"JTR" is a song by Dave Matthews Band from their unreleased album, The Lillywhite Sessions. The song originated from "John the Revelator," a song written by Dave Matthews with the help from Carlos Santana. Matthews and Santana wrote "John the Revelator" as a love song about someone calling out to their unattainable lover. The "John the Revelator" lines that originally appeared in the song were suggested by Santana who got the idea from the traditional gospel song of the same name. History "JTR" began as "John the Revelator," which first appeared live as a tease played twice during a show on November 30, 1998. Afterwards, the song was played in full a total five times – twice in acoustic set by Matthews and Tim Reynolds, and three times with the full band and various guests, such as The Lovely Ladies, Béla Fleck, and the band Santana. After its final performance in May 1999, the song was taken to the recording studio with producer Steve Lillywhite in the beginning of 2000. The band reworked "John the Revelator" by changing a few chords, and most notably, dropping a portion of the chorus, which contained the following verse: Since the title's line was dropped from the lyrics, the band renamed the song to "JTR" and recorded it for the album which eventually became leaked on the internet as The Lillywhite Sessions. Although the band never officially released the song, "JTR" began showing in live setlists on the band's summer tour in 2000. The song became popular among fans and was played live during many shows up until the end of the summer tour in 2001, following the release of Everyday. A performance of the song was recorded for the live album and video, Live at Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado, along with many songs from Everyday. In 2002, Dave Matthews Band went back into the recording studio to rerecord the songs for their album Busted Stuff, which previously leaked out as The Lillywhite Sessions. According to producer Stephen Harris, "JTR" was abandoned very early in the studio, and therefore did not appear on the album. Following the recording sessions, the song was no longer played live, except for a small tease during a show in 2003. In an interview in July 2004, bassist Stefan Lessard claimed that the band agreed that they did not like "JTR," and that it would probably never be played