Today we’re talking about the middle part of a Venn diagram that includes denim jackets, cults, and rampant abuse.

We’re talking about Tony Alamo, and yes that’s spelled like Alamo as in “remember the” but it’s pronounced like Ah-lah-mo. Regardless, he was about as despicable a human being as they come. From the late 60s onward, he ran a religious cult that separated families, forced people to work without pay, beat and sexually abused children, tried to summon people from the dead…and made some pretty cool rhinestone denim jackets.

These jackets were extremely popular, you could see them on the backs of everyone from Mr. T, Sonny Bono, Michael Jackson, Burt Reynolds, and Dolly Parton. So today we’re going inside the Tony Alamo of Nashville fashion label and inside the Tony Alamo Ministries cult as we dig up this denim crime story.

Aside from the teaser linked above, this episode is only available to Heddels+ members. Click here to join a community of discounts, giveaways, extra content, and a community chat forum.

If you’re a current Heddels+ member, you can listen by subscribing to the members-only podcast feed by clicking on Account > Menu > Podcasts in the upper right corner of this window and listening on the player of your choice (except Spotify who doesn’t allow private podcasts for some reason).