Musician priest spreads Gospel messages with his bands’ performances

‘Priest and the Publicans’ to play at Seattle’s Folklife  Festival

EVERETT
By John Wolcott

Father Armando Guzman  finds more and more invitations arrive regularly as word of his band’s popularity spread.“We refuse more gigs than we can take now, from all over,” he said. Photo Olan Mills

Music struck a chord with Father Armando Guzman while he was in seminary, during the era of “folk Masses” that were popular in the ‘60s. Today, he plays at least 10 instruments and entertains audiences with a variety of bands and music, from rock ‘n roll to gospel bluegrass.

That’s a lot of progress for him, considering he wasn’t even interested in music until his early teens. Entering seminary at 13, he later found “everyone at the seminary but me was playing a guitar. I learned to play a few chords and played for fun. By the time I was in college I was practicing every day and people told me I was getting pretty good,” he said.

Since then he’s learned to play the guitar, banjo, piano, mandolin, harmonica, penny whistle, accordion, bass guitar, recorder and Native American flute. He’s also learning to play five more instruments that he still feels “too embarrassed to play in public,” he said, hoping to add them to his performances by the end of the year.

As he moved from parish to parish, he got to know other musicians through jam sessions he loved joining. Later, he began forming new bands whenever he found enough players and a need for the music. The bands played at fund raising events for charities and to help finance youth groups’ needs.

Music and ministry complementary
All of those gigs and his daily practice are woven into his priestly duties. But, he finds the music and his work for the church usually complement each other. Presently, he’s assigned as part of the regional ministry team that serves Skagit County parishes, as well as fulfilling his role as chaplain for Archbishop Murphy High School in Everett.

One of the bands, Gospel Bluegrass, played for an event on Queen Anne Hill last October to raise money for Katrina hurricane relief, then raised $50 more for playing at a Lynnwood nursing home. 

The Priest and the Publicans, one of Father Armando Guzman’s most enduring bands over the years, will once again play at the Seattle Folklife Festival on Saturday, May 27. Members of the group, left to right, include Martin Stillion (fiddle); John Eisenhauer, (mandolin); Denise Mannino (vocals and guitar); Jim Mannino (vocals and guitar) and Father Guzman (banjo). In the back row, from the left, are Kim Thompson (electric bass guitar) and Aaron Mannino (playing a cardboard box). Photo courtesy of Mannino Arts

In January, the Priest and the Publicans, a band he formed with several parishioners when he was at St. Brendan’s parish in Bothell, raised $2,000 at a benefit concert and dinner in St. Joseph Center at Immaculate Conception parish in Mt. Vernon. The money provided funds for Archbishop Murphy High School students in Skagit County who were preparing for confirmation.

The weather was rainy, stormy and cold that night but nearly 500 people showed up from Mount  Vernon, Burlington, LaConner, Sedro-Woolley and Concrete. More tables had to be set up for the overflow crowd and the food ran out quickly, but the event was a great success.

Last February, his rock ‘n roll band – which he named BOB – played a set at St. Michael’s in Snohomish to raise funds for their high school youth group to help with Katrina relief work in New Orleans.

‘Priest and the Publicans’ at Folklife
When the Folklife Festival comes to Seattle in May, he’ll be back there again.

“I began playing at the Folklife Festival in Seattle a few years ago. I saw all the Tarot cards and crystals being sold there and thought, ‘Why can’t there be gospel music there, too?’ The Priest and the Publicans will be playing there again May 27 at the Bagley Wright Lawn Stage,” he said.

Ordained 20 years ago this June at St. James Cathedral, he was assigned to St. Michael’s in Olympia, where he formed his first band, the Blanderos, which later became the DieHards and then the Jalepenos – “a really hot band,” as he called it.

When he moved on to St. Brendan’s in Bothell, he formed a rock ‘n roll band to raise money for the baptismal preparation program. As he played to raise money for church programs, he began getting invitations for other causes, first to the archdiocesan CYO convention, then to play a set in Canada.

Later, when he was assigned to St. Mary Magdalene in Everett, he had an opportunity to play at “hoe down” gathering in Mukilteo at the mission of St. John the Evangelist.

He’s also played at the priests’ annual retreats at Ocean Shores, sometimes joining with Father  Jan Larson on banjo, and any others who are willing to play. One time, the late Archbishop Thomas Murphy played bass fiddle with the group, he recalled.

More gigs than time
As word of his band’s popularity spread, more and more invitations arrived regularly.
“We refuse more gigs than we can take now, from all over,” he said. “But I love to play, especially Gospel Blue Grass. It makes me feel good.”

The Priest and the Publicans have an album cover so far, but no album, although a couple of songs – “We Shall Rise” and “I Find Jesus” – are listed on his Web site. No music is linked to the titles yet, since the site is still being developed.

“We keep getting requests for an album. Maybe a year or so from now we’ll have time to make one,” he said.

In the future, he’d also like to bring his band to the Darrington Bluegrass Festival. That event has been a major Northwest music draw for many years, attracting thousands of people he’d love to entertain with his mix of gospel and bluegrass music.

“Maybe we’ll be there, if the Lord’s willing,” he said.

Ironically, because he plays so many scattered engagements in Western Washington, most of the students at Archbishop Murphy High School haven’t heard him, he said.
“But that could change. I’d really like to do a concert or have a musical festival at the school in a few years,” he said.

Surprisingly, his musical gift is “just a sideline,” said the energetic priest, who seems to have unlimited enthusiasm for a variety of endeavors. “My main hobby is art,” he said, a subject he majored in at the seminary. A collection of his intriguing color images of Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa and others is displayed on his Internet site.

For more information, visit www.armandoarts.com or email him at aguzman@am-hs.org.