October 4th, 2015, St. Francis of Assisi Church in Portland, Or celebrated the Feast of St. Francis and reunited many of the musicians and singers from 30 years prior who contributed to the greatest growth period in the church’s history. The celebration was recorded by John Dalrymple of Seymour Labs and mixed in my Love Seed Records studio over the last year. The music is now available for download below, with the majority of proceeds going to St. Francis. Special thanks to Dianna Schaffer for album graphics.
History:
Father Don Duran, the pastor in those days, encouraged the creativity of the “folk group” and, he, an excellent singer in his own right, had his own part to sing in some of the songs written during this “hey day” in the ’70s and 80’s. The “folk group” was led by Lourdene Haley, a wonderful soprano and pianist, a charismatic leader and director for the folk group and the congregation.
I had been playing guitar at St. Charles Church folk masses for several years with my buddy JD, who had grown up in that parish. After he joined the army, my sister told me about how great the music was at St. Francis Church, so I checked it out. I loved Lourdene’s voice, her spirit, and the group’s music, which was more lively and joyful, not as staid as the music at St. Charles and other churches I had been to. And the congregation was joyfully singing, not just getting through the songs. My electric guitar and I joined the group. So unlike folk groups that had only amateur acoustic guitar players, St. Francis now had a rock and roll lead guitar player, and a composer with a mystic perspective. Over the next 7 years, with Lourdene as my muse, I wrote the “New Age Gloria”, “Through Him, With Him and In Him”, and another “Through Him”, an “Our Father”, “To My Friend”, “All I See Is God”, “Rolled Into One”, “Fulfillment”, “Song of St. Francis”, “Peter’s Song”, “Mysteries are Mysteries”,”Mystery of Faith”, “Lord Has Mercy”, “Bless This Situation”, “Holy Holy”, and I co-wrote “The Land of Joy” with John Dalrymple. Some of these songs are still being sung at St. Francis today.
We had 3 other great composers as well. Tim McCarthy, music/band teacher at a local grade school, sings and plays guitar, bass, trombone, piano, and more. His songs “Who We Are” and “Francis, Lover of Nature” are included with this album. Keith Chapman wrote lyrics, sang lead and played acoustic guitar in “Go Francis” (included), which he based upon Steve Goodman’s “Talk Backwards”. And we had the prolific composer and concert pianist, Margaret Moore. Her “Alleluia” is included.
Other members of the original group who participated in the reunion included Margaret Chapman (acoustic guitar and percussion), Frank Mathew (flute and other wind instruments), Karen Mathew (vocalist, and leader of the group following Lourdene’s departure), Miles Stanton (bass), Jerry Bier (vocalist), and Steve Rice (vocalist).
Other participating members of the current St. Francis group were Doug Smith(piano), who wrote the “Our Father” and “Lamb of God” on this album, Al Rose (guitar), Mary Fogarty (percussion), and singers: Kathryn Mathew, and Juanita Smith, Steve Stevens, Brigid Baumann, Pat Bechtold, Joan Smith (also plays guitar). Chaz Gilbertz played cello in “Sacred Creation”.
One of the traditions of the St. Francis Day celebration is to invite parishoners to bring their pets to church for a blessing. Consequently, in several of the recordings you’ll hear a dog bark. The barks are fun to hear and make the recordings special.
This album includes 17 music tracks, pictures, lyrics and liner notes. Enjoy!
________
