Fisher\u2019s Amish roots and ability to speak Pennsylvania Dutch, the Old Order Amish dialect, has helped build rapport with likeminded musicians. <\/p>\n
But Amish church music is almost always group singing only, without instruments or soloists. And the community generally discourages public performances and other \u201cacts of pride.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s a lot of great talent in that community that goes undeveloped because,” Fisher said \u2014 using a Pennsylvania German phrase \u2014 “that’s just, \u2018we don\u2019t do that,’ you know.\u201d<\/p>\n
That’s the sort of pushback he received in February after uploading a rollicking, live version of \u201cSwing Low, Sweet Chariot\u201d to YouTube. Fisher felt compelled to respond.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m a believer, I’m a man of faith, and I’m not ashamed of that,\u201d he replied in a video message. \u201cBut I do play a lot of different kinds of music, just like, you know, if you’re a shed builder you build sheds for all kinds of people, not just churches and schools.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elam Stoltzfus, director of the Nicholas Stoltzfus Homestead in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, said it was \u201cone of the shocks of my life\u201d to attend a charity fundraiser last year at a farm where Ben and Rose performed. (Stoltzfus is a common name among the Amish.) There were bright lights, a video screen, barbecued chicken and vendors selling T-shirts, CDs and books. <\/p>\n
Stoltzfus, whose family left the Old Order in the mid-1960s when he was 10, said the gathering was packed with Mennonite and Amish people. They weren\u2019t dancing, but they did clap. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was thrilled to see this happen, because I knew this was a paradigm shift,” he said. \u201cWhen I was a teenager, it would never have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Legions of fans on social media\n <\/p>\n
Amos Raber, of Goshen, Indiana, also grew up in a \u201chorse and buggy\u201d Amish family and considered himself Amish until he turned 22. Nowadays, he supports his family with concert performances and revenues garnered from what he says are millions of clicks a month on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music and Facebook. <\/p>\n
In recent decades, Raber said, he’s seen Amish youth increasingly come together with guitars to sing. But they can still run up against prohibitions on public performances.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost times, if you see someone who’s really Amish doing that kind of thing, they’re probably not going to be Amish long,\u201d Raber said. Since they began recording and performing music, Ben and Rose have left their Amish church and joined a different Christian congregation. They declined comment for this story.<\/p>\n
LeRoy Stoltzfus, a singer-songwriter living near Lancaster, was 13 when his family left the Amish church. He said changes in the Lancaster Amish settlement in recent years have made it easier for people to leave without losing contact with families and friends, a process called \u201cshunning\u201d that has long fascinated outsiders.<\/p>\n
After years of playing guitar as a church worship leader and after spending four years at a Colorado Bible college, he’s now making a living as a musician, stitching together concerts with online ad revenue and recordings for a fan base that includes many Amish and formerly Amish people. <\/p>\n
\u201cEver since I can remember I wanted to be a star,\u201d LeRoy Stoltzfus said. \u201cBut the older I got, I realized it wasn’t about me \u2014 it was about putting out music and helping people.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I would have laughed at you\u2019\n <\/p>\n
Justin Hiltner, a Nashville-based banjo player and songwriter who serves as managing editor of the roots music blog \u201cThe Bluegrass Situation,\u201d said after delving into the music he was impressed with its quality. He said he also got the sense that Ben and Rose and Conrad Fisher and the others are building a musical community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is clearly not just insular music that\u2019s just facing other Amish folks or other Mennonite folks,\u201d Hiltner said. \u201cClearly it\u2019s \u2018broken containment\u2019 here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hiltner called the music — and Fisher\u2019s videos — \u201creally compelling.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo kind of an outsider, this is the performance of American essentialism, the rural American ideal, right?\u201d said Hiltner. \u201cI did hear a level of talent that\u2019s very clearly pushing and pulling these folks towards bringing their music to a wider audience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Religiously conservative musicians can market their recordings through a network of bookstores across the U.S. and Canada. At one of them, Ken\u2019s Educational Joys in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, racks of CDs are sold alongside a floor-to-ceiling selection of Bibles. <\/p>\n
Proprietor Lydell Zimmerman said his biggest music sellers are a cappella recordings, but he’s noticed Ben and Rose have drawn a real following.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think their presence as an Amish couple singing online is what brought people\u2019s attention to them,\u201d Zimmerman said.<\/p>\n
Ben and Rose came to Fisher’s studio when Ben’s brother, a friend of Fisher’s from Lancaster, booked a session there.<\/p>\n
He realized right away Ben and Rose had talent. Tapping into Fisher\u2019s production skills, they’ve amassed more than 30 million views for their videos on YouTube. Eventually he proposed some live shows and the couple agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started recording when I was 14,\u201d Fisher said. \u201cIf you would have told me two years ago that what’s going to put me on the map or boost my business in a big way, it’s going to be an Old Order Amish couple, I would have laughed at you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP\u2019s collaboration<\/a> with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.<\/p>\n
![\"Dancers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1777683132_310_april-28-pyss-w01.jpg\")
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