June 8, 2023

Colorado musicians write songs they hope will bring people closer to sacraments

NATIONAL
By Veronica Ambuul

 

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (OSV News) — Brian Tucker and Cody Stowe are familiar faces to anyone who has attended young adult ministry activities in the Diocese of Colorado Springs in recent years. Now the two are using their musical abilities to collaborate on songs that can be used during praise and worship, eucharistic adoration and other church gatherings.

“I grew up singing in choir at school and at church,” said Stowe, who grew up in Pagosa Springs. “Then I converted to Catholicism in my sophomore year of high school and joined a Life Teen group, and that got me into youth ministry. So I would do youth ministry and music ministry kind of in tandem with each other.”

Tucker, who was trained in percussion and piano, has sung with various church choirs since he was in high school, in addition to performing with the Colorado Springs Chorale. He also has composed his own music, including a song designed for eucharistic adoration called “We Adore You.” (His recordings can be found on YouTube by searching “Brian Tucker.”)

In 2018, having moved to Colorado Springs, Stowe was invited to play guitar for “Awaken” praise and worship events that take place at parishes around the diocese. That was where he met Tucker.

Several years later, the friends decided to begin writing songs together. Their first joint composition is “Jesus I Trust In You,” which Stowe said grew out of attending World Youth Day in Poland in 2016.

“One of the things they told us constantly while we were there was, ‘You were called here to bring divine mercy to the world; you guys are ambassadors of mercy,'” Stowe told The Colorado Catholic Herald, newspaper of the Colorado Springs Diocese.

The song idea resonated with Tucker, who said that the message of trusting in God helped him weather some health problems he was facing. In particular, he had turned to praying the “Litany of Trust” written by Sister Faustina Maria Pia, a Sister of Life. (The prayer can be found at https://sistersoflife.org/litany-of-trust.)

“I was inspired by the prayer the ‘Litany of Trust’ in the midst of a lot of the health things that were going on,” Tucker said. “I was having a lot of sleep issues at the time — insomnia and some headaches due to a previous injury.”

“Everything comes out of your normal prayer life,” Stowe said. “If you’re a good Christian writer, it comes out of your relationship with God.”

“Jesus I Trust in You” was recorded at North Park Studios in Colorado Springs, with Stowe on guitar and main vocals and Tucker on keyboard and background vocals. Producer Jarrod Headley also played several instruments for the recording.

The song can be downloaded from iTunes, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and other platforms.

“One of our biggest goals is really bringing people closer to the sacraments and to Jesus in the Eucharist, to have these personal encounters with Jesus,” Stowe said.

(Editor’s Note: A preview of the song “Jesus I Trust in You” is available at https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/codystoweandbriantucker/jesus-i-trust-in-you.)

Veronica Ambuul is editor-in-chief of The Colorado Catholic Herald, newspaper of the Diocese of Colorado Springs.