Last week in Catholic Playlist #82 Donny Todd was our Featured New Artists. Donny has been creating music with the guitar since he was 14 and began performing in venues shortly after. He joined National Evangelization Teams in 2001 and was chosen as the music leader for his team.

His skills as a musician and writer grew dramatically over that year, that’s also when he began to think of writing Catholic songs. But it wasn’t until 2012 that he really felt called to create an album of Catholic songs.

“Through the years there were people that told me I should write Christian music, but I just didn’t feel it. I would sit down and try to write a Praise and Worship song, but the words would feel hollow. I was forcing myself to do something that’s supposed to be an act of the heart. But one day I just sat down and began to sing this song. I was in a place of shame and was reflecting on my choices and began to ask God”‘Am I the Prodigal Son?” and I was singing it, just singing that line over and over. It became what is now the single on my record called Prodigal Son”

Donny ran a Kickstarter campaign that year that raised $12k through the generosity and support of 134 people to be able to make his album possible.

The resulting album, Kingdom Come, was released April 2015.

“My hope for this record is that it could reach people that don’t necessarily connect with mainstream Christian music. I want it to reach those who are on the fringes of the Church and those outside of it more than even those who are close to Jesus and the Sacraments. I’ve experienced some serious pains in my life and battled some demons and these songs are reflections of those trials. This record is an audio biography of much of my spiritual journey”

Some of the topics addressed in Kingdom come revolve around the Conscience, prayer, mercy, and God’s intense love and forgiveness.

You can check out his album on iTunes, cdbaby.com and on his website donnytodd.com