title: Religion in the United States

text: After Christianity, Judaism is the next largest religious affiliation in the US, though this identification is not necessarily indicative of religious beliefs or practices. There are between 5.3 and 6.6 million Jews. A significant number of people identify themselves as American Jews on ethnic and cultural grounds, rather than religious ones. For example, 19% of self-identified American Jews do not believe God exists. The 2001 ARIS study projected from its sample that there are about 5.3 million adults in the American Jewish population: 2.83 million adults (1.4% of the U.S. adult population) are estimated to be adherents of Judaism; 1.08 million are estimated to be adherents of no religion; and 1.36 million are estimated to be adherents of a religion other than Judaism. ARIS 2008 estimated about 2.68 million adults (1.2%) in the country identify Judaism as their faith. According to a 2017 study, Judaism is the religion of approximately 2% of the American population. According to a 2020 study by the Pew Research Center, the core American Jewish population is estimated at 7.5 million people, this includes 5.8 million Jewish adults. According to study by Steinhardt Social Research Institute, as of 2020, the core American Jewish population is estimated at 7.6 million people, this includes 4.9 million adults who identify their religion as Jewish, 1.2 million Jewish adults who identify with no religion, and 1.6 million Jewish children.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Jews have been present in what is now the US since the 17th century, and specifically allowed since the British colonial Plantation Act 1740. Although small Western European communities initially developed and grew, large-scale immigration did not take place until the late 19th century, largely as a result of persecutions in parts of Eastern Europe. The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews whose ancestors emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe. There are, however, small numbers of older (and some recently arrived) communities of Sephardi Jews with roots tracing back to 15th century Iberia (Spain, Portugal, and North Africa). There are also Mizrahi Jews (from the Middle East, Caucasia and Central Asia), as well as much smaller numbers of Ethiopian Jews, Indian Jews, Kaifeng Jews and others from various smaller Jewish ethnic divisions. Approximately 25% of the Jewish American population lives in New York City.


title: Religion in the United States

text: According to the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies newsletter published March 2017, based on data from 2010, Jews were the largest minority religion in 231 counties out of the 3143 counties in the country. According to a 2014 survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public life, 1.7% of adults in the U.S. identify Judaism as their religion. Among those surveyed, 44% said they were Reform Jews, 22% said they were Conservative Jews, and 14% said they were Orthodox Jews. According to the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey, 38% of Jews were affiliated with the Reform tradition, 35% were Conservative, 6% were Orthodox, 1% were Reconstructionists, 10% linked themselves to some other tradition, and 10% said they are "just Jewish".


title: Religion in the United States

text: The Pew Research Center report on American Judaism released in October 2013 revealed that 22% of Jewish Americans say they have "no religion" and the majority of respondents do not see religion as the primary constituent of Jewish identity. 62% believe Jewish identity is based primarily in ancestry and culture, only 15% in religion. Among Jews who gave Judaism as their religion, 55% based Jewish identity on ancestry and culture, and 66% did not view belief in God as essential to Judaism.


title: Religion in the United States

text: A 2009 study estimated the Jewish population (including both those who define themselves as Jewish by religion and those who define themselves as Jewish in cultural or ethnic terms) to be between 6.0 and 6.4 million. According to a study done in 2000 there were an estimated 6.14 million Jewish people in the country, about 2% of the population.


title: Religion in the United States

text: According to the 2001 National Jewish Population Survey, 4.3 million American Jewish adults have some sort of strong connection to the Jewish community, whether religious or cultural. Jewishness is generally considered an ethnic identity as well as a religious one. Among the 4.3 million American Jews described as "strongly connected" to Judaism, over 80% have some sort of active engagement with Judaism, ranging from attendance at daily prayer services on one end of the spectrum to attending Passover Seders or lighting Hanukkah candles on the other. The survey also discovered that Jews in the Northeast and Midwest are generally more observant than Jews in the South or West.


title: Religion in the United States

text: The Jewish American community has higher household incomes than average, and is one of the best educated religious communities in the United States.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Islam is probably the third largest religion in numbers in the United States, after Christianity and Judaism, followed, according to Gallup, by 0.8% of the population in 2016. Hinduism and Buddhism follow it closely in numbers (in 2014 the large scale Religious Life Survey found Islam with 0.9% and the other two with 0.7% each). According to the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies newsletter published in March 2017, based on data from 2010, Muslims were the largest minority religion in 392 counties out of the 3143 counties in the country. According to the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) in 2018, there are approximately 3.45 million Muslims living in the United States, with 2.05 million adults, and the rest being children. Across faith groups, ISPU found in 2017 that Muslims were most likely to be born outside of the US (50%), with 36% having undergone naturalization. American Muslims are also America's most diverse religious community with 25% identifying as black or African American, 24% identifying as white, 18% identifying as Asian/Chinese/Japanese, 18% identifying as Arab, and 5% identifying as Hispanic. In addition to diversity, Americans Muslims are most likely to report being low income, and among those who identify as middle class, the majority are Muslim women, not men. Although American Muslim education levels are similar to other religious communities, namely Christians, within the Muslim American population, Muslim women surpass Muslim men in education, with 31% of Muslim women having graduated from a four-year university. 90% of Muslim Americans identify as straight.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Islam in America effectively began with the arrival of African slaves. It is estimated that about 10% of African slaves transported to the United States were Muslim. Most, however, became Christians, and the United States did not have a significant Muslim population until the arrival of immigrants from Arab and East Asian Muslim areas. According to some experts, Islam later gained a higher profile through the Nation of Islam, a religious group that appealed to black Americans after the 1940s; its prominent converts included Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali. The first Muslim elected to Congress was Keith Ellison in 2006, followed by André Carson in 2008.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Out of all religious groups surveyed by ISPU, Muslims were found to be the most likely to report experiences of religious discrimination (61%). That can also be broken down when looking at gender (with Muslim women more likely than Muslim men to experience racial discrimination), age (with young people more likely to report experiencing racial discrimination than older people), and race, (with Arab Muslims the most likely to report experiencing religious discrimination). Muslims born in the United States are more likely to experience all three forms of discrimination, gender, religious, and racial.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Research indicates that Muslims in the United States are generally more assimilated and prosperous than their counterparts in Europe. Like other subcultural and religious communities, the Islamic community has generated its own political organizations and charity organizations.


title: Religion in the United States

text: ISPU also conducted a series of impact reports on Muslim Americans in both Michigan and New York City. 22.3% of Muslims live in New York City, the home of more mosques (285 total) than any other American city. Though just shy of 9% of the NYC population, Muslims make up over 12% of the city's pharmacists, lab technicians, and over 9% of all doctors. They make up 11.3% of all engineers, and are engaged at every level of civic life in the city, from senior adviser to the city government to directing outreach at the city council level. Nearly 10,000 NYC teachers are Muslim. Looking at NYC, it is evident that Muslim Americans are engaged and active in important sectors of American life. That level of engagement and dynamic interaction with the communities around them is further highlighted through the Michigan case study as well.


title: Religion in the United States

text: The Baháʼí Faith was first mentioned in the United States in 1893 at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. Soon after, early American converts began embracing the new religion. Thornton Chase was the first American Baháʼí, dating from 1894. One of the first Baháʼí institutions in the U.S. was established in Chicago to facilitate the establishment of the first Baháʼí House of Worship in the West, which was eventually built in Wilmette, Illinois and dedicated in 1953.


title: Religion in the United States

text: World wide, the religion has grown faster than the rate of population growth over the 20th century, and has been recognized since the 1980s as the most widespread minority religion in the countries of the world. Similarly, by 2020, the religion was the largest minority religion in about half of the counties. Since about 1970 the state with the single largest Baháʼí population was South Carolina. From 2010 data the largest populations of Baháʼís at the county-by-county level are in Los Angeles, CA, Palm Beach, FL, Harris County, TX, and Cook County, IL. However, estimates of the total number of Baháʼís varies widely from around 500,000 to 175,000.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Rastafarians began migrating to the United States in the 1950s, '60s and '70s from the religion's 1930s birthplace, Jamaica. Marcus Garvey, who is considered a prophet by many Rastafarians, rose to prominence and cultivated many of his ideas in the United States.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Druze began migrating to the United States in the late 1800s from the Levant (Syria and Lebanon). Druze emigration to the Americas increased at the outset of the 20th century due to the famine during World War I that killed an estimated one third to one half of the population, the 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war, and the Lebanese Civil War between 1975 and 1990. The United States is the second largest home of Druze communities outside the Middle East after Venezuela (60,000). According to some estimates there are about 30,000 to 50,000 Druzes in the United States, with the largest concentration in Southern California. American Druze are mostly of Lebanese and Syrian descent.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Members of the Druze faith face the difficulty of finding a Druze partner and practicing endogamy; marriage outside the Druze faith is strongly discouraged according to the Druze doctrine. They also face the pressure of keeping the religion alive because many Druze immigrants to the United States converted to Protestantism, becoming communicants of the Presbyterian or Methodist churches.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Buddhism entered the US during the 19th century with the arrival of the first immigrants from East Asia. The first Buddhist temple was established in San Francisco in 1853 by Chinese Americans. The first prominent US citizen to publicly convert to Buddhism was Colonel Henry Steel Olcott in 1880 who is still honored in Sri Lanka for his Buddhist revival efforts. An event that contributed to the strengthening of Buddhism in the US was the Parliament of the World's Religions in 1893, which was attended by many Buddhist delegates sent from India, China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand and Sri Lanka.


title: Religion in the United States

text: During the late 19th century Buddhist missionaries from Japan traveled to the US. During the same time period, US intellectuals started to take interest in Buddhism.


title: Religion in the United States

text: The early 20th century was characterized by a continuation of tendencies that had their roots in the 19th century. The second half, by contrast, saw the emergence of new approaches, and the move of Buddhism into the mainstream and making itself a mass and social religious phenomenon.


title: Religion in the United States

text: According to a 2016 study, Buddhists are approximately 1% of the American population. According to the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies newsletter published March 2017, based on data from 2010, Buddhists were the largest minority religion in 186 counties out of the 3143 counties in the country.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Hinduism is the fourth largest faith in the United States, representing approximately 1% of the population in 2016. In 2001, there were an estimated 766,000 Hindus in the US, about 0.2% of the total population.


title: Religion in the United States

text: The first time Hinduism entered the U.S. is not clearly identifiable. However, large groups of Hindus have immigrated from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Caribbean, southern Africa, eastern Africa, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Mauritius, Fiji, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and other regions and countries since the enactment of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. During the 1960s and 1970s Hinduism exercised fascination contributing to the development of New Age thought. During the same decades the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a Vaishnavite Hindu reform organization, was founded in the US by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. In 2003, the Hindu American Foundation—a national institution protecting rights of the Hindu community of U.S.—was founded.


title: Religion in the United States

text: According to the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies newsletter published March 2017, based on data from 2010, Hindus were the largest minority religion in 92 counties out of the 3143 counties in the country.


title: Religion in the United States

text: American Hindus have one of the highest rates of educational attainment and household income among all religious communities, and tend to have lower divorce rates. Hindus also have higher acceptance towards homosexuality (71%), which is higher than the general public (62%).


title: Religion in the United States

text: Adherents of Jainism first arrived in the United States in the 20th century. The most significant time of Jain immigration was in the early 1970s. The United States has since become a center of the Jain Diaspora. The Federation of Jain Associations in North America is an umbrella organization of local American and Canadian Jain congregations to preserve, practice, and promote Jainism and the Jain way of life.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Sikhism is a religion originating from the Indian subcontinent which was introduced into the United States when, around the turn of the 20th century, Sikhs started emigrating to the United States in significant numbers to work on farms in California. They were the first community to come from India to the US in large numbers. The first Sikh Gurdwara in America was built in Stockton, California, in 1912. In 2007, there were estimated to be between 250,000 and 500,000 Sikhs living in the United States, with the largest populations living on the East and West Coasts, with additional populations in Detroit, Chicago, and Austin.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Taoism was popularized throughout the world by the writings and teachings of Lao Tzu and other Taoists as well as the practice of Qigong, Tai Chi Chuan, and other Chinese martial arts. The first Taoists in the US were immigrants from China during the mid-nineteenth century. They settled mostly in California where the built the first Taoist temples in the country, including the Tin How Temple in San Francisco's Chinatown and the Joss House in Weaverville. Currently, the Temple of Original Simplicity is located outside of Boston, Massachusetts.


title: Religion in the United States

text: A 2001 survey directed by Dr. Ariela Keysar for the City University of New York indicated that, amongst the more than 100 categories of response, "no religious identification" had the greatest increase in population in both absolute and percentage terms. This category included atheists, agnostics, humanists, and others with no stated religious preferences. Figures are up from 14.3 million in 1990 to 34.2 million in 2008, representing an increase from 8% of the total population in 1990 to 15% in 2008. A nationwide Pew Research study published in 2008 put the figure of unaffiliated persons at 16.1%, while another Pew study published in 2012 was described as placing the proportion at about 20% overall and roughly 33% for the 18–29-year-old demographic.


title: Religion in the United States

text: In a 2006 nationwide poll, University of Minnesota researchers found that despite an increasing acceptance of religious diversity, atheists were generally distrusted by other Americans, who trusted them less than Muslims, recent immigrants and other minority groups in "sharing their vision of American society". They also associated atheists with undesirable attributes such as amorality, criminal behavior, rampant materialism and cultural elitism. However, the same study also reported that "The researchers also found acceptance or rejection of atheists is related not only to personal religiosity, but also to one's exposure to diversity, education and political orientation – with more educated, East and West Coast Americans more accepting of atheists than their Midwestern counterparts." Some surveys have indicated that doubts about the existence of the divine were growing quickly among Americans under 30.


title: Religion in the United States

text: On March 24, 2012, American atheists sponsored the Reason Rally in Washington, D.C., followed by the American Atheist Convention in Bethesda, Maryland. Organizers called the estimated crowd of 8,000–10,000 the largest-ever US gathering of atheists in one place.


title: Religion in the United States

text: In the United States, Enlightenment philosophy (which itself was heavily inspired by deist ideals) played a major role in creating the principle of religious freedom, expressed in Thomas Jefferson's letters and included in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. American Founding Fathers, or Framers of the Constitution, who were especially noted for being influenced by such philosophy of deism include Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Cornelius Harnett, Gouverneur Morris, and Hugh Williamson. Their political speeches show distinct deistic influence. Other notable Founding Fathers may have been more directly deist. These include Thomas Paine, James Madison, possibly Alexander Hamilton, and Ethan Allen.


title: Religion in the United States

text: "Spiritual but not religious" (SBNR) is self-identified stance of spirituality that takes issue with organized religion as the sole or most valuable means of furthering spiritual growth. Spirituality places an emphasis upon the wellbeing of the "mind-body-spirit," so holistic activities such as tai chi, reiki, and yoga are common within the SBNR movement. In contrast to religion, spirituality has often been associated with the interior life of the individual.


title: Religion in the United States

text: One fifth of the US public and a third of adults under the age of 30 are reportedly unaffiliated with any religion, however they identify as being spiritual in some way. Of these religiously unaffiliated Americans, 37% classify themselves as spiritual but not religious.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Many other religions are represented in the United States, including Shinto, Caodaism, Thelema, Santería, Kemetism, Neopaganism, Zoroastrianism, Vodou, Druze and many forms of New Age spirituality as well as satirical religions such as Pastafarianism.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Native American religions historically exhibited much diversity, and are often characterized by animism or panentheism. The membership of Native American religions in the 21st century comprises about 9,000 people.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Neopaganism in the United States is represented by widely different movements and organizations. The largest Neopagan religion is Wicca, followed by Neo-Druidism. Other neopagan movements include Germanic Neopaganism, Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism, Hellenic Polytheistic Reconstructionism, and Semitic neopaganism.


title: Religion in the United States

text: According to the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), there are approximately 30,000 druids in the United States. Modern Druidism arrived in North America first in the form of fraternal Druidic organizations in the nineteenth century, and orders such as the Ancient Order of Druids in America were founded as distinct American groups as early as 1912. In 1963, the Reformed Druids of North America (RDNA) was founded by students at Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota. They adopted elements of Neopaganism into their practices, for instance celebrating the festivals of the Wheel of the Year.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Wicca advanced in North America in the 1960s by Raymond Buckland, an expatriate Briton who visited Gardner's Isle of Man coven to gain initiation. Universal Eclectic Wicca was popularized in 1969 for a diverse membership drawing from both Dianic and British Traditional Wiccan backgrounds.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Nordic Paganism is the umbrella term for polytheistic followers of the Proto-Norse period religions involving the Nordic pantheon of gods. This pantheon includes gods such as the Æsir; Odin, Thor, Loki, Sif, Heimdallr, Baldr, and Týr, as well as goddesses that include Vanir; Freyja, Freyr, Njörðr, and Nerthus. The followers of Nordic Paganism include Odinists, Tyrists, Lokians, Asatru, and practitioners of "Seiðr," among other varying followers. Nordic Pagans follow the teachings of the Hávamál. This old text, along with the Prose Edda and Poetic Edda, gives the basis for Norse mythology, stories, legends, and beliefs.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Norse mythology is portrayed in popular culture and Nordic symbols and teachings are also used by many white supremacy groups. This use has prompted some prisons to ban the wearing of these symbols, such as Mjölnir, by inmates due to their gang affiliation.


title: Religion in the United States

text: A group of churches which started in the 1830s in the United States is known under the banner of "New Thought". These churches share a spiritual, metaphysical and mystical predisposition and understanding of the Bible and were strongly influenced by the Transcendentalist movement, particularly the work of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Another antecedent of this movement was Swedenborgianism, founded on the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg in 1787. The New Thought concept was named by Emma Curtis Hopkins ("teacher of teachers") after Hopkins broke off from Mary Baker Eddy's Church of Christ, Scientist. The movement had been previously known as the Mental Sciences or the Christian Sciences. The three major branches are Religious Science, Unity Church and Divine Science.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Unitarian Universalists (UUs) are among the most liberal of all religious denominations in America. The shared creed includes beliefs in inherent dignity, a common search for truth, respect for beliefs of others, compassion, and social action. They are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth and by the understanding that an individual's theology is a result of that search and not obedience to an authoritarian requirement. UUs have historical ties to anti-war, civil rights, and LGBT rights movements, as well as providing inclusive church services for the broad spectrum of liberal Christians, liberal Jews, secular humanists, LGBT, Jewish-Christian parents and partners, Earth-centered/Wicca, and Buddhist meditation adherents. In fact, many UUs also identify as belonging to another religious group, including atheism and agnosticism.


title: Religion in the United States

text: The First Amendment guarantees both the free practice of religion and the non-establishment of religion by the federal government (later court decisions have extended that prohibition to the states). The U.S. Pledge of Allegiance was modified in 1954 to add the phrase "under God", in order to distinguish itself from the Marxist–Leninist atheism espoused by the Soviet Union.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Various American presidents have often stated the importance of religion. On February 20, 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower stated that "Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first, the most basic, expression of Americanism." President Gerald Ford agreed with and repeated this statement in 1974.


title: Religion in the United States

text: The U.S. Census does not ask about religion. Various groups have conducted surveys to determine approximate percentages of those affiliated with each religious group.


title: Religion in the United States

text: The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) has made annual estimates about religious adherence in the United States every year since 2013, and they most recently updated their data in 2020. Their data can be broken down to the state level, and data has also been made available of several large metro areas. Data is collected from roughly 50,000 telephone interviews conducted every year.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Their most recent data shows that approximately 70% of Americans are Christians (down from 71% in 2013), with about 46% of the population professing belief in Protestant Christianity, and another 22% adhering to Catholicism. About 23% of the population adheres to no religion, and 7% more of the population professes a Non-Christian religion (such as Judaism, Islam, or Hinduism).


title: Religion in the United States

text: The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) surveyed congregations for their memberships. Churches were asked for their membership numbers. Adjustments were made for those congregations that did not respond and for religious groups that reported only adult membership. ARDA estimates that most of the churches not responding were black Protestant congregations. Significant difference in results from other databases include the lower representation of adherents of 1) all kinds (62.7%), 2) Christians (59.9%), 3) Protestants (less than 36%); and the greater number of unaffiliated (37.3%).


title: Religion in the United States

text: The table below shows the religious affiliations among the ethnicities in the United States, according to the Pew Forum 2014 survey. People of Black ethnicity were most likely to be part of a formal religion, with 80% percent being Christians. Protestant denominations make up the majority of the Christians in the ethnicities.


title: Religion in the United States

text: The United States government does not collect religious data in its census. The survey below, the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) of 2008, was a random digit-dialed telephone survey of 54,461 American residential households in the contiguous United States. The 1990 sample size was 113,723; 2001 sample size was 50,281.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Adult respondents were asked the open-ended question, "What is your religion, if any?" Interviewers did not prompt or offer a suggested list of potential answers. The religion of the spouse or partner was also asked. If the initial answer was "Protestant" or "Christian" further questions were asked to probe which particular denomination. About one third of the sample was asked more detailed demographic questions.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Religious Self-Identification of the U.S. Adult Population: 1990, 2001, 2008Figures are not adjusted for refusals to reply; investigators suspect refusals are possibly more representative of "no religion" than any other group.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Gallup survey data found that 73% of Americans were members of a church, synagogue or mosque in 1937, peaking at 76% shortly after World War II, before trending slightly downward to 70% by 2000. The percentage declined steadily during the first two decades of the 21st century, reaching 47% in 2020. Gallup attributed the decline to increasing numbers of Americans expressing no religious preference.


title: Religion in the United States

text: A 2013 Public Religion Research Institute survey reported that 31% of Americans attend religious services at least weekly.


title: Religion in the United States

text: In a 2009 Gallup survey, 41.6% of American residents stated that they attended a church, synagogue, or mosque once a week or almost every week. This percentage is higher than other surveyed Western countries. Church attendance varies considerably by state and region. The figures, updated to 2014, ranged from 51% in Utah to 17% in Vermont.


title: Religion in the United States

text: When it comes to mosque attendance specifically, data collected by a 2017 poll by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) shows that American Muslim women and men attend the mosque at similar rates (45% for men and 35% for women). Additionally, when compared to the general public looking at the attendance of religious services, young Muslim Americans attend the mosque at closer rates to older Muslim Americans. Muslim Americans who regularly attend mosques are more likely to work with their neighbors to solve community problems (49 vs. 30 percent), be registered to vote (74 vs. 49 percent), and plan to vote (92 vs. 81 percent). Overall, “there is no correlation between Muslim attitudes toward violence and their frequency of mosque attendance".


title: Religion in the United States

text: In August 2010, 67% of Americans said religion was losing influence, compared with 59% who said this in 2006. Majorities of white evangelical Protestants (79%), white mainline Protestants (67%), black Protestants (56%), Catholics (71%), and the religiously unaffiliated (62%) all agreed that religion was losing influence on American life; 53% of the total public said this was a bad thing, while just 10% see it as a good thing.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Politicians frequently discuss their religion when campaigning, and fundamentalists and black Protestants are highly politically active. However, to keep their status as tax-exempt organizations they must not officially endorse a candidate. Historically Catholics were heavily Democratic before the 1970s, while mainline Protestants comprised the core of the Republican Party. Those patterns have faded away—Catholics, for example, now split about 50–50. However, white evangelicals since 1980 have made up a solidly Republican group that favors conservative candidates. Secular voters are increasingly Democratic.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Only four presidential candidates for major parties have been Catholics, all for the Democratic party:


title: Religion in the United States

text: Joe Lieberman was the first major presidential candidate that was Jewish, on the Gore–Lieberman campaign of 2000 (although John Kerry and Barry Goldwater both had Jewish ancestry, they were practicing Christians). Bernie Sanders ran against Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary of 2016. He was the first major Jewish candidate to compete in the presidential primary process. However, Sanders noted during the campaign that he does not actively practice any religion.


title: Religion in the United States

text: In 2006 Keith Ellison of Minnesota became the first Muslim elected to Congress; when re-enacting his swearing-in for photos, he used the copy of the Qur'an once owned by Thomas Jefferson. André Carson is the second Muslim to serve in Congress.


title: Religion in the United States

text: A Gallup poll released in 2007 indicated that 53% of Americans would refuse to vote for an atheist as president, up from 48% in 1987 and 1999. But then the number started to drop again and reached record low 43% in 2012 and 40% in 2015.


title: Religion in the United States

text: Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, is Mormon and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is the former governor of the state of Massachusetts, and his father George Romney was the governor of the state of Michigan.


title: Religion in the United States

text: On January 3, 2013, Tulsi Gabbard became the first Hindu member of Congress, using a copy of the Bhagavad Gita while swearing-in.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: The Jonas Brothers () are an American pop rock band. Formed in 2005, they gained popularity from their appearances on the Disney Channel television network. They consist of three brothers: Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas, and Nick Jonas. Raised in Wyckoff, New Jersey, the Jonas Brothers moved to Little Falls, New Jersey, in 2005, where they wrote their first record that made its Hollywood Records release. They starred in the 2008 Disney Channel Original Movie "Camp Rock" and its 2010 sequel, "". They also starred in their own Disney Channel series "Jonas", which was rebranded as "Jonas L.A." for its second season. The band have released five albums: "It's About Time" (2006), "Jonas Brothers" (2007), "A Little Bit Longer" (2008), "Lines, Vines and Trying Times" (2009), and "Happiness Begins" (2019).


title: Jonas Brothers

text: In 2008, the group was nominated for the Best New Artist award at the 51st Grammy Awards and won the award for Breakthrough Artist at the American Music Awards. Before the release of "Lines, Vines and Trying Times", they had sold over eight million albums worldwide. After a hiatus between 2010 and 2011 to pursue solo projects, the group reunited in 2012 to record a new album, which was cancelled following their break-up on October 29, 2013.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: They have sold over 17 million albums worldwide as of 2013. Six years following their split, the group reunited with the release of "Sucker" on March 1, 2019. The song became the 34th song in history to debut at number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and became the Jonas Brothers' first number one single on the chart. Their fifth studio album, "Happiness Begins," was released on June 7, 2019, topping the US "Billboard" 200.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: In 2005, Joe, Kevin and Nick recorded "Please Be Mine", their first song recorded. Upon hearing the song, the Columbia Records president Steve Greenberg decided to sign the brothers as a group. They considered naming their group "Sons of Jonas" before settling on the name Jonas Brothers. While working on their debut studio album, the band toured throughout 2005 with artists such as Jump5, Kelly Clarkson, Jesse McCartney, the Backstreet Boys, and The Click Five among others. They spent the latter portion of the year on a tour with Aly & AJ and The Cheetah Girls. Additionally, they opened for The Veronicas in early 2006. For their first album, titled "It's About Time", the band collaborated with several writers, including Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne), Michael Mangini (Joss Stone), Desmond Child (Aerosmith, Bon Jovi), Billy Mann (Destiny's Child, Jessica Simpson) and Steve Greenberg. The album was initially supposed to be released in February 2006, but was pushed back several times, due to executive changes at Sony (the parent company of Columbia) and the executives' desire to have "another lead single" on the album. For the album, the Jonas Brothers covered two hit songs by UK band Busted – "Year 3000" and "What I Go to School For". The Jonas Brothers' first single, "Mandy", was released on December 27, 2005. Its music video was shown on MTV's "Total Request Live" on February 22, 2006, and reached number four. Another song, "Time for Me to Fly", was released on the "Aquamarine" soundtrack, also in February. In March, "Mandy" was featured in the Nickelodeon television film "" and the "" soundtrack album, with Nicholas Jonas listed as the artist name. The group's music was also featured on Cartoon Network's Friday night programming block "Fridays".


title: Jonas Brothers

text: The band covered "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)" from "Pirates of the Caribbean" for the "Disneymania 4" album, released on April 4, 2006. Over the summer of 2006, the Jonas Brothers went on tour with Aly & AJ. The Jonas Brothers also created the theme song for the second season of "", airing from June 2006 to September 2007 on the Disney Channel. "It's About Time" was finally released on August 8, 2006. According to the band's manager, it was only a "limited release" of 50,000 copies, so the album's price can rise as high as $200–$300 USD on auction sites like eBay. Because Sony was not interested in further promoting the band, the Jonas Brothers considered switching labels. On October 3, 2006, Nick's 2004 solo single, "Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer)", was re-released on "Joy to the World: The Ultimate Christmas Collection". The same month, the Jonas Brothers covered "Poor Unfortunate Souls" from "The Little Mermaid". Along with a music video, the song was released on a two-disc special-edition release of "The Little Mermaid" soundtrack. The second single from "It's About Time" was "Year 3000", the music video of which premiered on the Disney Channel in January 2007. The band was ultimately dropped by Columbia Records in early 2007.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: After being without a label for a short time, the Jonas Brothers signed with Hollywood Records in February 2007. Around the same time, the brothers began appearing in commercials for Baby Bottle Pops, singing the jingle. On March 24, two additional songs on two different albums were released: "Kids of the Future", from the "Meet the Robinsons" soundtrack (based on Kim Wilde's "Kids in America"), and "I Wanna Be Like You", from "Disneymania 5". The Jonas Brothers made their first appearance at the White House on Monday, April 9, 2007, during the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, where they sang the National Anthem. They returned on Wednesday June 27, 2007, during a Celebrating Women in Sports Tee Ball game on the South Lawn. They sang the National Anthem again, and, after the game, the Jonas Brothers entertained at the picnic-reception with a selection of their hits. Their self-titled second album was released on August 7, 2007. It reached number five on the Billboard Hot 200 chart in its first week. Two singles with music videos were also released around this time – "Hold On" two weeks before, and "S.O.S.", four days before the release of the album. In August 2007, the Jonas Brothers made several appearances on television. On August 17, they guest-starred in an episode of the Disney Channel show "Hannah Montana" titled "Me and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas".


title: Jonas Brothers

text: They also performed "We Got the Party" with Miley Cyrus in the episode, which premiered after "High School Musical 2" and was viewed by 10.7 million people that night. On August 24, the Jonas Brothers performed two songs at the Miss Teen USA contest. On August 26, the Jonas Brothers co-presented an award with Miley Cyrus at the Teen Choice Awards. On November 18, 2007, they performed at the American Music Awards, performing the song "S.O.S." On November 22, the brothers appeared in the 81st annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. For their final performance of 2007, the three brothers performed their singles "Hold On" and "S.O.S." at "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve". The Jonas Brothers kicked off their Look Me in the Eyes Tour on January 31, 2008, in Tucson, Arizona. They performed several new songs on the tour that were slated to be on their third studio album, "A Little Bit Longer". The Jonas Brothers made their acting debut in of the Disney Channel series "Hannah Montana", where they guest starred and performed "We Got The Party With Us" on the episode "Me and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas". In 2008, they collaborated with Miley Cyrus on her 3D concert film "", filmed during Cyrus' Best of Both Worlds Tour, where they sang "We Got The Party With Us" with Cyrus as Hannah Montana. While on the Look Me in the Eyes Tour, the Jonas Brothers filmed a Disney Channel reality short series entitled, "", that premiered on Disney Channel.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: The Jonas Brothers' third studio album, "A Little Bit Longer", was released in the United States on August 12, 2008. On June 24, 2008, iTunes announced that it would release four songs from "A Little Bit Longer", one roughly every two weeks. The purchase of each of the songs applies to the cost of the entire album, which could be purchased via iTunes' Complete the Album feature after release. Each song released also featured a podcast. Each song occupied the number one spot on iTunes for at least three days. After the Look Me in the Eyes Tour ended on March 22, 2008, the Jonas Brothers announced that they would be opening up for Avril Lavigne's Best Damn Tour along with Boys Like Girls, for the second leg of the tour in Europe, which lasted from late May to late June 2008. While filming "Camp Rock", the Jonas Brothers co-wrote and co-produced six songs for fellow Disney Channel star and close friend Demi Lovato, for Lovato's album "Don't Forget". The album, co-produced by the Jonas Brothers, was released on September 23, 2008. A soundtrack was released for the film "Camp Rock" on June 17, 2008, debuting at No. 3 on the "Billboard" 200 with 188,000 copies sold in its first week. The Jonas Brothers also did a half-hour variety special on Disney Channel special entitled, "", that featured The Muppets and other Disney Channel stars. During this time, the Jonas Brothers also appeared on the Olympics-based special miniseries the "Disney Channel Games", for the third annual show.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: During the summer of 2008, the Jonas Brothers started the Burnin' Up Tour in North America, promoting "A Little Bit Longer". The tour began on July 4, 2008, at Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto, Ontario. The band made their film debut in the Disney Channel Original Movie "Camp Rock", in which they played a band called Connect Three. Joe Jonas plays the lead male role and lead singer Shane Gray, Nick Jonas plays the role of Nate, a guitarist, and Kevin Jonas plays the role of Jason, another guitarist. The film premiered on June 20, 2008, in the United States on Disney Channel, and Canada on Family, receiving mixed reviews. On the Disney Channel, the film was followed by the premiere of the music video for "Burnin' Up", which featured cameos from Selena Gomez, Robert Davi, Danny Trejo and David Carradine. Directed by Brendan Malloy, the video earned nominations for Video of the Year and Best Pop Video at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: A Disney Digital 3-D production crew filmed the two shows of their Burnin' Up Tour in Anaheim on July 13 and 14, 2008. Both shows and additional footage recorded while on tour were used for the theatrical release of their 3D concert biopic "" on February 22, 2009. A Disney Digital 3-D production crew filmed the two shows of theirs Burnin' Up Tour in Anaheim on July 13 and 14, 2008, including a performance by Lovato with the Jonas Brothers on "This Is Me" and Taylor Swift with the brothers on "Should've Said No". Both shows and additional footage recorded while on tour were used for the theatrical release of their 3D concert biopic, "", on February 22, 2009.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: On July 14, they announced on stage that the band had already written five songs for their fourth studio album. The band was featured in the July 2008 issue of "Rolling Stone" magazine and became the youngest band to be on the cover of the magazine. The Jonas Brothers visited downtown Cleveland, Ohio's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame before their sold-out concert on the evening of August 22, 2008, at Blossom Music Center. They presented the suits and pants they wore on the cover artwork of "A Little Bit Longer" to Jim Henke, vice president of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The suits are part of the "Right Here, Right Now!" exhibit. In December 2008, the Jonas Brothers were nominated for the Best New Artist award at the 51st Grammy Awards. The Jonas Brothers appeared as musical guest on "Saturday Night Live"'s 34th season on February 14, 2009, making their "SNL" debut. The band also announced on March 11, 2009, that they will be embarking on a world tour in mid-2009. They were joined by the popular Korean girl band Wonder Girls, who debuted in America, as their opening act. In April 2009, the Jonas Brothers finished filming the first season of their Disney Channel Original Series, "Jonas" and was premiered on May 2, 2009. The Jonas Brothers also voiced three stone cherubs in the film "", which was released on May 22, 2009.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: The brothers finished recording their fourth studio album, "Lines, Vines and Trying Times", and began to talk about the album in the beginning of 2009. They said on several occasions that they had been working on writing and recording songs since their Burnin' Up tour in mid-2008. On March 11, 2009, the Jonas Brothers announced that their fourth studio album, "Lines, Vines and Trying Times", would be released on June 15, 2009. They said about the title in the interview with "Rolling Stone" that, "Lines are something that someone feeds you, vines are the things that get in the way, and trying times, well, that's obvious." They also told Billboard, "We're trying to learn as much as we can, continuing to grow." Kevin added that, "The overall message is it's the same old Jonas Brothers, in a sense, but we're adding more and more music, including different musical instruments that are going to add and build to the sound we already have." Nick also said the songs on the album are "our journal in songs, about all things we've gone through, personal experiences we get inspiration from. We've also been working on trying to use metaphors.. to kind of mask a literal thing that happens to us.". Before the release of "Lines, Vines and Trying Times", they released two singles, "Paranoid" (a month before) and "Fly with Me" (seven days before). "Lines, Vines and Trying Times" debuted at number one, thus becoming their second No. 1 album.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: On July 7, 2009, the Jonas Brothers announced that they had signed Honor Society to the record label they started with Hollywood Records. A month later, "Send It On" was released on Radio Disney. The radio single was performed with Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, and Demi Lovato for Disney's Friends for Change. On August 9, 2009, the Jonas Brothers hosted and performed on the 2009 Teen Choice Awards. Hollywood Records announced via YouTube Demi Lovato and Jonas Brothers' . Joe was a guest judge on "American Idol" during the Dallas auditions, which aired January 27, 2010. After the success of "Camp Rock", a sequel was in immediate development. Production on the film began on September 3, 2009, and wrapped on October 16, 2009. The film, entitled "", was aired on Disney Channel on September 3, 2010. The movie was filmed in Ontario, Canada. In late 2010, the Brothers took part in a concert at the White House honoring Paul McCartney's reception of a Gershwin Prize for Popular Music by U.S. President Barack Obama. As a personal request from McCartney, they covered "Drive My Car" from the Beatles' "Rubber Soul".


title: Jonas Brothers

text: In 2011, the brothers took a hiatus to focus on their solo careers – Joe released his debut album "Fastlife", Nick embarked on 2011 Tour with his band Nick Jonas & the Administration and Kevin studied music production. In addition, they parted ways with Hollywood Records, who had been their label since February 2007. In December 2011, a new song leaked on the internet, "Dance Until Tomorrow", but they never released it. Despite rumors that they had split, Kevin said the band would release new material in the future: "I think the tides are perfectly lining up for the future of the Jonas Brothers again". In August 2012, Kevin starred in the E! reality series "Married to Jonas" alongside his wife Danielle and brothers Nick and Joe, documenting the young couple's domestic life.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: On August 17, 2012, after two years of their last work together, they announced a new concert tour, the World Tour 2012/2013. On October 3, 2012, a preview of the song "Meet You in Paris" was released on Cambio. The new tour started on October 11, 2012, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, where they performed several songs from their previous albums along with a new song entitled "Let's Go". During the reunion concert, they also performed other new songs: "Wedding Bells", "First Time" and "Neon". They performed at Jingle Ball at L.A. Live on December 1, 2012, and announced several tour dates to take place in South America. They performed at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival on February 28, 2013, in Chile. Their fifth studio album, which would have been their first not to be released through Hollywood Records since 2006 and their first record since 2009's "Lines, Vines and Trying Times", was scheduled to be released in 2013. The album would be titled "V" (pronounced: "Five"), the Roman numeral for five. The lead single, "Pom Poms" was released on April 2, 2013. The music video for the song was filmed in February 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana and premiered on E! on April 2, 2013. "First Time", the second single from their fifth album, was released on June 25, 2013. In June they embarked at Live Tour to promote the new songs.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: On October 9, 2013, the group cancelled 23 tour dates between October and December, citing a "deep rift within the band" over "creative differences". On October 29, 2013, the Jonas Brothers officially confirmed their split. During an interview, Nick Jonas stated that the album wouldn't be released but decided to release songs in a live album: "We want to do something special for our fans because they've been so supportive of us for so many years. What we've decided to do is package an album with 10 live tracks from the summer tour and four of the songs that would have been on 'V', and if you count 'Pom Poms' and 'First Time', it's actually 6 songs that would have been on 'V'. We’ll be sending that out soon for the fans." The album was released with the title "Live", noting the letter "V" in caps as a reference to their would-be fifth studio album of the same name.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: On March 1, they released a new single, "Sucker" under Republic Records. They appeared on "The Late Late Show with James Corden" each night from March 4 to 7 to promote the track. The song debuted at number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and the US Hot Digital Songs chart, with 88,000 copies sold in its first week, becoming the Jonas Brothers' first number-one song and the first number one by a boy band on the chart since 2003's "Bump, Bump, Bump" by B2K. It became the band's first entry on the chart since 2013's "Pom Poms" and their first top 10 since 2008's "Tonight". The Jonas Brothers also became the second group in history to have a song debut at number one after Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" and the first group in this century to achieve this. In its April 13, 2019 issue, "Sucker" became the Jonas' first top 10 on Dance/Mix Show Airplay, surging 20–6 in its third week of charting. On April 5, the group released the single "Cool". On April 22, the band announced their upcoming album "Happiness Begins", which was released on June 7, 2019 and preceded by a documentary titled "Chasing Happiness", which premiered on June 4 on Amazon Prime Video. The album debuted at number one on the "Billboard 200" chart, marked the biggest debut of 2019 and maintained the record until Taylor Swift's seventh studio album, "Lover", was released on August 23 of the same year. The group embarked on their tenth headlining tour, the "Happiness Begins Tour", performing 92 shows around the globe.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: On June 8, the band performed at Capital's Summertime Ball 2019 in the United Kingdom; the setlist included performing "Year 3000" with the original band behind the song, Busted. On June 18, the band released the promotional single "Greenlight" from their episode of "Songland". On June 21, they were featured on Latino singers Sebastián Yatra, Daddy Yankee, and Natti Natasha's single called "Runaway". On July 2, the band released "Only Human", the third single off "Happiness Begins", followed by the music video on August 13. On September 27, Diplo released a single titled "Lonely", which featured the Jonas Brothers. On November 8, the group released a Christmas song titled "Like It's Christmas". The subsequent year, the band made a cameo appearance on the series "Dash & Lily" and performed the single.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: On January 17, 2020, the band released the single "What a Man Gotta Do". On January 24, they announced a residency show in Las Vegas named Jonas Brothers in Vegas at the Park Theater at Park MGM beginning on April 1, with eight other dates during the month keeping them in place until the 18th. The residency was ultimately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The band performed at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards on January 26, revealing a new song titled "Five More Minutes". On May 15, they released a two-track bundle titled "XV", which contains the singles "X" and "Five More Minutes", the former of which features Colombian singer Karol G. On May 16, they made an appearance on to perform their new song. On October 30, they released another Christmas song titled "I Need You Christmas". On March 15, 2021, a deluxe version of Nick Jonas' fourth studio album, "Spaceman", was released. The record included the song "Selfish", which featured the Jonas Brothers.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: On May 19, 2021, the Jonas Brothers announced that they would be embarking on their eleventh headlining tour, the Remember This Tour, consisting of 44 shows at outdoor venues around the United States, with the tour beginning on August 20, 2021, in Las Vegas. During their Remember This Tour tour, the Jonas Brothers required all fans attending their shows to present a proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative COVID-19 test. The brothers released a statement on social media saying "We believe this is the best thing we can do for our fans, our hard working crew, and the communities we're visiting." Kelsea Ballerini was announced as a special guest for a majority of shows. On May 21, DJ Marshmello released "Leave Before You Love Me", a single featuring the Jonas Brothers. Two days later, they performed the single at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards, with Nick Jonas also serving as the host for the ceremony. The single "Remember This" premiered on June 18 and was used in NBC's coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics. They recorded the song "Mercy" for the soundtrack of "" which was released on July 9.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: On September 5, 2021, during the band's Remember This Tour, the Jonas Brothers premiered a new song titled "Who's in Your Head" while performing at the Red Rocks Parks and Amphitheater in Colorado. The single was released on September 17. On March 1, 2022, they announced a 5-dates residency show in Las Vegas named Jonas Brothers: Live in Vegas, taking place from June 3 to June 11. It was followed by a second 3-dates residency, expected to take place in November of the same year.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: The Jonas Brothers earned an estimated $12 million in 2007, and have donated 10% of their earnings to their charity, Change for the Children Foundation. "Change for the Children Foundation", started by the Jonas Brothers, has contributors donate to charities such as Nothing But Nets, American Diabetes Foundation, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, and Summer Stars Camp for the Performing Arts. Since August 6, 2008, Bayer Diabetes Care has partnered with Nick Jonas as a diabetes ambassador to promote the idea that young people should manage their diabetes, as Nick was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 13. Jonas testified in the U.S. Senate to promote more research funding for the disease.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: The Jonas Brothers have been strong supporters of Do Something. In 2007, the brothers filmed a public service announcement raising awareness about teenage homelessness and encouraging teens to begin "jeans drives" in their communities to donate to the homeless. In 2010, Nick further volunteered his efforts for Do Something by offering his time as a prize to teens who donated jeans to Do Something and Aeropostale's "Teens for Jeans" campaign. Further, Nick filmed another public service announcement, this one in support of Do Something's "Battle of the Bands" campaign for the advancement of music education in schools.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: The Jonas Brothers have made several appearances at We Day, an event that encourages young people to do local and global acts of charity. In a post on Twitter, the band also announced that a portion of every ticket purchased for their Toronto show would be donated to WE to help provide secondary school scholarships to young girls in Kenya.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: In August 2021, the Jonas Brothers partnered with NGO Feeding America to promote donations to the organization by holding a competition to have dinner with a selected fan at a Los Angeles restaurant. The Jonas Brothers have continued to advocate to fight hunger worldwide by partnering, in early 2022, with Global Citizen, which fights extreme poverty, among other problematics.


title: Jonas Brothers

text: The Jonas Brothers' musical style has generally been described as rock, pop rock, pop punk, and power pop.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: Jethro Tull are a British rock band formed in Blackpool, England, in 1967. Initially playing blues rock and jazz fusion, the band soon incorporated elements of English folk, hard rock, and classical music, forging a signature progressive rock sound. The group’s bandleader, founder, primary composer, and only constant member is Ian Anderson, a multi-instrumentalist who mainly plays flute and acoustic guitar, and is also the lead vocalist. The group has featured a revolving door of musicians throughout the decades, including significant contributors such as electric guitarist Martin Barre (the longest serving member besides Anderson), keyboardists John Evan, Dee Palmer, Peter-John Vettese, and Andrew Giddings, drummers Clive Bunker, Barrie "Barriemore" Barlow, and Doane Perry, and bassists Glenn Cornick, Jeffrey Hammond, John Glascock, Dave Pegg, and Jonathan Noyce.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: After achieving moderate recognition performing in the London club scene, the band released their debut album "This Was" in 1968. After a lineup change which saw original guitarist Mick Abrahams replaced by Martin Barre, the band released the folk-tinged second album "Stand Up" (1969). "Stand Up" saw the band achieve their first commercial success, reaching No. 1 in the UK, followed by regular tours of the UK and the US. Their musical style shifted in the direction of progressive rock with the albums "Aqualung" (1971), "Thick as a Brick" (1972), and "A Passion Play" (1973), and shifted again to contemporary folk rock with "Songs from the Wood" (1977), "Heavy Horses" (1978), and "Stormwatch" (1979). In the early 1980s the band underwent a major lineup change and shifted towards electronic rock, with the albums "A" (1980), "The Broadsword and the Beast" (1982), and "Under Wraps" (1984). The band won their sole Grammy Award for the 1987 album "Crest of a Knave", which saw them returning to a hard rock style. Jethro Tull have sold an estimated 60 million albums worldwide, with 11 gold and five platinum albums. They have been described by "Rolling Stone" as "one of the most commercially successful and eccentric progressive rock bands."


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: The last works as a group to contain new material prior to their hiatus were "J-Tull Dot Com" (1999) and a Christmas album in 2003, though the band continued to tour until 2011. Both Anderson and Barre have continued to record and tour as solo artists, with Anderson saying in 2014 that Jethro Tull "came more or less to an end." The current group—now billed as "Ian Anderson and the Jethro Tull band"—includes musicians who were part of Jethro Tull during the last years of its initial run as well as newer musicians associated with Anderson's solo band, without Barre's involvement. Jethro Tull released "The Zealot Gene" in 2022 following a gap of 19 years, and are currently working on a 23rd album.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: Ian Anderson, Jeffrey Hammond and John Evan (originally Evans), who would become members of Jethro Tull, attended grammar school together in Blackpool. Anderson was born in Dunfermline, Scotland and grew up in Edinburgh before moving to Blackpool in January 1960. Evans had become a fan of the Beatles after seeing them play "Love Me Do" on Granada Television's "Scene at 6:30". Though he was an accomplished pianist, he decided to take up the drums, as it was an instrument featured in the Beatles' line-up. Anderson had acquired a Spanish guitar and taught himself how to play it, and the pair decided to form a band. The pair recruited Hammond on bass, who brought along his collection of blues records to listen to.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: The group initially played as a three piece at local clubs and venues, before Evans became influenced by Georgie Fame and the Animals and switched to organ, recruiting drummer Barrie Barlow and guitarist Mike Stephens from local band the Atlantics. By 1964 the band had recruited guitarist Chris Riley and developed into a six-piece blue-eyed soul band called the John Evan Band (later the John Evan Smash). Evans had shortened his surname to "Evan" at the insistence of Hammond, who thought it sounded better and more unusual. The group recruited Johnny Taylor as a booking agent and played gigs further afield around northwest England, playing a mixture of blues and Motown covers. Hammond subsequently quit the band to go to art school. He was briefly replaced by Derek Ward, then by Glenn Cornick. Riley also quit and was replaced by Neil Smith. The group recorded three songs at Regent Sound Studios in Denmark Street, London in April 1967, and appeared at The Marquee club in June.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: In November 1967 the band moved from the north of England, subsequently basing themselves in Luton, Bedfordshire, 43 miles from central London. They signed a management deal with Terry Ellis and Chris Wright, and replaced Smith with guitarist Mick Abrahams. They quickly realised that supporting a 6-piece band was financially impractical and disbanded. Anderson, Abrahams, and Cornick decided to stay together, recruiting Abrahams's friend Clive Bunker on drums, and they became a British blues band. Cornick recalled that although Evan left, the band said he was welcome to rejoin at a later date. Anderson shared a ground-floor flat with Cornick in a large house at the top of Studley Road in Luton, and worked as a cleaner for the Luton Ritz Cinema to pay the rent. According to Cornick, "we were so poor that we would share one can of stew or soup between us each evening."


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: At first the new band had trouble getting repeat bookings and they took to changing their name frequently to continue playing the London club circuit. A few of the names include Navy Blue, Ian Henderson's Bag o' Nails, and Candy Coloured Rain. Anderson recalled looking at a poster at a club and concluding that the band name he didn't recognise was his. Band names were often supplied by their booking agent's staff. One of whom, a history enthusiast, eventually christened them Jethro Tull, after the 18th-century agriculturist. The name stuck because they happened to be using it the first time a club manager liked their show enough to invite them to return. They recorded a session with producer Derek Lawrence, which resulted in the single "Sunshine Day". The B-side "Aeroplane" was an old John Evan Band track with the saxophones mixed out. It was released in February 1968 on MGM Records, miscredited to "Jethro Toe". Anderson has since queried the misnomer as a possible attempt by the producer to avoid paying royalties to the band. The more common version, with the name spelled correctly, is actually a counterfeit made in New York. Anderson later met Hammond while in London and the two renewed their friendship, while Anderson moved into a bedsit in Chelsea with Evan. Hammond became the subject of several songs, beginning with their next single, "A Song for Jeffrey".


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: Anderson possessed a large overcoat, his father having given it to him with the words "You'd better take this. It's going to be a cold winter." This overcoat and, slightly later on, the flute, became part of his early stage image. It was around this time that Anderson purchased a flute after becoming frustrated with his inability to play guitar as well as Abrahams or Cream guitarist Eric Clapton, and because their managers thought he should remain a rhythm guitarist, with Abrahams becoming the front man.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: I didn't want to be just another third-rate guitar player who sounded like a plethora of other third-rate guitar players. I wanted to do something that was a bit more idiosyncratic, hence the switch to another instrument. When Jethro Tull began, I think I'd been playing the flute for about two weeks. It was a quick learning curve ... literally every night I walked onstage was a flute lesson.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: The group's first major break occurred at the National Jazz and Blues Festival at Sunbury-on-Thames in August 1968, where the band drew a rapturous reception and positive reviews in the music press. The band have since claimed that the success at Sunbury was a result of their persistent touring, which had generated a grassroots following who had all assembled at the festival and encouraged the rest of the audience. Cornick recalled, "from that moment on, we were a big band".


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: The group recorded their first album, "This Was", between June and August 1968, and it was released in October, reaching number 10. In addition to original material, the album included the traditional "Cat's Squirrel", which highlighted Abrahams's blues rock style, while the Rahsaan Roland Kirk-penned jazz piece "Serenade to a Cuckoo" gave Anderson a showcase for his growing talents on the flute. The overall sound of the group at this time was described in the "Record Mirror" by Anderson in 1968 as "a sort of progressive blues with a bit of jazz."


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: Following the album's release, Abrahams left the band in December to form his own group, Blodwyn Pig. There were a number of reasons given for his departure. Abrahams had heard that Ellis wanted Anderson to be the frontman and group leader, at his expense, and realised he was unlikely to have the majority share in songwriting. Other reasons given were that Abrahams was a blues purist while Anderson wanted to branch out into other forms of music, and that Abrahams was unwilling to travel internationally or play more than three nights a week. Abrahams himself described his reasons more succinctly: "I was fed up with all the nonsense, and I wanted to form a band like Blodwyn Pig."


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: The group tried several replacements for Abrahams. The first was David O'List, who had recently left the Nice. After a week's rehearsal, O'List didn't show up and lost contact with the group. The next choice was Mick Taylor, who turned the group down because he felt his current gig with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers was a better deal. Following this, they approached Tony Iommi, guitarist for Earth (soon to be renamed Black Sabbath). Iommi had impressed Tull when Earth opened for them at a show in Birmingham. He briefly joined Jethro Tull, however, feeling closer to his old band, he quit after a few weeks and returned to Birmingham to rejoin Earth. At Anderson's request, Iommi agreed to stand-in with Jethro Tull in "The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus" on 11 December 1968. The group performed "A Song for Jeffrey", but only Anderson's singing and flute were live; the rest was mimed to the studio track, which featured Abraham's guitar playing.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: The next choice was Martin Barre, who had seen the band perform at Sunbury, and had been tried out at the same audition as Iommi. Barre arranged a second audition with Anderson, who showed him some new songs that were in a different style from the blues they had been recording. Anderson was impressed by Barre's technique, and offered him the job as the new guitarist. Barre played his first gig with Jethro Tull on 30 December 1968 at the Winter Gardens, Penzance.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: After Barre joined, the group did a few shows supporting Jimi Hendrix in Scandinavia, then set out on an extensive tour of the US, supporting Led Zeppelin and Vanilla Fudge. Having attracted a substantial live following, Ellis and Wright asked Anderson, who had become the dominant songwriter, to write a hit single. The result was "Living in the Past", which reached No. 3 in May on the UK singles chart and No. 11 in the US, and resulted in an appearance on "Top of the Pops". Although other so-called "serious" groups actively resisted issuing stand-alone singles at the time, Jethro Tull felt a hit single was a positive move for the group, if not their priority.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: The next album was "Stand Up", recorded during April–May and August 1969. It was released in September, and quickly reached No. 1 in the UK, the only album by the group to do so. Anderson had now established himself as the group's leader and songwriter, and wrote all of the material, aside from his jazzy rearrangement of J. S. Bach's "Bourrée in E minor BWV 996 (fifth movement)". The album cover unfolded to a photo insert of the band attached to the covers like a pop-up book.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: Immediately after releasing "Stand Up", the group set off on their first headlining tour in the US, including an appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival. Barre recalled, "It was really the turning point for Jethro Tull—for everything that we were to become and everything we were to inspire in others." The band was invited to play in the Woodstock Festival, but Anderson declined, being afraid that the band would be permanently associated with the hippie movement and moulded into one type of sound.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: On 29 January 1970 the band appeared on BBC's "Top of the Pops" again, performing "Witch's Promise". Evan rejoined the band in early 1970. He had stayed in London since the John Evan Band broke up, living with Anderson, and began studying music at the University of London. The pair did not see much of each other because of Jethro Tull's increasing workload, and Evan was reluctant to rejoin because of his studies, which gave him access to a free studio. He played as a session musician on the next album, "Benefit" (1970), following which Anderson said they needed somebody to play the keyboard parts on tour. His tutor eventually persuaded him that it was a good idea, and Evan formally joined. The album reached No. 4 in the UK and No. 11 in the US, and allowed the group to sell out 20,000-seat arenas, establishing themselves as a premier live act. In August, the band played to one of their largest audiences at the 1970 Isle of Wight festival.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: The Isle of Wight appearance was followed by another US tour, during which Jethro Tull became only the second rock band after The Beatles to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Cornick left the band at the tour's conclusion. He was keen to socialise on tour, while the other members became more reclusive and introverted. Cornick said he was fired by Anderson, while the band's official website said he was "invited to leave" by Ellis, but given full support and encouragement to form his own band. Cornick subsequently formed Wild Turkey, a band which he revived for Jethro Tull fan conventions decades later. He died in August 2014.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: Anderson invited Jeffrey Hammond to replace Cornick, buying a new bass for this purpose. However, Hammond had not played an instrument since going to art school shortly after his time in the John Evan Band, and was chosen more for his social compatibility with the other band members than for his musical skills. This line-up recorded "Aqualung" in late 1970, releasing it in 1971. The album was split into two sides, subtitled Aqualung and My God, and featured Anderson's opinions about organised religion. Recording the album was problematic because of technical issues in the studio and Hammond's rusty musical skills. On "Locomotive Breath", Anderson recorded the backing track on his own, singing along to a hi-hat accompaniment, which the rest of the band recorded on top of later. Despite Anderson's concerns that it may have been "too radical" compared with the band's previous albums, "Aqualung" was the first Jethro Tull album to reach the top ten in the US, peaking at No. 7. It sold over one million copies, earning it a gold disc by the RIAA in July 1971.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: Because of the heavy touring schedule and his wish to spend more time with his family, drummer Bunker quit the group in May 1971, and was replaced by Barrie Barlow, whom Anderson rechristened "Barriemore". Barlow had first recorded with the band for the five-track EP "Life Is a Long Song". Except for Barre, the line-up of Jethro Tull now consisted entirely of former John Evan Band members from Blackpool. In July 1971, the band wished to avoid the increasingly strict UK tax laws in order to keep more of their income. They became tax exiles, and relocated to Switzerland. The move put strain on Anderson's marriage to his first wife, which lasted for another year before they divorced.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: Anderson had become annoyed with music critics calling "Aqualung" a concept album, which he did not intend it to be. In 2005, Anderson later insisted, "I always said at the time, this is not a concept album. It's an album of varied songs...in which three or four are kind of the keynote pieces for the album, but it doesn't make it a concept album."


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: In response to the many critics who called "Aqualung" a concept album, Anderson decided to "come up with something that really is the mother of all concept albums". He had become influenced by Monty Python's humour, and wrote a suite that combined complex musical ideas with a sense of humour to make fun of the band, its audience and its critics. The album, released in 1972, became "Thick as a Brick", which was co-credited to a fictional schoolboy, Gerald Bostock. It consisted of a single track running over 43 minutes, split over two sides, which was uncommon for rock albums. Although the finished album was a continuous piece of music, it was written and recorded in stages, with the whole band helping with the arrangements. "Thick as a Brick" was the first Tull album to reach number one on the (US) Billboard Pop Albums chart with the following year's "A Passion Play" being the only other to do so.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: 1972 also saw the release of "Living in the Past", a double-album compilation of remixed singles, B-sides and outtakes (including the entirety of the "Life Is a Long Song" EP, which closes the album), with the third side recorded live in 1970 at New York's Carnegie Hall on 4 November 1970. The album was successful, as it allowed new fans to catch up with early singles, particularly in the US where they had not been popular on initial release. "New Musical Express" called Jethro Tull one of "Britain's most important and successful 2nd generation progressive bands".


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: In 1973, the band attempted to produce a double album at France's Château d'Hérouville studios, something the Rolling Stones and Elton John among others were doing at the time, but supposedly they were unhappy with the quality of the recording studio and abandoned the effort, subsequently mocking the studio as the "Chateau d'Isaster". They returned to England, and Anderson did some rewriting before Jethro Tull quickly recorded and released "A Passion Play" (1973), another single-track concept album, with allegorical lyrics focusing on the afterlife. Like "Thick as a Brick", "A Passion Play" contained instrumentation rather uncommon in rock music. The album also featured an eccentric interlude, "The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles", which was co-written (along with Anderson and Evan) and narrated by bassist Hammond. "A Passion Play" sold well but received generally poor reviews, including a particularly damning review of its live performance by Chris Welch of "Melody Maker". Anderson angrily shut himself away from all communication with the press in the wake of the negative critical response to "A Passion Play".


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: Even as the band's popularity with critics began to wane around this time, their popularity with the public remained strong, as evidenced by high sales of their follow-up album, 1974's "War Child". Originally intended to be a companion piece for a film, it reached number two on the US Billboard charts and received some critical acclaim, and produced the radio mainstays "Bungle in the Jungle" (#12 on the US singles chart) and "Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day". It also included a short acoustic song, "Only Solitaire", widely thought to be aimed at "L.A. Times" rock music critic Robert Hilburn, who had written a harsh review of the "A Passion Play" concerts at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. However, Anderson said the song was written before Hilburn's review and was aimed at music critics in general. The "War Child" tour also featured a female string quartet playing along with the group on the new material.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: In 1975, the band released "Minstrel in the Gallery", an album which resembled "Aqualung" (1971) in that it contrasted softer, acoustic-guitar-based pieces with lengthier, more bombastic works headlined by Barre's electric guitar. Written and recorded during Anderson's divorce from his first wife Jennie Franks, the album is characterised by a markedly more introspective tone than their previous album, and critics gave it mixed reviews. By this point Jethro Tull had been awarded six RIAA gold records for sales of "Stand Up" (1969), "Aqualung" (1971), "Thick as a Brick" (1972), "Living in the Past" (1972), "A Passion Play" (1973), and "Minstrel in the Gallery" (1975). For the 1975 tour, Dee Palmer, who had long been the band's orchestra arranger, officially joined the band's stage show on keyboards and synthesisers. In February 1975 Jethro Tull sold out five nights at the 20,000-seat Los Angeles Forum, prompting "Melody Maker" to run the headline "Jethro – Now The World's Biggest Band?" After the tour, bassist Hammond quit the band to pursue painting. John Glascock, who earlier was playing with flamenco-rock band Carmen, a support band on the previous Jethro Tull tour, became the band's new bassist.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: 1976's "" was another concept album, this time about the life of an ageing rocker. (On the live version of the album's title track released two years later, Anderson denies that the song is about himself.) Glascock made his first appearance on this album, contributing harmony and second vocals in addition to the bass lines. Palmer continued to arrange, and she recorded as a guest on two songs. For the 1976 tour, Jethro Tull became one of the first bands to use giant projection screens for the larger stadium shows. Although "Too Old..." did not sell as well as the other 1970s albums, the 1976 compilation "M.U. - The Best of Jethro Tull", achieved Platinum Album in US and Gold record in UK. A television special was recorded showing the development of the album's concept in a live show with the band (fully dressed in the most rock-hard-tongue-in-cheek outfits), but the programme was never officially released.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: In the late 1970s, Jethro Tull released a trio of folk rock albums, "Songs from the Wood" (1977), "Heavy Horses" (1978), and "Stormwatch" (1979). "Songs from the Wood" (1977) was the first Tull album to receive generally positive reviews since the release of "Living in the Past" (1972). The Christmas/Winter Solstice-themed song "Ring Out, Solstice Bells" was released as an EP in the winter of 1976, just prior to "Songs From the Wood", and became a moderate hit on the British charts. It went on to become a popular Christmas song in the UK and was rerecorded in 2003 for "The Jethro Tull Christmas Album".


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: The band had long ties to folk rockers Steeleye Span (Tull were the backing band on Steeleye Span front woman Maddy Prior's 1978 solo album "Woman in the Wings" as a way of repaying her for contributing vocals on the "Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die!" album) and with Fairport Convention (Fairport members Dave Pegg, Martin Allcock, Dave Mattacks, and Ric Sanders have all played with Tull at one point or another, as well as folk drummer Gerry Conway who became a Fairport member after playing with Tull). Although not formally considered a part of the folk rock movement (which had actually begun nearly a decade earlier with the advent of Fairport Convention), there was clearly an exchange of musical ideas among Tull and the folk rockers. By this time, Anderson had moved to a farm in the countryside, and his new bucolic lifestyle was clearly reflected in his songwriting, as in the title track of "Heavy Horses" (1978), a paean to draught horses.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: The band continued to tour, and released a live double album in 1978, titled "Bursting Out", which was recorded during the European leg of the "Heavy Horses" tour. During the US leg of this tour, John Glascock suffered health problems and was replaced by Anderson's friend and former Stealers Wheel bassist, Tony Williams.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: Their third folk influenced album, "Stormwatch", was released in 1979. During the making of the album, Glascock suffered major health issues related to open heart surgery from the previous year, so Anderson played bass on much of the album. After the release of "Stormwatch", due to Glascock's continued health issues, Fairport Convention bassist Dave Pegg was hired for the ensuing tour, during which Glascock died from heart complications at his home in England.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: Following the end of the "Stormwatch" tour in early 1980, Jethro Tull would undergo its largest line-up shuffle to date, resulting in Barlow, Evan, and Palmer leaving the band. Different stories have been given over the years for the various reasons behind the band's restructuring, including that Barlow was depressed and withdrawn after Glascock's death and that Evan and Palmer found their futures in the band to be murky with Anderson's announcement that he wanted to work on a solo album.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: In the 2008 Classic Artists documentary "Jethro Tull: Their Fully Authorised Story", Barlow claimed that he left the band on a mutual agreement with Anderson while Evan and Palmer both recalled being dismissed by a letter in the mail.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: Following their termination from Jethro Tull, Evan, and Palmer briefly collaborated in a classical-based pop/rock band called Tallis. Jethro Tull was left with Anderson (the only original member), Martin Barre, and Dave Pegg.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: Tull's first album of the 1980s was intended to be Ian Anderson's first solo album. Anderson retained Barre on electric guitar and Pegg on bass, while adding Mark Craney on drums, and special guest keyboardist/violinist Eddie Jobson (ex–Roxy Music, Frank Zappa, Curved Air and U.K., the last of which had opened for several shows on Tull's "Stormwatch" tour). Highlighted by the prominent use of synthesisers, it contrasted sharply with the established "Tull sound". After pressure from Chrysalis Records, Anderson agreed to release it as a Jethro Tull album. Entitled "A" (taken from the labels on the master tapes for his scrapped solo album, marked simply "A" for "Anderson"), it was released in mid-1980.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: In keeping with the mood of innovation surrounding the album, Jethro Tull developed a music video titled "Slipstream". Four staged and separately filmed music videos are mixed with concert footage from the "A" tour. London's Hammersmith Odeon was used for exterior scenes, but the main concert footage was actually from an American performance, at the Los Angeles Sports Arena (as heard on the Magic Piper ROIO), filmed in November 1980. The video, released in 1981, was directed by David Mallet, who has directed numerous music videos, including the pioneering "Ashes to Ashes" video for David Bowie.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: Jobson and Craney returned to their own work following the "A" tour and Jethro Tull entered a period of revolving drummers: Gerry Conway, who left after deciding he could not be the one to replace Barlow, Phil Collins (as a fill-in for the recently departed Gerry Conway, played with the band at the first Prince's Trust concert in 1982), Paul Burgess (for the US leg of the Broadsword and the Beast tour, and who left to settle down with his family) and permanent drummer Doane Perry.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: 1981 was the first year in their career that the band did not release an album; however, some recording sessions took place (Anderson, Barre, Pegg, and Conway, with Anderson playing the keyboards). Some of these tracks were released on the "Nightcap" compilation in 1993.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: In 1982, Peter-John Vettese joined on keyboards, and the band returned to a somewhat folkier sound—albeit with synthesisers—for 1982's "The Broadsword and the Beast". The ensuing concert tour for the album was well attended and the shows featured what was to be one of the group's last indulgences in full-dress theatricality. The stage was built to resemble a Viking longship and the band performed in faux-medieval regalia.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: An Anderson solo album, which was in fact a collaborative Anderson-Vettese effort, appeared in 1983, in the form of the heavily electronic "Walk into Light". As with later solo efforts by Anderson and Barre, some of the "Walk into Light" songs—such as "Fly by Night", "Made in England", and "Different Germany"—later made their way into Jethro Tull live sets.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: In 1984, Jethro Tull released "Under Wraps", a heavily electronic album with no "live" drummer and instead, as on "Walk into Light", a drum-machine was used. Although the band were reportedly proud of the sound (Barre even considering it one of his personal favourites), the album was not well received. However, the video for "Lap of Luxury" did manage to earn moderate rotation on the newly influential MTV music video channel. As a result of the throat problems Anderson developed singing the demanding "Under Wraps" material on tour, Jethro Tull took a three-year break. Vettese quit the band after the tour, angry at critics for the bad reviews of "The Broadsword and the Beast" (1982), "Walk into Light" (1983), and "Under Wraps" (1984). During this hiatus, Anderson continued to oversee the salmon farm he had founded in 1978, although the single "Coronach" was released in the UK in 1986 after it was used as the theme tune for a Channel 4 television program called "Blood of the British".


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: Jethro Tull returned in 1987 with "Crest of a Knave". With Vettese absent (Anderson contributed the synth programming) and the band relying more heavily on Barre's electric guitar than they had since the early 1970s, the album was a critical and commercial success. Shades of their earlier electronic excursions were still present, however, as three of the album's songs again used a drum machine, with Doane Perry and Gerry Conway sharing drum duties on the other tracks. Prior to the "Crest of a Knave" tour, keyboardist Don Airey (ex-Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne, Michael Schenker Group, Gary Moore, Colosseum II) joined the band.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: The band won the 1989 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental, beating the favorite Metallica and their "...And Justice for All" album. The award was particularly controversial as many did not consider Jethro Tull hard rock, much less heavy metal. On the advice of their manager, who told them they had no chance of winning, no one from the band attended the award ceremony. In response to the criticism they received over the award, their label, Chrysalis, took out an advertisement in a British music periodical with a picture of a flute lying amid a pile of iron and the line, "the flute is a heavy metal instrument", with the word "heavy" inserted into the sentence as though a later addition. In response to an interview question about the controversy, Ian Anderson quipped, "Well, we do sometimes play our mandolins very loudly." In 2007, the win was named one of the ten biggest upsets in Grammy history by "Entertainment Weekly", and ranked #1 in EW's 2017 listing of Grammy upsets. In 1992, when Metallica finally won the Grammy in the category, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich joked, "First thing we're going to do is thank Jethro Tull for not putting out an album this year," a play on a Grammy comment by Paul Simon some years before thanking Stevie Wonder for the same thing.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: The style of "Crest of a Knave" (1987) has been compared to that of Dire Straits, in part because Anderson no longer seemed to have the vocal range he once possessed and preferred to use the lower registers, while Martin Barre's guitar sound apparently drifted towards Mark Knopfler's style. Two songs in particular—"Farm on the Freeway" and "Steel Monkey"—got heavy radio airplay. The album also contained the popular live song "Budapest", which depicts a backstage scene with a shy local female stagehand. Although "Budapest" was the longest song on that album (at just over ten minutes), "Mountain Men" became more famous in Europe, depicting a scene from World War II in Africa. Ian Anderson referred to the battles of El Alamein and the Falkland Islands, drawing historical parallels of the angst that women left behind by their warrior husbands might have felt:


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: They toured this album with "The Not Quite the World, More the Here and There Tour". It was also the first time in the band's history that it had two electric guitar players on stage, when Anderson, albeit rarely, played rhythm guitar.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: 1988 was notable for the release of "20 Years of Jethro Tull", a five-LP themed set (also released as a three-CD set, and as a truncated single CD version on "20 Years of Jethro Tull: Highlights") consisting largely of rarities and outtakes from throughout the band's history, as well as a variety of live and remastered tracks. It also included a booklet outlining the band's history in detail. Now out of print, it has become a collector's item, although many (but not all) of the outtakes have been included as bonus tracks on remastered releases of the band's studio albums.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: In 1989, the band released "Rock Island", which met with less commercial and critical success than "Crest of a Knave" (1987). The lead-off track, "Kissing Willie", featured bawdy double-entendre lyrics and over-the-top heavy metal riffing that seemed to take a satiric view of the group's recent Grammy award win. The song's accompanying video found difficulty in receiving airplay because of its sexual imagery. Although "Rock Island" was something of a miss for the group, a couple of fan favourites did emerge from the album. "Big Riff and Mando" reflects life on the road for the relentlessly touring musicians, giving a wry account of the theft of Barre's prized mandolin by a starstruck fan. "Another Christmas Song", an upbeat number celebrating the humanitarian spirit of the holiday season, stood out against the brooding and sombre mood of many of the songs on the album and was well received at concerts. It was re-recorded for the 2003 "The Jethro Tull Christmas Album" release.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: 1991's "Catfish Rising" was a more solid album than "Rock Island" (1989). Despite being labelled as a "return to playing the blues", the album actually is marked by the generous use of mandolin and acoustic guitar and much less use of keyboards than any Tull album of the '80s. Notable tracks included "Rocks on the Road", which highlighted gritty acoustic guitar work and hard-bitten lyrics about urban life, and "Still Loving You Tonight", a bluesy, low-key ballad.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: Following a further, semi-acoustic 1992 tour (which included Dave Mattacks but not Andy Giddings, and which was documented with "A Little Light Music", the band's second official live album), Anderson relearned how to play the flute (after his daughter, who took up flute classes at school, discovered that her father often used the wrong fingering) and began writing songs that heavily featured world music influences. However, the first Tull releases containing the "relearned" flute were the 1993 "25th Anniversary Box Set" which, as well as the remixes of classic songs and unreleased live material, included a whole CD of old songs from the band's entire career recorded by the current line-up, and the 1993 "Nightcap" compilation album containing unreleased studio material (mainly from the scrapped pre-"A Passion Play" album), with multiple flute parts re-recorded.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: During the recording of 1995's "Roots to Branches" album, longstanding bass player Dave Pegg decided to leave the band, wishing to concentrate on Fairport Convention and not being keen on the world-music direction the band had chosen. Pegg subsequently only contributed to three of the album's songs and played his last concerts in the UK up to the end of September 1995. Doane Perry (returning as the band's full-time drummer) recruited his friend and widely respected session bass player Steve Bailey to fill the gap. Ian Anderson, in turn, relinquished control of the rhythm section arrangements on that record, leaving them completely to Bailey and Perry. Despite his studio contributions, however, Bailey did not join the band, and Pegg's formal replacement as Jethro Tull bassist was Jonathan Noyce. Jonathan Noyce commenced his Jethro Tull membership with the European leg in October 1995.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: "Roots to Branches" (1995) and 1999's "J-Tull Dot Com" were less rock-based than "Crest of a Knave" (1987) or "Catfish Rising" (1991). Songs on these albums reflect the musical influences of decades of performing all around the globe. In songs such as "Out of the Noise" and "Hot Mango Flush", Anderson paints vivid pictures of third-world street scenes. These albums reflected Anderson's coming to grips with being an old rocker, with songs such as the pensive "Another Harry's Bar", "Wicked Windows" (a meditation on reading glasses), and the gruff "Wounded, Old and Treacherous".


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: In January 2002, the original lineup of the band (including Anderson, Abrahams, Cornick, and Bunker) reunited for a one-off pub performance in England that was filmed for inclusion in the "Living with the Past" DVD. It was the first and only time the original four members had played together since 1968, as well as the only time a former Tull lineup has ever reunited.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: 2003 saw the release of "The Jethro Tull Christmas Album", a collection of traditional Christmas songs together with old and new Christmas songs written by Jethro Tull. It would be the last studio album by the band for nearly 20 years. It became the band's biggest commercial success since the 1987 "Crest of a Knave". An Ian Anderson live double album and DVD was released in 2005 called "Ian Anderson Plays the Orchestral Jethro Tull". In addition, a DVD entitled "" and a live album "Aqualung Live" (recorded in 2004) were released in 2005.


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: 2006 saw the release of a dual boxed set DVD "Collector's Edition", containing two DVDs—"" and "Living with the Past". Bassist Jon Noyce left the band in March 2006. Keyboardist Andrew Giddings quit the band in July 2006, citing constant touring allowing not enough time for family. They were replaced by David Goodier and John O'Hara. In the following year "The Best of Acoustic Jethro Tull", a 24-song set of Tull's and Ian Anderson's acoustic performances taken from various albums, was released. Included were a new live acoustic version of "One Brown Mouse" and a live performance of the traditional song (attributed to Henry VIII), "Pastime with Good Company".


title: Jethro Tull (band)

text: In September 2007, Jethro Tull released CD/DVD "Live at Montreux 2003". The concert was recorded on 4 July 2003 and featured, among others, "Fat Man", "With You There to Help Me" and "Hunting Girl", with the longest unchanged line-up: Anderson, Barre, Perry, Noyce and Giddings.