Jon is a songwriter who seeks to capture in words and music the Christian’s struggle to live for God in a fallen world – the flesh warring against the spirit. The words are based on Scripture to varying degrees, and the music draws on numerous Christian and secular influences and on Jon’s own eclectic musical past. Jon is also an occasional bass player at various venues at his home church, Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California.

In his earlier years Jon played in too many bands to count, in styles ranging from ska to bluegrass, from old-school funk to alternative rock. He was a founding member and songwriter for Section 8, a big-band funk act that took Los Angeles by storm in the early 1990s. He then moved to San Diego, where he formed the legendary alternative rock band Bunji Thump with Pierre de Gaillande with whom he shared songwriting and lead vocal duties. This duo later became co-hosts of the open mic night at San Diego’s premier nightclub, The Casbah.  During this stretch of time, Jon’s bands shared the stage with such acts as No Doubt, Rage Against the Machine, Fishbone, Violent Femmes and Vic Chesnutt.  In late 1994, all of Jon’s bands broke up and most of his friends moved away from San Diego. Having little reason to stay, Jon moved back to Los Angeles, where he enrolled in UCLA Extension’s Songwriting Certificate Program. He developed a unique style of lyrics that was clever, meticulously crafted, dripping with Gen-X style sarcasm and cynicism.


During this time, Jon also began attending church and reading the Bible. He became a believer, and was baptized on Easter Sunday in 1996. Although he still enjoyed playing music, writing had become an exercise in futility. Although he desired to write songs that reflected his newfound faith rather than the sarcasm and cynicism of the times, everything he wrote sounded hackneyed and clichéd. Unable to adequately express his faith through his songs, Jon decided to put songwriting behind him and focus on other pursuits. Finally, after nearly a ten-year layoff from songwriting, Jon began to develop ideas in his head for new songs. This time, the songs flowed out almost effortlessly. After ten years of failing miserably at living the Christian life, he finally had enough real life experience to sing in his own distinctive lyrical style about how the word of God plays out in the life of a Christian. 

Hultman studied songwriting with Cat Cohen at UCLA Extension and also attended his off-campus workshops.