Joel Brogon

  “Here on the Rio Grande” is my love letter to life along the river in deep South Texas. So often, the story told about this region is a negative one. But the place I know is one of stunning natural beauty, of deep peace and profound connection, where bonds of land, culture, and family endure and transcend borders. Sadly, my home is under constant strain, pressed by border wall construction, liquefied natural gas plant build-outs, the expansion of SpaceX, rapid population growth and development, and the looming promise of a massive oil refinery. Water is already scarce. Habitat loss is staggering, with less than five percent remaining. Endangered species who rely upon it face almost certain extinction. And now, many of my neighbors live in fear of being separated from their families and the only home they’ve ever known. This is the reality of life in the Rio Grande Valley in the 21st century, and it is heartbreaking. So, on this Earth Day I invite you to sit along the banks of the...

  "Everyone Welcome" by Joel Brogon Released Palm Sunday Weekend 3/27/26 This collection of six songs explores the long journey of healing from religious trauma. Growing up gay in hardline evangelical churches meant learning early on that parts of who I was were unwelcome in the very spaces meant to offer nurture and support. Like many who grew up feeling “different” in faith communities with little room for difference, I carry those quiet spiritual wounds. These songs were born from years spent searching for spaces where faith and authenticity could coexist—wrestling with belief, naming harm done in the name of faith, and slowly - sometimes defiantly - reclaiming hope. TRACKLIST: Church Signs (Everyone Welcome) The Shadow of the Cross Closer What They’ve Done (In Jesus Name) Father You Are Welcome (In God's Arms) Church Signs (Everyone Welcome) Listen to "Church Signs (Everyone Welcome)" It seems like every small town you drive through - especially in Texas - h...

Everyone Welcome the new EP from Joel Brogon Coming 3/27/26 Palm Sunday Weekend Growing up gay in hardline evangelical churches meant learning early on that parts of who I was were unwelcome in the very spaces I depended on for nurture and support. Hiding that truth left spiritual wounds that have taken years to heal—and, if I’m honest, still need tending from time to time. I know I’m not alone in this. These quiet wounds are carried by many who grew up feeling “different” in churches that left little room for difference of any kind. For some, that pain led them to walk away from church entirely. For others—myself included—the path has been more complicated: years spent searching for spaces where faith and authenticity could coexist, sometimes finding deep joy and spiritual refuge, and other times encountering new forms of the same old hurt. These six songs were born out of that journey—wrestling with belief, naming the harm done in the name of faith, and slowly, sometimes defiantly, r...

I've always wanted to release some of my more personal "coming of age in a strict religious background" songs, and this season I am finally taking the opportunity to do it. I am hoping that I can put together an EP/Album of all my similar songs and release by Good Friday, but we'll see. “The Shadow of the Cross” is an amalgamation of my stories of growing up in deeply conservative rural churches while quietly carrying truths I knew would always stand in tension with strict doctrines and tightly held traditions. (Here's a YouTube link, but you can find it anywhere and everywhere you stream music.) Joel Brogon's The Shadow of the Cross  

Releasing worldwide May 23, 2025! Put on a Happy Face - your favorite Joel Brogon song is being released! By far my most requested song at gigs, "Put on a Happy Face"  is a lighthearted take on dealing with days that just don't go as planned.  I've already released it on Bandcamp - here's the link! https://joelbrogon.bandcamp.com/track/put-on-a-happy-face-acoustic-version  

" Trust the Trees" is a collection of three nature-based songs by Joel Brogon coming May 1st, 2024. Intentionally timed for release amidst Spring and the celebration of Earth Day, this project is meant to be an ode to our intrinsic bond with nature and a profound willingness to surrender to its guiding essence. Stories behind the songs: “Trust the Trees” The words “Trust the Trees" had been rolling around in my head for a while after a friend said them to me at a Winter Solstice gathering in 2021. I hadn’t really put much work into crafting a song around it but the thought of it was living in my head. Then, Uvalde (school shooting) happened. I was so shaken I couldn’t really even talk about it or much of anything else for several days and spent a lot of time sitting in silence in our back garden. Then one evening the line “we cannot be trusted, it’s time to trust the trees” came to me and the rest flowed from there. It was one of those rare occasions when a song was comp...