Irish-American singer/songwriter, John Francis O’Mara, has announced his first full-length album is over ten years, titled Forbidden Hymns, spanning the genres of Alt-Country, Americana, Folk, and Rock, and “exploring social justice, theology, hope, and heartbreak”. It arrives on October 10, 2025.
Produced by Ken Coomer (Grammy winning Producer, and drummer for Wilco,Uncle Tupelo, Steve Earle), the album includes a studio band of guitarist Kenny Vaughan (Marty Stuart, Lucinda Williams), multi-instrumentalist Chris Scruggs, John Lancaster on keys, the late great bassist Dave Roe (Johnny Cash, John Mellencamp, Dwight Yoakam) as well as backing vocalist, Vinchelle Woods.
John Carter Cash (son of June and Johnny) joins O’Mara with the co-written “No One Gets Out of Here Alive”.
In addition to his career as a singer-songwriter, O’Mara is an ordained Epsicopalian priest and Liberation Theology scholar, (Princeton and General Seminaries) currently working toward his Doctorate in Theology with a Social Justice focus, from Howard University School of Divinity.
O’Mara says about the album and it’s title of Forbidden Hymns:
But, why ‘Forbidden’? Look around! The social and political landscape has taken a very dark and ugly turn. Stateside, the innocent and most vulnerable are being kidnapped and denied basic civil and human rights, while literal genocide and starving children’s screams are live-streamed in real time. Elites and the billionaire class rule from their ill-gotten thrones. Truth, beauty, and conscience are being legislated into silence, banned, and literally ‘forbidden’. The soul of America, and the very soul of humanity, is at stake. Many among us are being made to fear raising our voices.
Many among us are not afraid! I’m here to tell you, not on my watch. This is the precise moment many of us have been preparing for, and I will not be silenced. We who believe that a world full of empathy, justice, dignity, and love is possible, will not be silenced! This record will not be silenced! Time to turn up the volume! Time to sing Forbidden Hymns.
Catch John Francis O’Mara Live:
10/3 White Horse Black Mountain, NC
10/25 Studio 9 North Adams, MA w/ 9 Pound Horse
More dates to be announced soon!
