CD Review: Hymns of the Faith (Hayes Family)

Rating: 4.5 stars (of 5)

Average Song Rating: 4 stars (of 5)

Song List: Glory To His Name; Anywhere With Jesus; Tell and Sing the News; The Ninety and Nine; Amazing Grace; Rescue the Perishing; Does Jesus Care; When the Roll is Called Up Yonder; Near the Cross; When We All Get to Heaven; Tis So Sweet; The Star Spangled Banner.

Available from: Crossroads, Artist.

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The Hayes Family has been singing mountain harmonies for nearly fourty years. The group’s members are husband and wife Howard and Lucy Hayes and their three children, Janet Hayes Haas (soprano / piano), Sharon Hayes Hodges (alto / piano), and Mylon Hayes (bass guitarist / vocalist).

The group’s projects typically have a mix of old-fashioned four-part convention songs and orchestrated ballads. This hymns project shows the influence of each style; “Tell and Sing the News,” “When the Roll,” and “When We All Get to Heaven” show the influence of convention songs, while “The Ninety and Nine” is arranged as a powerful orchestral ballad. “The Ninety and Nine” has a particularly interesting move in its arrangement; the song moves from a major to a minor key and back to the major. (If there will be any singles from this song, the song would be a good pick.)

“Amazing Grace” and “The Star Spangled Banner” are performed acapella.

The Hayes Family’s sound is distinctive enough that it can be hard to come up with a good comparison; the closest I can come up with is the Chuck Wagon Gang with two pianos and a bass guitar. Their traditional harmonies and arrangements will delight both their current fans and fans of classic Southern Gospel introduced to their music through the project.

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