Brian Quincy Newcomb obit

Brian Quincy Newcomb, Music Journalist and Key Tastemaker in Christian Alt-Rock Scene of ’80s and ’90s, Dies at 67

 

He was not on the list.

Brian Quincy Newcomb, a music journalist and pastor who was well-known in the Christian rock community for decades as a key tastemaker in the alternative scene, died in Centreville, Ohio on April 15 at age 67. He had been receiving hospice care at home after a recurrence of the cancer he had battled for nearly a decade.

Newcomb’s name was known to almost anyone following Christian rock closely in the 1980s and ’90s. He founded and edited the monthly publication Harvest Rock Syndicate, which was considered pivotal in shaping tastes for the Christian alternative subgenre at the time. But his greater renown came as the most recognized (and sometimes most controversial) byline in CCM magazine, the so-called bible of the genre. He wrote close to 500 features or reviews for CCM over a 23-year period between 1985 and 2008, when the glossy’s monthly print edition shut down.

Steve Taylor, who was arguably the most important figure doing alternative rock for Christian labels as a solo artist in the 1980s and ’90s, tells Variety: “Brian was the first writer in the genre who called ‘em like he heard ‘em, making him both loved and feared. I think the dread of getting a bad review from BQN actually helped us all aim higher.” 

Outside of his specialty in writing about Christian music, Newcomb also had as avid an interest in mainstream and alternative rock as any music journalist, and his work appeared in Billboard and Paste. He also wrote reviews for his hometown daily, the St. Louis Dispatch, and had a weekly column in the Riverfront Times in Missouri before he decamped 15 years ago for a new pastorate in Ohio.

“Decamping for a pastorate” is not a phrase that usually occurs in obituaries for music journalists, but Newcomb had been an ordained minister with the United Church of Christ for over 40 years. In that progressive denomination, he committed to preaching a message of love and inclusion, with theologically liberal views that sometimes led to lively debates on social media with readers who had grown up reading his reviews in CCM but adhered to more conservative viewpoints.

That message he preached from the pulpit didn’t always mean his actual music reviews were solely about love and inclusion. Newcomb was known as a critic for valuing artistry and adventurousness and not taking it easy on artists he didn’t think were living up to a standard, which wasn’t necessarily the standard for other writers who might’ve been inclined to give a pass to everyone in the Christian rock scene of the time.

One of Newcomb’s favorite bands was the Choir, a group that has been releasing records revered in that community for close to 40 years now. Steve HIndalong, the drummer, co-producer and principal lyricist for the Choir, tells Variety how perceptive he found Newcomb.

“I remember a time when I postponed any press interviews for a new album released by the Choir until I was able to read Quincy’s review,” Hindalong says. “Because then I would realize what the lyrics meant and what our album was about!”

Harvest Rock Syndicate, which only existed from 1987-91 but had an outsized influence on the CCM genre, has some illustrious alumni besides Newcomb, who founded it with, among others, Paul Emery. One of the the publication’s writers was Brian Mansfield, who went on to become USA Today’s Nashville music writer for many years and is now the managing editor of Country Insider.

Says Mansfield, “Good editors and pastors have a lot in common. Quincy served in both roles for many of us who wanted to sharpen our perspectives on the places music and faith intersect. Long after he stopped being our editor, we still looked to him as a pastor figure.”

John Styll, the founder and former editor-publisher of CCM, says, “A distinctive of CCM Magazine was that we tried to apply real journalism in a field that seemed to crave simple advocacy. Quincy was the epitome of that distinctive.”

Chris Hauser is a 45-year-plus industry veteran whose run as one of the top promo executives in Christian music began at about the same time Harvest Rock Syndicate did. He recalls Newcomb’s impact during a pivotal era that some still remember as a high-water mark for rock being released on Christian labels, and an irascibility that made him stand out.

Says Hauser, “Brian perfectly represented a time in our industry (the ’80s and ’90s) when the pen was definitely mightier than the sword. I’ve been in radio promotion since 1987, and grew up on his writing. A positive review or favorable article about one of our artists was way more important than a No. 1 song then. Brian was prickly (at times), not suffering fools (of whom I was chief) and one of the most opinionated people I ever knew. But he always fought for (and raised up) a better way to communicate about faith through music. We’d put away some of our competitive differences in the last 10-15 years and became much closer. He was and always will be a force of nature.”

In the 2010s and 2020s, Newcomb held less of an interest in the Christian music scene, as he felt theologically and politically distanced from the evangelical subculture that fostered it. He still could be found engaging with the genre’s artists and fans on social media, sometimes asserting his progressive views on controversial subjects like LGBTQ+ inclusion and universalism. He focused in later years on writing about secular artists, although always with an interest in those who explored faith or spiritual concerns in song, like one of his favorites, Bruce Cockburn. Among the favorite recent artists he was said to have been listening to in his final hours was Allison Russell, the spiritually attuned but not specifically Christian singer-songwriter. (Find his review of her most recent album here.)

Recently he had been writing reviews for the web publication the Fire Note, and his last contributions earlier this year were his assessments of a series of Ryan Adams albums and Sarah Jarosz’s latest.

The congregants he pastored in Ohio were sometimes amused to see photos of their minister at rock shows, or occasionally having a picture posted that showed him in a Flaming Lips, Elvis Costello or Steve Earle T-shirt instead of his ministerial robes, although he didn’t go out of his way to flaunt an identity as a rock ‘n’ roll pastor.

His official obituary stated: “Brian’s life work was preaching the ‘one sermon,’ repackaged each week, that is always about Love. He was friend to the stranger, ally to the vulnerable, foe to the abuser, quick with a smile, deep with his laughter, and a huge fan of the St. Louis Cardinals. … Brian was a consumer and admirer of all things beautiful to behold; collector of meaningful experiences and interpreter of cultural conscience.”

Among his survivors are his wife of 37 years, Susan Newcomb; three children, Jacob (Krista Isaacs) Quincy, Carly (Andrew) Hansen and Jon (Brynna) Newlie; and three grandchildren, Clayton, Bennett and Olivia.

A memorial service will be held May 8 at David’s United Church of Christ in Kettering, Ohio, the church he pastored for the last 15 years (more details on his obituary page here). In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in his honor to the United Church of Christ’s Join the Movement campaign to initiate anti-racism work in the UCC.