Long before Jay Sekulow joined President Donald Trump’s personal legal team and defended him against reports that he’s under investigation for obstruction of justice, Sekulow was a well-known figure in conservative and Christian-right circles.
He was also the frontman for The Jay Sekulow Band, a group specializing in Christian-friendly tunes, some original content, and classic-rock covers.
Think of your dad’s garage band that performs the soundtrack of the late-’60s and mid-’70s—that’s The Jay Sekulow Band, but with an overtly conservative and legal agenda.
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“Welcome to the official page of the Jay Sekulow Band - a place where you can keep up with all of the exciting events surrounding this unique alliance between law and music,” the band posted to its Facebook account introducing the band on November 8, 2014, two years to the day before Trump was elected president.
The band—featuring Sekulow on drums and guitar—includes John Schlitt, best known as the lead singer for the pioneering Christian rock band Petra, and John Elefante, the mustachioed former lead singer of Kansas.
The output is borderline right-wing vanity project, but the band is not without its dedicated listeners.
The group’s Facebook page has over 100,000 followers, and videos of Sekulow’s jam sessions and rehearsal recordings regularly garner hundreds, if not thousands, of likes. Lee Greenwood, the country-music artist and Trump-inauguration performer, is a fan of Sekulow’s band, and has joined them in performing his signature tune "God Bless the USA."
The band’s cover of the Doobie Brothers hit “Jesus is Just Alright” has more than 1 million views on Facebook.
And here’s the band covering “The Weight” by The Band:
And Cream’s “White Room and The Beatles’ “Let It Be”:
And, of course, “Long Time” by Boston:
Sekulow did not respond to a request for comment on this story, but the band’s original lyrics clearly bear the mark of his politics. In a single, titled “Undemocratic,” the band sings about former IRS commissioner Lois Lerner.
It’s Sekulow and co.’s attempt at a call-to-arms and rousing protest song against the IRS - Tea Party controversy.
“You took the lead to act by what you wanted to do,” they sing as their music video shows Lerner testifying before Congress. “Only trouble is nobody voted for you / democracy in motion means a right to take sides / since when is one rewarded for the email she hides?”
Sekulow is hardly the first high-profile Republican figure to dabble in rock n’ roll. The late, notorious Republican strategist Lee Atwater, of Willie Horton fame, moonlighted as a blues guitarist and singer. Atwater even befriended legendary bluesman B.B. King, who performed with Atwater on the GOP operative’s 1990 Grammy-nominated R&B/boogie album.
It will probably be awhile before Sekulow can quit his day job defending Trump to pursue other musical ambitions.
