Heaven’s Got A Well

Marla’s debut album is simple enough to be wonderful. Blend traditional production with some incredible picking by folks like guitar master Joel Keys, plus one of the best Country-drenched voices around, and we have a truly listenable experience. Encouragement might be the theme of these songs, harvested from writers like Leslie Satcher, Ralph Stanley, and Roy Craft. She includes Dolly’s “Coat Of Many Colors,” and the Carter Family favorite, “Keep On The Sunny Side.” This Kansas girl is a welcome addition to the Inspirational Country family.

Jesus Saves

There’s James, his black hat and guitar case bathed in the crimson glow of neon signs, dominated by the one on the mission proclaiming, Jesus Saves. The strikingly honest cover photo of this album tells us exactly what to expect. This is a real man who writes and sings about real life, real whiskey, real soldiers, real old Chevy trucks, and perhaps the most real thing of all, the way Mama sang “Amazing Grace.” As we search for just the right words to describe this, we’re left at the doorstep of simply saying this is a great Inspirational Country album. The production is classic, and James’ vocals are solid, backed by rich, traditional harmonies. The songwriting has a storyteller’s eye for detail, and a brush arbor preacher’s eye for the moral bottom line. James tells the preacher to “take off that righteous mask… you were just like us in the past.” And anyone who’s been there will hear the breaking of glass in “The Night Jack Daniels Met John 3:16.” This is an album to sink your teeth into. And like good Southern cooking, you’ll be satisfied, but longing to taste it again.

Try A Little Kindness

With any luck at all, you have Greg’s previous album, The Work Of A Carpenter, if only so you’d be thinking, “Boy, I can’t wait to get his next album.” Well, it’s here, and this time Greg has the help of a whole lot of Christian Country music friends. For this new release, Try A Little Kindness, he’s joined on a host of duets, featuring The Oak Ridge Boys, The Bellamy Brothers, Branded, and more. It takes a big guest artist with a big heart to wait in the wings while Greg sings the lead, then step in on chorus harmonies, or whatever is needed to make Greg’s vision come to life. We all win when egos step aside for love, and that’s what happened here, with everyone pitching in to help the House For My Kids Foundation. So Greg takes the lead vocals, and the kaleidoscope of voices blending throughout the album is a musical and spiritual masterpiece. Greg wrote most of the songs, but he also chose a few from folks like Dottie Rambo, Carl Jackson, Jim Rushing, Allen Shamblin, and Wayne Kirkpatrick. He included Dottie’s “I Just Came To Talk With You Lord.” Not all the songs are purely Gospel, but in Greg’s hands, even the secular becomes spiritual, as with “Dancing Shoes.” Our favorite on the CD is “Loving You,” which Greg wrote with the huge-hearted Wood Newton. Greg’s piano-vocal with Les Butler, “While I Still Can,” is powerfully touching. Even when Greg McDougal sings such a tender ballad, there’s a joy and vitality in his voice that lifts the spirit and leaves the listener smiling through the rain. This album is a massive work of spiritual leadership, creativity, and organization. Get to know this multi-talented, energetic man.

Angels And Eagles

Eve Selis is that rare artist who can blend secular and spiritual themes while maintaining the full power of both. It’s no wonder she’s such a popular performer in the San Diego area and Europe, with stops in Nashville and other points between. Her high energy stage show with a clock-tight band, are
simultaneously exhausting and soul-filling. Now here she is with the latest in a series of great albums, all with amazing graphics by Tom Gullota. The title song, “Angels And Eagles,” opens the album with an inspiring look at letting our children grow up and fly. Now that she’s a Mommy, Eve has a new
perspective on that. In fact, there’s a distinct maturity in this album that will bring Eve’s devoted fans into a new and more intimate relationship with her. “Angels And Eagles” is written by Kim McLean, whose creativity weaves through the project, as she contributes her writing talents on eight of the tunes, as well as her distinctive touch as a veteran producer. Do we hear Beatles chords, classical influences, gritty Southern Soul? Yes, to all the above and more.
Eve never lets up on a vocal. Every word, every line, is interpreted, nuanced, coaxed, and delivered with rich emotion. Every story is painted with a dream weaver’s brush. The album’s pinnacle is “Touching The Eiffel Tower,” a salute to the connectedness of all creation. It is simply a masterpiece of music,
production, and lyric, one of the most moving songs ever. Eve begs us to live life to the fullest with “One Day At A Time,” and “Welcome To Paradise.” She shows us the value of our roots with, “The Street I Grew Up On.” She still knows how to cry in “Love You Away From Me,” and she’s as romantic as ever, with “1000 Kisses.” Throw in the Graham Parsons nugget “She,” and it’s plain to see, once you get hold of this album, it won’t let you go.

Above The Noise

If you know ’em, you love ’em. These guys have perfected the art of blending Praise songs and Country textures to create their own brand of music. No other artist on the scene today is delivering “Open The Eyes Of My Heart” with real Texas pedal steel. Nobody else does such a twangified version of “Step By Step.” The production at the hands of fellow Texan Jerry Pippin is simply thrilling. Branded Duo is the standard for Inspirational Country these days. In an era of widely popular Praise and Worship music, often awash in glamour and big production, they consistently build a trusted wooden bridge between those songs and traditional Country fans. This new album rides the same trail we’ve come to expect from them, yet it’s fresh as a bluebonnet sunrise, and Paul and Robert sing every note with the reborn joy of an unbridled colt.

Runaway Train

The much-anticipated return of Adam Crabb and Terah Penhollow is here, and definitely reflects a new track on the Crabb musical railroad. To briefly review the history, when the legendary Gerald Crabb introduced us to his “kids” a few years ago, they burst onto the Christian music scene like a mighty cool wind. The power in their voices, music, and arrangements were simply astounding. But The Rolling Stones are the only ones who stay together forever, and the Crabb Family didn’t. The loss is ours. But in the loss is gain, because now Adam and Terah are joined by three new band mates. This album leans toward the mid-tempo, and less on the fast songs of past Crabb projects, but we still recognize the passionate vocals. There’s praise, like in “You Amaze Me.” There’s personal victory, like in “Rescue Me.” And… there’s passion in the title song. The lyrics are more mature, maybe a little more serious and a little more praise-oriented, but still awash with the optimism of youth. So this is our chance to grow up with Gerald’s kids, exploring our faith and our music in new ways with new voices.

Livin’ Like I’m Leaving

Even without the white cowboy hat, Hunter looks like the kid who just stepped down off his John Deere tractor ’cause mama called him in for supper. Fresh-faced, and fresh-voiced, Hunter breaks into the Inspirational Country scene with a solid and listenable album, drenched in Louisiana black-water and steeped in Texas sand. Most of the songs are from the pen of producer Ken Holloway. Hunter and Ken have the sight and sensitivity to include a few from our old friends John Rotch and Allan Koppelberger, who’s dearly missed, and yet thankfully still with us in songs like these. It brings a smile to hear Hunter sing their tune, “I Don’t Care Where You Dig That Hole.” Another of their contributions is the powerful “Love Deep, Live Loud.” One of the Country-est highlights on the project is the Jeff Silvey-Michael Puryear tune, “You Can’t Draw Water From A Dry Well.” With a joy-filled album like this, Hunter is as welcome to the genre as a gentle shower on early June corn sprouts.

Timeless

Rebecca Linda is back, with an album of inspired songs penned by herself and Robert Frank Smith, her husband and partner in business and ministry. On this album she includes a duet with the “timeless” Dottie Rambo on “Prisoner Of Love,” and “He Knows Just When To Give The Song,” both of which have appeared on previous albums. But the highlight of this collection is the duet with master song stylist Marty Raybon. He and Rebecca Linda pour their hearts into “Not Knowing Anymore.” The lyrics throughout this project are traditional, but with unanticipated Contemporary slants like we hear in “Fast White Plane,” and “Texas And Tennessee.” And of course Rebecca Linda’s voice, as always, is full, rich, and dripping with devotion. Her fans will be rewarded once again.

Bill Steely

Get ready to rock. Bill Steely, with producer/musician/songwriter, Jason Hoard, and John Waller wrote most of the songs and have combined their talents and passions into a single, knee-buckling project. Can Bill sing? Are these the right songs for his voice? You bet. Is the music gritty, powerful, and soul-stirring? From the opening power chords, there’s no doubt. Now, having said all that, it’s important to note that Steely wrote a couple of the songs by himself, and there are other writers on the album. There are intensely personal songs like “Second Nature,” and “Take All Of Me.” But… the depth of this artist’s vision is revealed in the opening song, “Bother Me,” a plea to be awakened from complacency and ignited with caring for the world. Once in a while creative people meet in the middle of a project and everyone who hears it knows that it was an inspired meeting. This is one of those times.

Bluegrass And NewGrass

The Carter Family proved it, and the Boggs family reminds us again that there’s just something special about a family band and blood harmony. Something pure and loving that can’t be manufactured. This thirteen-year-old knows how to pick songs, bringing us an inspiring collection that includes Jerry Reed’s “A Thing Called Love,” Gerald Crabb’s “Happy Song,” and traditional treasures like “Another Soldier” and “Living On The Other Side.” The band, New Jerusalem, has several albums to their credit, but this is the first to feature Candy, and it’s high time. She’s not only got the voice, but also the soul, to deliver these great songs. In a sea of ultra-talented Bluegrassers, Candy and family shine like stars on the tide.