Robert Lowry

Robert Lowry was born in Philadelphia on March 12, 1826. As a young man he joined the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia, where he worked in Sunday school and music before preparing for Baptist ministry at the University at Lewisburg, now Bucknell University. He graduated in 1854 and served pastorates in Pennsylvania and New York before returning to Lewisburg in 1869, where he combined pastoral work with teaching at the university. In 1875 he moved to Plainfield, New Jersey, to serve the Baptist congregation that became Park Avenue Baptist Church.

Lowry's musical work developed alongside his ministry. He became an important editor of American Sunday-school and gospel-song collections for Biglow & Main, collaborating with figures such as W. Howard Doane. He wrote both words and music for several enduring gospel songs and supplied tunes for texts by other writers. Among works associated with him are Shall We Gather at the River, Low in the Grave He Lay, Nothing But the Blood, and the tune commonly used for I Need Thee Every Hour.

For Nothing But the Blood, Lowry was responsible for both the text and its melody. The hymn is commonly dated to 1876, shortly after his move to Plainfield, while the earliest located printing is the 1877 collection Gospel Music, which Lowry edited with Doane. Lowry died in Plainfield in 1899.