Linescratchers is a group blog started by a Latter-day Saint.  We feature news, interviews, and reviews about musicians who are also Latter-day Saints.  We do not feature LDS-themed music (Deseret Book and EFY do this well enough).

After the blog we will be having refreshments.

To contact us, or to submit your music for reviews, the podcast, or interviews, write to: linescratchers@gmail.com

Linescratchers consists of the following neat individuals:

Jim Britt is a long-time Linescratchers fan and law student with experience in radio hosting and pretentious music reviewing. He brings a marginally-needed non-Mormon perspective to Linescratchers (though he says he’ll leave theology to the experts, presumably the rest of us), and his personality can generally be described as a even mixture of Gandhi, Princess Di, and Tom Brady.

Jenn Diffley is a BYU and NYU graduate, professional writer, and self-proclaimed member of the Goth elite.  She loves both corsets and Jesus.

Gregg Hale is a songwriter, producer, engineer and guitarist for the bands Last Response and Our Dark Horse. He also played guitar for the British band Spiritualized. He currently owns and runs the Handsome Rob Recordings record label and the Lincoln Street Sound Studio in Salt Lake City.

Thomas Hatton is a student of Spanish and a brilliant singer, drummer, and thespian.

Dallin Merrill is creative, erudite law student from Texas. His role at Linescratchers is a mix between ombudsman and executive ideas co-ordinator.

Davey Morrison is a student of screenwriting and film. He is involved with the New Play Project with his wife, Artistic Director Bianca Morrison, to help create new Mormon theater. He plays several instruments and has written for Mormon Artist, Sunstone, and The Provo-Orem Word, as well as an ongoing movie column for Examiner.com.

Matt Mylroie is an independent recording engineer, songwriter, producer, and guitarist.  He studied music at Utah State University.  His diverse music experience has included teaching, designing recording studios and sound systems, performing in a variety of settings and genres, engineering (recording, mixing, mastering, and editing), and more.

Allie Ruth is an interviewer, writer, and open-minded music fan from Kentucky. She has a degree in public relations and advertising.

Charles Stanford is a professional archivist who has a solo blog called Desert Loon.  He was quite active at the BYU music scene in the ’90s as a drummer, and seems to think typewriters have far more character than the slick new technology kids are using nowadays.

Tim Valenta is a tech guru and website designer. Tim designed the new Linescratchers website, and has helped with the technical details from the very beginning.  He’s also a pianist and composer.

Jake Workman is one half of the acoustic indie group The Sweater Friends from Murray and Ogden, Utah.  He’s an insightful musician and music lover who adds posts and discussions that make you say “hmm.”  Because you like them so much.

Jesse Gause was a member of the First Presidency until he was excommunicated in 1832. His history was forgotten for decades, and no reliable information about him is available about his life after membership in the Church, leading many to call him the “Lost Counselor” of the First Presidency.

Syphax was a king of western Numidia during the third century BC. At first sympathetic to the Romans in the Second Punic War, he switched to ally himself with Carthage, temporarily upsetting the balance of power in Africa. In a battle against Scipio Africanus, when Rome finally overcame the many losses incurred by Hannibal in southern Italy by invading Africa itself, his wounded horse threw him after an heroic charge towards Roman soldiers, and he was captured and imprisoned.

Arthur Hatton is the founder of Linescratchers and hosts the podcast. He is moderately funny.

Special thanks also to:

Douglas Stambler for search engine optimization, for lots of help early on in Linescratchers history, and for writing “I Lost My Horses to the Moon” which rocks.

John Dehlin for his inspiration and guidance through the whole process, as well as the domain name.

When people hear the term “LDS music” they usually think something along the lines of Deseret Book-approved, EFY-type music.  Unfortunately, it seems like LDS musicians have also been cornered sometimes unwillingly into this market.  Linescratchers is about thinking outside the EFY box.  It’s about LDS musicians who simply write music. Mormon music can mean a lot of different things.

It is our belief that if we can broaden the term “LDS music” and “Mormon music” to include music from everywhere and about anything, so long as it’s written by LDS artists, then we can break out of the EFY box.

Mormon choir music is wonderful to listen to; LDS Church music can be heavenly; LDS hymns were once new songs, too. All we’re saying is that LDS music online is more than just one kind of music. We want to free LDS music from a limited definition that only includes certain EFY-type music. Mormon songs from Mormon musicians. That’s what this site is about.

Linescratchers on Facebook and MySpace:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=61748961440

http://www.myspace.com/linescratchers

For inquiries, press, and new musicians who want their music featured on Linescratchers, please write to:

linescratchers@gmail.com