoral life, he knows he cannot fix every problem people bring to him. What he can do is “listen and offer hope.” He sees music in much the same way: something that draws people together and reminds us that humanity still exists.
That calling took concrete shape when Burruss met drummer Justin Aldridge at a Nickel Creek show at Avondale and shared the melody of “Where Are the Days?” The two worked on the song together, and that connection eventually led to the band “Sauce Furnace”. Burruss serves as the primary lyricist and songwriter, while his collaborators help shape and animate the music. He describes Chris Hills, one of his bandmates, as a conservatory-trained virtuoso who writes horn lines, while Justin adds space, energy and rhythm to the songs. The band released an album on Spotify called Songs for Humanity last November and is currently working on a second set of tunes.
Perhaps the clearest sign of how fully Burruss integrates music and faith is an upcoming Americana Eucharist St. Stephen’s and All Saints are jointly planning at Avondale on September 30th. Performing songs by Brandi Carlile, Gillian Welch, Jason Isbell, the Avett Brothers and others, the service will weave music, readings and communion into a single act of worship. It is exactly the kind of event that makes sense in Burruss’ world—where songs can carry spiritual weight and where gathering around music can become a form of breaking bread together.
