The thing I love about music is that you can take things that are painful,
deep things that hurt you, and you can turn them into something beautiful.
– Ray LaMontagne
Musical artist Philip Martin Stuebe (formerly Minstrel Martin) is a GMA-nominated folk singer-songwriter. His modern-folk, singer/songwriter, worship music is both brooding and uplifting. Stuebe’s freshman EP – the nautically-themed “BOW & RUDDER” – launched in the Spring of 2016, and was nominated for “FOLK ALBUM OF THE YEAR” in the 2016 GMA Covenant Awards.
A native Portlandian (Oregon), he now resides in British Columbia with his True North wife, Megan, and their two children, Finn and Leah.
For me, music is the outward expression of my inner life. Like, when I have no words that can do justice to the way I’m feeling and what I’m going through, music is there. It’s another language. A heavenly language by which I can express my greatest frustrations, pains, and longings. And when I do that, an amazing thing happens: somehow, even though it really doesn’t make any sense at all, I can be still. My soul is quieted as I pour out my heart to God with raw authenticity.
Music must be honest. Otherwise, I would say, it’s not true music.
To speak for my own musical journey, there have been many times when I would just settle. As soon as I had some chords and lyrics that worked together, I’d pat myself on the back and run with it. But in recent years I’ve learned to dig deeper. To travel further into the recesses of my soul and let out emotions and thoughts – even painful ones – through music. Not only that, but to search for the most potent and poetic words to describe the way I feel inside.
Then the beautiful comes.
In wrestling with the reconciliation of faith and doubt, I am always brought back to this quiet joy that I find only in God’s love. Somehow, when I honestly communicate all my hang-ups and apprehensions to Him, I am reminded of His grace and goodness. And even though my circumstances don’t just instantly get better, inside I have peace. I know deep down that in the end it’s all gonna work out.
– Philip Martin Stuebe