Jason Shelton is an award-winning composer, arranger, conductor, song- and worship leader, workshop presenter, and coach for clergy and musicians looking to deepen their collaborative relationships. In 2017 he stepped down as Associate Minister for Music at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, which he served since 1998, and is now engaged in a music ministry at-large, focused on serving the musical resource needs of UU (and other liberal) congregations around the country. 

Jason holds a BA in Classics from Saint Meinrad College – a Catholic seminary in Indiana. From there he went on to spend three years as a Franciscan brother in Chicago. Those formative years had a deep impact on Jason’s personal and spiritual understanding (and still inform his theological and social/ethical foundation), but ultimately proved not to be the right fit.

In his ministry, Jason starts with the premise that “what we sing is who we are.” As a composer, conductor and songleader he is fluent in a wide variety of styles, a quailty he feels is important as a musical and spiritual discipline. He believes that we live in a world where our diversity can be celebrated, where the musics of many peoples intertwine and offer new posssibilities for the sonic expression of our deepest values and commitments.

He has served on the board of directors for the Unitarian Universalist Musicians Network and was the first chair of its professional development initiative. He was also a member of the UUA’s New Hymn Resource Commission which created Singing the Journey, a supplement to its current hymnal, Singing the Living Tradition. Jason has conducted choirs at numerous district and national gatherings, and most recently presented composer/pianist Darrell Grant's Step By Step: the Ruby Bridges Suite at the 2017 UUA General Assembly in New Orleans.

In addition to his UU ministry, Jason is the Artistic Director of Nashville's Portara Ensemble, a 32-voice chamber choir that is using the vocal arts to make an impact on our community.

He lives in Nashville, and has two daughters - Amanda and Sam.