At age 67, Grammy-winning recording artist John Michael Talbot is in "semi-retirement," if you rely on his website.
If you believe your own eyes, you'll realize he's still moving full speed ahead with the Gospel.
Following a two-year-long "voluntary and forced covid-19 sabbatical," as the website puts it, the Berryville Catholic is performing songs of praise and worship for fellow believers again.
In late January, Talbot sang in Houston. In February, he participated in a Concert for Peace in Norman, Okla.
Following stops in Amarillo, Texas; and Shawnee, Okla., he has given Arkansas his full attention, performing Lenten concerts at St. Joseph parish in Conway on Monday and Our Lady of the Holy Souls parish in Little Rock on Tuesday night.
After stops in Benton on Thursday and Hot Springs on Friday, he's scheduled to sing again this evening at Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church in Hot Springs Village.
While contemporary Christian music has a number of high-profile celebrities, nobody in the Catholic firmament can rival Talbot's sales -- or his staying power.
He has been performing songs of devotion for nearly a half-century and he has sold his music more than 4 million times -- on everything from eight-track tapes to Apple music.
Thus far, he has recorded nearly five dozen albums. And he has written a bunch of books, too.
He also founded the Brothers and Sisters of Charity, a Catholic community, and built Little Portion Hermitage, where many members reside.
The community emphasizes apostolic poverty, chastity and obedience, while also prioritizing silence, penance and prayer. Some are celibate. Others, including Talbot, are married.
While participants may live a spartan life, the music is accessible to everybody.
As Talbot sang across Arkansas this week, he did so free of charge, although attendees were encouraged to make a donation as the events were ending.
Those so inclined could buy gluten-free St. Clare's Breakfast Cookies, St. Anthony's Hermit Bars or Viola Granola, named after the community's co-founder -- Talbot's wife, Viola.
In Little Rock, the self-styled Troubadour for the Lord sang for roughly 90 minutes, gently strumming a guitar as he sat before the altar.
Audience members, many in their 70s or 80s, lifted their hands and closed their eyes as he sang the words of the Psalms and the saints.
Father John Marconi, pastor at Our Lady of the Holy Souls, smiled as the sounds washed over him, sometimes joining in the chorus.
It appeared, for a time, that Talbot's traveling days might be over, Marconi said afterward.
"He just felt like the Lord called him back home to the monastery. ... No more music and no more missions stuff," Marconi said.
"I think right now he's open to go wherever the Lord sends him,'' Marconi said.
Musically, Talbot began as a member of a country-rock band, Mason Proffit. Religiously, he was a Methodist.
Following a spiritual rebirth, he switched his focus to praise, worship and evangelism.
"He had a major conversion to the Lord, giving everything away and living the Gospel, living the life of Jesus," Marconi said.
The transformation wasn't a fad or a phase.
"He never let go," Marconi said.
Tuesday, Talbot expressed his opposition to the war in Ukraine, beginning the evening by singing the Peace Prayer of St. Francis: "Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon."
Once the concert was over, Talbot tarried, greeting worshippers and engaging in good-natured banter with the stragglers, particularly the priests.
Father Warren Harvey, a chaplain at CHI St. Vincent Infirmary in Little Rock, said he knows many of Talbot's songs and enjoys singing them, whether it's at Our Lady of the Holy Souls or sitting around a fireplace at the Hermitage.
"It's really the sincerity of the music that really hits me to the core," he said.
Asked how he had enjoyed his brush with near retirement, Talbot called it "wonderful."
"I'm not out seriously doing touring anymore. This is local. It's in my diocese," he said. "I'm just doing this for kicks, honestly. I'm just doing this for fun."