By Renee Stewart

It’s the time of year when many lives are set to a new soundtrack.

Holiday melodies fill the air. Tinsel-tinted tunes dance out from radios and television programs. For David Cotten, Gospel music sets the rhythm of his world regardless what the calendar may say.

“It just makes you feel so good,” Cotten said. “Gospel music is music that stirs the soul.”

As one of the original members of the Gloryland Gospel Band, formerly the Gospel vocal group at St. Andrew Lutheran Church, Cotten and the 14-member vocal and instrumental group performs about 60 concerts a year throughout the Twin Cities.

“It seems to be growing all the time,” Cotten said of the performance schedule.

This month, group performed at The Mall of America and the Veterans’ Administration Medical Center. A fun claim to fame is that it was featured in May 2003 on “A Prairie Home Companion.”

For those that would prefer enjoying their music at home, Gloryland recorded “Lutheran Coffee Music to Stir Your Soul.” Plans to record another music CD is in the works.

“It’s a major, major task,” Cotten said of coordinating the performers’ schedules to get them all in the studio.

The origins of the group began in 1998 at St. Andrew, with pianist Elizabeth Baugh and guitarist Wayne Lauchau at the helm. It eventually evolved into Gloryland two years ago.

In addition to performance dates, the group members hold rehearsals on Mondays – two of which are held at Cotten’s Eden Prairie home, with the other two at Summit Place, a senior living community.

Cotten is an industrial/mechanical engineer, but he constructs time for his passion for music. While he never had formal vocal training, Cotten attributes his vocal ability to a choir director who turned choir practice into a “music clinic.”

He sang as a child, and, from 1962-1963, Cotten sang with the U.S. Navy Choir. He performed with church choirs all his life, but “everything came together” once Cotten became a member of St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie.

“I’m just a music lover in general,” Cotten said, but his interest in Gospel music, arrived in full glory around 1997 after he picked up a CD of the Gaither vocal band. Bill and Gloria Gaither are well known as Southern Gospel writers, according to Cotten.

He appreciates the message that gospel music brings.

“It’s spreading words from the Bible and Gospels into the form of music,” he said.

Listening to and performing gospel are two different elements, but Cotten is passionate about both, finding it difficult to describe the joy of performing the music.

“It just brings a warm feeling to perform that type of music,” he noted.

Audience members seem to appreciate the music, too.

“You can just see their faces light up. It’s just amazing,” he said.

In addition to his time with Gloryland, three years ago, Cotten created his own solo act, “Heaven Bound.” About three times a month, he performs vocals with the assistance of an instrumental and vocal background CD.

“It sounds like a whole band is up there,” he said. “I have my own road show now.”

His performances are influenced by the Gaithers and Elvis Presley, whose roots were deeply planted in Gospel music.

While Gospel music owes much of its legacy to areas of the country with warmer climes, it’s good to note that right here in Eden Prairie, the Gloryland Gospel Band is eager to serve up some warm music to “stir your soul.”

More info

Additional information about the Gloryland Gospel Band is available by calling David Cotten at 952-934-6289