[1][2][3] In 2003, songwriter and record producer Jason Deere began teaching the Old and New Testament in an early morning seminary class for high school students of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Franklin, Tennessee.
His research and teaching inspired him to write an album of songs about the early church history, from 1820 to 1844.
The album Joseph: A Nashville Tribute to the Prophet was co-produced with Deere's longtime friend, Dan Truman, of Diamond Rio.
The album won the 2007 Pearl Award for Group Recording Artist Of The Year (Jason Deere, The Nashville Tribute Band) as well as the 2008 Pearl Award for Inspirational Instrumental Recording Of The Year (My People/Come, Come Ye Saints).
[citation needed] Years of touring the world with the Nashville Tribute Band, along with Deere and Truman's own experience serving as LDS Church missionaries, led to the writing and production of the album The Work: A Nashville Tribute to the Missionaries.