Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — After a recent appearance on "Late Night with David Letterman" and "Live with Regis and Kelly," guitarist Brent Rowan is returning to Steamboat Springs with a holiday concert.

Although the concert isn't for Rowan, he and pianist friend Regi Stone will perform to help fund the library and media center at Christian Heritage School.

Rowan and Stone are on tour to four different Christian schools in the country to help raise money for various needs and to promote their new instrumental CD, "Acoustic Christmas." Steamboat Springs is the first stop for this newfound program.

"We've tried to create situations that would help out. We could go in to do a concert and kick off the new CD," Rowan said. "We tried to think it through so there would be no catches."

Whether it's a media center, a gym or new textbooks, private schools across the country have struggled with funding to enhance education for children. Rowan said he wants to become a part of helping Christian schools get what they need.

Rowan is a member of the Steamboat Springs Evangelical Free Church, where his pastor, Warren Geldmeier, has helped organize the concert.

"I've been a friend of Brent's for years. This was a natural step to get involved with this," Geldmeier said.

Rowan said he and Geldmeier know the challenges that Christian schools face around the country. A fund-raising concert like the one today can help in a hurry.

"They will make more money off a CD than a candy bar. And this will last," Rowan said. "We'll be geniuses in about a month. We want to do it enough times to get a real view of it."

In addition to Steamboat, Rowan and Stone will perform a second benefit concert in Colorado and concerts in Vermont and Florida.

"It was important to us to be motivated by cause rather than money," Rowan said. "We tried to take every bit of risk out of this."

Steamboat seemed like a natural place to begin the tour since Rowan has a home here where he visits with his family three to four times a year.

Rowan is a studio musician in Nashville, Tenn., who has performed on CDs that have sold 150 million worldwide.