Behind the Artist - JSP
Our Story......
James and Sarah Petterson are making the kind of poignant rock music that can only exist when the creators possess resilience forged through surviving stories of trauma— and finding grace in the margins.
The Pettersons, known collectively as JSP, hail from Australia. Both cut their musical teeth playing in Christian bands that performed across Australia, Southeast Asia, the Pacific and the United States. Their musical stars aligned in 2009 in Canberra: vocalist Sarah joined a band where James was already playing. The pair were married just nine months later.
Some might see the progression of their relationship as sudden. But truthfully, the pair were already connected on a deep soul level through the music they shared.
“Music is who we are,” James says simply. “From a young age for both of us, it has been the place we have turned to find solace, to find meaning, to find comfort and to find peace. It allowed us to find a purpose and to express ourselves artistically.”
That solace felt immensely important to the pair through years that held more than a fair share of heartache. Both Sarah and James lived through different kinds of abuse, including deep abuse and betrayal within the Church. Both found themselves wounded, disillusioned and abandoned by the very people who should have been quickest to come to their side. Grieving what had been lost, they took a step back from music. Although their love for it never left and their wealth of musical expertise stayed stored in their bodies and souls, they truly believed that they would never create music again.
Until now.
When Sarah’s mother tragically passed away in 2023, the beleaguered couple sought counselling. In the process, they were able to begin sifting through a tremendous amount of old pain.
“We both separately dealt with not only grief, but other significant issues we had faced in our lives — including abuse we had both encountered in Christian environments,” James explains. “This process brought a lot of closure for both of us, in particular to the disillusionment we had encountered in the Christian music scene. During this time, Sarah was asked: ‘What has your dream always been?’ The answer was to do music. To which the reply was, ‘So why not?’ This was the first time we had heard these words.”
That “why not” led the couple to reach out to Josiah Prince of Disciple, a renowned producer in the Christian rock space. They made peace with the idea that they might not hear back at all. Instead, they heard back the very next day. A new era was born.
“The return to music has symbolized the closure of this journey of the hurt and pain we had been carrying for many years,” James vulnerably reveals. “We wrote many new songs that, at their heart, are the testimony of what we went through during this process. The end result is music that we are passionate about because every word of every song is our lived experience.”
That lived experience promises to be immediately recognizable to anyone else who has struggled with abuse, be it religious, physical, sexual, emotional, or verbal. These are weighty topics that few bands would choose to address. JSP does so without hesitation, walking in the assurance that the grace of God goes even to places such as these.
The couple offers, “These songs deal with abuse that we had both experienced within the church and Christian environment. In particular, they show the journey from not understanding what had happened to us at the time to eventually reclaiming what was taken from us and understanding that what happened to us was not our fault.”
In this way, the songs found on their debut album become clarifying mirrors for their listeners. Most survivors of abuse are unable to acknowledge, at first, that what happened to them was not acceptable. It takes time — and it takes truth. James and Sarah tell that truth while, in the same breath, affirming over and over that a victim is never the one to blame.
“We know what it is like to feel like you are not good enough for God, that He would never use us, despite all the dreams we had and the heart we had for music,” James shares. “It’s easy to believe that our failure was because of us, because we didn’t do all the right things. We have a real heart for reaching people who have been hurt by negative experiences in Christian communities, to let them know that God still loves them. What they may have experienced is not what real Christianity is meant to be.”
Those themes are presented in rock tones that are alternately punchy and poignant, with James’ well-seasoned guitar and piano tones interwoven around Sarah’s emotive vocals. The couple flew to the United States to finish the project with Josiah Prince (Disciple), allowing his mastery of modern rock to refine the raw emotional gold JSP had already created.
That wealth of relatability is immediately clear in lead single “Taking It Back,” an empowering anthem that invites listeners to reclaim their stolen story, no matter how long they’ve been silenced or shamed. “It’s Not Your Fault” shows the band’s more tender side, extending soft reassurance to anyone who has blamed themselves for the abuse they have endured. “No More” is another scorcher of a track, calling on the lead vocals of Disciple frontman Kevin Young to deliver its darkly beautiful redemptive cry.
By the end of the album, listeners will have completed a rock and roll ride that returns to the roots of what makes faith-based rock so powerful: immense, cathartic authenticity that is willing to enter our deepest places of pain.
“Our mission is to share our testimony of what we have walked through and the healing power of God that brings restoration,” James and Sarah conclude. “To share that it’s OK not to be OK, that people are not alone in their experiences and struggles. There is nothing you can do that will make you not good enough for God.”
JSP’s debut album, produced by Josiah Prince, is available everywhere. To learn more about this husband-and-wife rock duo, follow them on Facebook, Instagram or their website.
