sources about Keith Green

July 20, 2011 8:31 PM

I want to find more primary and secondary sources on Christian music artist Keith Green.

Keith Green's wife, Melody, wrote a biography about him after he died in 1982, but I'm having trouble locating any sources that don't come from her or from their Last Days Ministries organization. Did anyone write an article on him before he died?

I'm most interested in finding articles or sources from a secular or mainline Protestant perspective. I've found some from Catholics who were not happy with his anti-Catholic stance, but other than that, I've kind of struck out.

posted by kingfishers catch fire to grab bag (5 answers total)

I'm not familiar with the world of all things Christian, so I'd never heard of this guy before, and now I'm vaguely fascinated. The '60s and '70s sure were wacky.

I ran a search on "Keith Green" and "Christian" in the historical LA Times, and there's some stuff, but not a lot. There are a couple of mentions of him in articles from the late '70s about the rise of contemporary Christian music and/or Christian commerce. The plane crash that killed him got some coverage, but it mostly focused on the other family on the plane and mentioned Green and his kids only in passing. There's nothing in the New York Times or Washington Post. The Chicago Tribune has one article that might interest you:

"Sound: With spirit and sales, rock gets that old-time religion A host of rock stars joins 'musical ministries'" Seay, Davin. Chicago Tribune (1963-Current file) [Chicago, Ill] 21 Oct 1979: 12.

It's a longish article, and it's not just about Green, but it does have a pretty extensive quote from him where he talks about hating "Christian business" and not wanting to charge for concerts.

The Readers' Guide shows that he got some coverage in Christianity Today, both before and immediately after his death. Is Christianity Today mainline Protestant? I'm thinking no, but anyway:

CRONKHITE, R. Making the gospel free [work of K. Green]. Christianity Today v. 25 (February 6 1981) p. 52-3

Rabey, S. GREEN, Keith [Obituary]. Christianity Today v. 26 (September 3 1982) p. 47+

Rabey, S. Keith Green, 11 others, killed in plane crash. Christianity Today v. 26 (September 3 1982) p. 47+

That's all that my quick-and-dirty insomnia-induced internet search could come up with. I don't know if that's helpful. Apologies if you've already searched Proquest!
posted by craichead at 10:43 PM on July 20, 2011

He definitely was a fascinating guy.

I had found the Christianity Today articles you mentioned, but I didn't find the Chicago Tribune article, which looks interesting.

Keith Green seems to have had a tendency to be quite blunt and maybe insensitive about problems he saw in the church, so I'm surprised that negative opinions of him, either by other evangelicals or other types of Christians, haven't really seemed to survive. I might have to go digging through sermons to find out more, though.
posted by kingfishers catch fire at 7:00 AM on July 21, 2011

Is Christianity Today mainline Protestant? I'm thinking no, but anyway:

Christianity Today is evangelical, not mainline, but it is mainstream and there is some overlap.
posted by Jahaza at 8:19 AM on July 21, 2011

Keith Green appeared on 'I've Got A Secret' as a young boy in the mid-sixties - his secret was that he had signed a 5-year contract as a rock and roll singer at age of eleven or so.

There's this for some further background.
posted by DandyRandy at 9:04 AM on July 21, 2011

I spent about 20 months as a christian in my late teens and my takeaway was Keith Green. What a lovely man, what lovely music he wrote! His songs still move me and his raw weepy pleading singing style reduces me to happy tears. And he taught me the "true gospel"...the story of the sheep and the goats ("inasmuch as you done it to the least of my brethren, you've done it unto me").

To your question, I was a christian when he died and was desperate to read anything about him. Back then we didn't have The Google. I had to wait until Melody finished her book.

About 10 or 12 years ago, I scoured the web for anything Keithy that didn't come from LDM or Melody. As I recall, there were only a few things out there, and mostly from evangelical types.
I always meant to go back through through her book and google events/persons/entities to creep up on a search string that way.
posted by Jezebella at 8:31 PM on July 25, 2011