Good vibrations

Interview | Working with the Beach Boys and other rock luminaries, Jeffrey Foskett has been in—but not of—the rock 'n' roll world almost as long as he has been a Christian. | Arsenio Orteza

There’s a quote inside the cover of Jeffrey Foskett’s new compilation, Stars in the Sand (The Pop Collective), from C.S. Lewis’s The Weight of Glory: “The whole of man is to drink joy from the fountain of joy.” A more apt epigraph might have been “Be in the world but not of it.” A Christian since 1972, Mr. Foskett spent the mid-to-late 1970s not in praise-and-worship groups but in British Invasion cover bands and power-pop combos. In 1980 he became a key member of the Beach Boys’ touring band, and in 1990 he went solo, releasing seven Beach Boys–influenced albums that made him a star in Japan.

Recently Mr. Foskett, 48, has played an integral role in Beach Boy Brian Wilson’s latest projects, playing and singing on the critically acclaimed SMiLE album and serving as the accompanying tour’s musical director. Shortly before leaving for the tour’s Australian leg, he discussed via phone his unique opportunities to be an increasingly visible light in the frequently dark rock ‘n’ roll world.