Jars of Clay frontman Dan Haseltine is resting at home in Nashville after undergoing a procedure “to correct a coronary issue after experiencing a cardiac event” on July 25, according to the band’s Facebook page. “He is doing well and recovering.”
Haseltine, 39, who has helmed the Christian rock group for about 20 years, seemed to be in excellent health before the unexpected event. He is taking his recovery with grace and his sense of humor intact. After leaving the hospital on Saturday, July 28, he wrote on his Facebook page that he was “feeling more like an 80 year old than a 39 year old, but grateful to be walking and breathing and living. Get off my lawn! :)” On Sunday, he tweeted that he was going to “hibernate for a while. Or grow a beard and carry logs up a snowy mountain. Either way there will be a montage.”
But Haseltine also expressed, via Twitter, his thanks “to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. Wild couple days. Now on the mend.” He later tweeted that he was “reading thru the notes from friends, family and fans… Overwhelming. I’m truly a rich man.”
CT tried unsuccessfully to reach Haseltine via e-mail, and his management did not wish to comment.
The first indication of a problem came last Thursday when Jars of Clay posted this notice online on July 26: “Due to an urgent family health emergency we unfortunately will not be able to attend this year’s Soulfest in Gilford, NH next week. Soulfest is one of our favorite and most encouraging festivals of the year and we apologize to all of our fans who are coming out to the festival, we will miss having the experience with you all this year.” Soulfest, held August 1-4 in Guilford, New Hampshire, features many of the top artists in Christian music. Jars of Clay was to headline the main stage on Wednesday night.
It is not known when Haseltine will be fully recovered, or able to resume touring (their next scheduled date isn’t until August 31) or recording—though the band says on their website that they’re “looking forward to our fall tour, and can’t tell you how excited we are about the 11th studio album we are finishing work on, which will be out early in 2013.”
Earlier this year, Haseltine wrote an essay about the importance of playing music live. CT also featured the missions work of Jars of Clay in a 2009 cover story.
