A Franciscan friar and a layman’s journey to creating a music album started at a homeless shelter in the Bronx.
Years ago, Father Isaiah Marie Hofmann, CFR, and J.J. Wright began playing music together for the residents of a homeless shelter in the Bronx. When the pandemic hit, they turned to Zoom jam sessions; now they are releasing a full-length album together, telling Father Isaiah’s vocation story through music.
Four years ago, Brother Isaiah — Father Isaiah since his ordination in 2022 — released his first musical album, Poco a Poco, which seeks to help listeners deepen their prayer life and their relationship with God.
During the pandemic, Brother Isaiah, which remains his musical name, began praying and thinking about new songs. As he prayed, he was brought to his own vocation story and a desire to share through music how the Lord transformed his life. In the end, he wrote 10 songs that make up his new album, “Mysteries and Medicines.”
While he was writing the music, he hoped that the album would reflect the way God heals the brokenness of the world through his mysteries.
“Repentance, a similarly central theme of the project, is something that is often very misunderstood today. In light of Christ, repentance is meant to be something life-giving and joy-bearing. It is the process of recovery and renewal that the medicines of God’s mysteries are meant to bring about in our hearts,” said Brother Isaiah.
A repeat collaboration
After writing the songs, Brother Isaiah knew that he had the potential for an album. But he needed help. So he reached out to J.J. Wright, who serves as the director of the University of Notre Dame Folk Choir. Since they started performing at the Bronx homeless shelter, Wright and Brother Isaiah have continued to work with each other, with Wright playing the keyboard for Brother Isaiah’s last album. The new album seemed like the perfect opportunity for them to collaborate again, with Wright serving as the producer.
“While Brother Isaiah was in seminary, he told me that he created this batch of 10 songs that tell a really clear story, a journey to the mountain top of encountering God in his vocation as a priest — and asked if I would help him produce an album,” Wright told Our Sunday Visitor. “We just started meeting every week to work with the songs, and we really put every song through the ringer, trying to make it as good as we could.”
The first song of the album, Blindman, was released on Jan. 16 as a single. For the next five months, a new single will be released to build up Brother Isaiah’s name recognition. In June, the entire album will be available for streaming.
Blindman tells the story of living in a state of sin and walking with the Lord through the wilderness towards the promised land. For Wright, Blindman is one of his favorite songs on the album, not just because of its message but also for its “funky” tune.
“I just love the way Blindman starts with this soft beat and then Brother Isaiah is singing over it, and you think there is not a lot going on, but then it breaks into this chorus that’s pretty funky, yeah, which is what you maybe wouldn’t expect,” said Wright. “That makes it really fun.”
An opportunity for evangelization
While the beat carries the song, the lyrics bring a sense of depth to Blindman. Father Mark-Mary Ames, CFR, who hosts the popular Poco a Poco podcast, serves as the executive producer of the album and Brother Isaiah’s manager. He shared with Our Sunday Visitor over email that the depth and vulnerability of Blindman allow the song to shine.
“One of my favorite parts of working with Brother Isaiah is his lyrics. They always come from some deep and often unexpected place. In particular, he has a beautiful way of putting verses of the psalms to music,” said Father Mark-Mary. “‘Blindman’ and much of ‘Mysteries & Medicines’ is an invitation to continue to follow the Lord when we feel blind and disoriented before the mystery of his invitation and his providence.”
For Father Mark Mary, Wright, and Brother Isaiah, they see the song as more than just a work of art; they view it as an opportunity for evangelization.
“Music both opens up new spaces in our hearts to the Lord, but music also arises naturally from the depths of the soul of the one who knows God and his salvation,” said Father Mark-Mary. “There’s a time when speech and prose simply aren’t enough and poetry and praise arise in the human hearts, needing to worship God with greater fullness.”
As he wrote the songs, Brother Isaiah reflected on repentance. He hopes that “Blindman” and the other songs in “Mysteries and Medicines” will help others recognize the power of God’s mercy.
“It’s my hope that the album will awaken in the heart a new wonder for the beauty and sweetness of repentance, a desire to take that journey of recovery — with some how-to’s along the way — and an awareness that God’s medicines are ultimately born to us in the mysteries of our lives,” said Brother Isaiah.
