John Michael Talbot | |
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 Talbot in 2014 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | John Michael Talbot May 8, 1954 |
| Origin | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Genres | Contemporary Christian music, country, folk-rock |
| Years active | 1970s–present |
| Labels | Sparrow, Troubadour for the Lord |
| Website | johnmichaeltalbot |
John Michael Talbot (born May 8, 1954) is an American Catholic musician, author, television presenter and founder of a monastic community known as the Brothers and Sisters of Charity.
Talbot was born into a Methodist family with a musical background in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and started learning to play the guitar at an early age. At age 15, he dropped out of school and was performing as a guitarist for Mason Proffit, a country folk-rock band formed with his older brother Terry.
Talbot embarked on a spiritual journey that led him through Native American religion and Buddhism and finally to Christianity. At this point, he and his brother, Terry, joined the Jesus movement and recorded the album Reborn, which was re-released by Sparrow Records (originally released as The Talbot Brothers on the Warner Brothers label). He married his first wife Nancy in 1971.
Two solo albums followed for Talbot: John Michael Talbot (1976) and The New Earth (1977). Both of these were recorded at Golden Voice Recording Studio in South Pekin, Illinois, and produced by Billy Ray Hearn. Reading the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, he was inspired to begin studying at a Franciscan center in Indianapolis. He and his wife divorced, and he became a Catholic and joined the Secular Franciscan Order in 1978. His new beliefs influenced his next solo albums, The Lord's Supper (1979) and its follow-up, Come to the Quiet (1980). In the years that followed, he continually released new albums and became the best-selling artist in the history of Sparrow Records.
He started a house of prayer called "The Little Portion". Talbot moved The Little Portion to Berryville, Arkansas, on land he had purchased during his Mason Proffit days. He founded a community, the Brothers and Sisters of Charity, at Little Portion Hermitage as an "integrated monastic community" with celibate brothers and sisters, singles, and families. By 1989, Talbot had married Viola Pratka (with the permission of the Catholic Church), a former Incarnate Word Sister who had come to the community in 1986.
In accordance with the community's general constitutions, Talbot's title is "General Minister and Spiritual Father". For many years, he has promoted the work of Mercy Corps.
The hermitage suffered a fire in April 2008 in which the chapel, library and many common areas were destroyed. On April 10, 2010, the Bishop of Little Rock, Anthony Taylor, dedicated the new buildings. On October 2, 2010, the Brothers and Sisters of Charity at Little Portion Hermitage celebrated the opening of the new monastery church and common center.
Talbot is the host of an inspirational television program, All Things Are Possible, on The Church Channel which is owned and operated by the Trinity Broadcasting Network.
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