Jars of Clay, Live at Caffe Milano, Franklin, TN (1995)

I’ve been asked about this footage a number of times over the years. Well, here you go. (Apologies for the years of delay, Chris - I never forgot about it!) Somehow the video quality was better in my memory than in reality, but the performances were great.

This video was recorded sometime around early 1995. I was working on a promotional piece for the band - an “Enhanced CD” - and I figured maybe I could bootleg a couple of songs to include on the computer program. It was recorded at a place called Caffe Milano on 5th Avenue in downtown Franklin, TN. Caffe Milano later moved to the area Nashville now calls "Midtown". The place became an amazing venue with great food. Sadly, Caffe Milano is no longer there. Then again, not many business are nearly 30 years later.

Jars of Clay was beginning to really build a huge buzz in the industry at this time, even though the debut album had not yet been released. A few Christian music celebrities were in the crowd including Robert Beeson of Uthanda (also the owner of their record label), and Michael Tait who was of course with DC Talk at that time. You’ll catch glimpses of them at the beginning of the show.

I didn’t have any professional gear. I only had a consumer VHS video recorder with an awkward fade in/out button. That will explain the black spots throughout the video while the audio still rolled. I didn’t bother doing any editing of this upload. I just dumped it and uploaded it. In watching it today for the first time in over 20 years, I am reminded what a good band they are. Their finale of Fade to Gray going in to Flood was really great.