Los Salt Lake City — Missionary Rock Band Opens Doors for the Gospel in Franco's Spain

In 1972, while Spain was still under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, a group of young Latter-day Saint missionaries found an unusual way to introduce people to their faith: they formed a rock band.

Known as Los Salt Lake City, the missionaries — including Patrick Shaha, John Alba, Charles Butterfield, Brian Smith, Duff Thompson, and Larry Peterson — performed 47 concerts for an estimated 15,000 people, appeared on 37 radio programs, and recorded two albums and an EP.

At a time when religious freedom in Spain was still limited and the Church was barely known in the country, their music opened doors for conversations about the restored gospel that ordinary street contacting never could. What began as an unconventional missionary experiment became a remarkable example of using individual talents to share faith in Jesus Christ — and helped prepare the ground for the Church's official recognition in Spain in 1973 and the wave of growth that followed.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in Ryan A. Davis, “Rockin’ the Regime: Mormon Missionaries, American Popular Music, and the Fading of Spanish Fascism,” Popular Music and Society, Vol. 47, No. 4, 2024, pp. 422–441):

In 1972, a group of Mormon missionaries in Spain formed a band known as Los Salt Lake City. Playing primarily folk and rock music, they toured extensively, performing 47 concerts for an estimated 15,000 people, appearing on 37 radio programs, and recording two albums and an EP. The band members—Patrick Shaha, John Alba, Charles Butterfield, Brian Smith, Duff Thompson, and Larry Peterson—used their musical talents to navigate the restrictive environment of Francoist Spain, where religious proselytizing was tightly controlled. By performing in secular venues, they were able to reach audiences that would otherwise have been inaccessible to missionaries, effectively using American popular music as a bridge to introduce the Church and its message to the Spanish public during a period of significant social and political transition.