Trigger warning. This podcast contains descriptions of various abusive situations.

Listener discretion is advised. My name is Eric Skrinski. As a former religious fundamentalist,

I'm shedding light on the dark side of the church, from the pulpit to the pews. But I'm not

doing it alone. Each week, I'm sitting down with survivors,

advocates, authors, and more to uncover the inner workings of these abusive religious groups

to give tactical tips on how to escape and to find out what we can do to take them down.

You're listening to the Bridge Boys podcast. Today's conversation is one of my favorite

that I've had since starting the podcast in 2020, and that's because this particular guest

has crafted some of those beautiful and meaningful music that I've heard as it relates to

religious trauma. And that guest is, of course, singer and songwriter Candy Carpenter.

Candy grew up within a pastor's home and even traveled with a family gospel band

before their career skyrocketed to incredible success, putting them on stage in Nashville

with some of the biggest names in country music like Dolly Parton and a bunch of others that

you would definitely recognize. But although Candy experienced incredible success in their music like Dolly Parton and a bunch of others that you would definitely recognize.

But although Candy experienced incredible success in their music career, they realized that their

music did not accurately represent their childhood experiences and the impact that religious trauma

and other abusive situations had left on them. That is, until they created the album,

Demonology. If you grew up in fundamentalism,

I have to urge you to go listen to Demonology right now. There are so many tracks that are

going to resonate with your experience, whatever it might be. And Candid has a beautiful job

merging really unique genres, horror influences, incredible references, and ties it all together

to really capture the experiences of people

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