For Wilshire Baptist Church
I was at my desk doing some cleanup when a YouTube collection of music popped up on my computer screen titled “Folk Country Songs.” The description listed artists I’ve always enjoyed: John Denver, Don McLean, Cat Stevens, Jim Croce, America, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, etc. It seemed like a good mix for a quiet morning, so I clicked it and went back to sorting through papers, receipts and debris from 2024.
As I listened, it didn’t take long to realize something wasn’t right. The instrumental arrangements were spot on, but the vocals? I advanced the video several times to hear short segments of other songs and confirmed what I was hearing: These were meticulously created covers by almost-sound-alike vocalists.
I never take time to write a comment on these posts, but I just had to add my opinion to the string of gushing reviews along the lines of, “Thanks for compiling all this great music that has been so much a part of my life.”
I didn’t see it the same way and wrote this: “Interesting. Anyone with ears who has listened to these songs over a lifetime can tell these are covers and not the actual artists. Great songs, and good covers, but please . . .”
The problem, for me at least, was the covers lacked the little ticks and quirks in the voices of the original artists that make a performance so memorable; they were missing the voice cracks, catches, gasps, hesitations and other idiosyncratic imperfections that are heard and interpreted as authentic emotion. Scrolling through the comments, I found I wasn’t the only person bothered by the lack of authenticity.
I don’t know about you, but as 2025 unfolds in front of us, I’m hungry for authenticity. I’m not just talking about “fake news” and “AI” and everything those concepts imply. I’m talking about authenticity in almost every aspect of life: art, education, religion, athletics, science, politics, government.
That begs the question: What makes something authentic? I think it’s mostly just truth and honesty in the doing of something.
In politics and government, it’s drafting policies that may be imperfect but are rendered out of an honest desire for the common good. In the media, it’s reporting on government and everything else motivated by nothing more than presenting the truth, as ugly as it may be.
In education, it’s doggedly committing our resources and energy to providing all of today’s students with what they will need to flourish in the world of today and tomorrow, and not the world of the past or a world meant for a fortunate few.
In athletics, it’s accepting you got bested by a competitor instead of accusing the referees of bias or flopping to the ground like a crash test dummy.
In religion, it’s admitting we don’t have all the answers. It’s recognizing and respecting that each of us is imbued with a soul and a spirit, breathed into us by God, that allows us to seek the truth revealed to us by God.
In science, it’s stepping back from long-held “proven science” when new discoveries bring more data and understanding of the situation. It’s also being honest about mistakes and accidents in the pursuit of truth. And for the public, it’s not wagging a finger and shaming scientists when they’re working honestly for the public good.
I believe we’ve lived with an absence of authenticity far too long, and it’s our own fault. We’ve put up with fakery, sloppiness and manipulation; we’ve allowed it, shrugged at it, yawned at it, even patted it on the back when it serves our interests. I’ve been as lazy as anyone about this, but it took me hearing cover music posing as the real deal to wake up and say, “Wait a minute, that’s not right.”