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The enormously popular VeggieTales series of shows and movies about computer-animated garden vegetables that learn about Bible stories and Sunday-school lessons also spawned a series of albums, ranging from VeggieTales: Veggie Tunes to VeggieTales: On the Road with Bob & Larry. Launched in the 1990s, the VeggieTales franchise continued to thrive in the 21st century, spreading its message through online television and music streaming platforms. By 2020, another iteration of the enduring television show had been relaunched along with new albums like 2021's Fruit of the Spirit Songs.

Part of a family media company called Big Idea, VeggieTales was the brainchild of Phil Vischer, who wanted to create family entertainment with a set of strong moral values. He began Big Idea and VeggieTales in 1993 with Mike Nawrocki, working with friends and art-school grads until the first VeggieTales episode, Where's God When I'm S-Scared?, was completed just before Christmas that year. By 1995, 130,000 VeggieTales videos were sold; a year later, over 750,000 had been purchased. By 2001, more than 20 million copies of VeggieTales videos had been sold. The VeggieTales albums earned similar success. In addition to a short-lived spin-off of Larry the Cucumber's alter ego, Larryboy, in the early 2000s, the VeggieTales universe expanded to Saturday morning cartoon territory in 2006. Eventually, VeggieTales found a home on Internet streaming television, with new anthropomorphic vegetable adventures arriving in 2014 on VeggieTales in the House. A massive compilation of VeggieTales favorites -- 150 All-Time Favorite Songs! -- was released the next year. To coincide with a relaunch of The VeggieTales Show on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, a holiday album, The Best Christmas Gift Songs and More, was released in late 2019. Two years later, another album, Fruit of the Spirit Songs, arrived. ~ Heather Phares & Neil Z. Yeung