Though I will probably always have a soft spot for their all-too-brief quartet with a live band era, the year between recordings was well spent. They have adapted to the different vocal dynamics of a trio and come out with a solid sound.

Journey Down the Old Path Volume Three is a collection of ten Southern Gospel classics. Though there is one classic that practically everyone has cut (“We’ll Soon Be Done with Troubles and Trials”), the overall song selection focuses on those songs that long-time fans will remember and associate with a group, but practically nobody has done since the original. Granted, there may be one or two other cuts (by professional groups) out there, but when was the last time you heard someone cut the Cathedrals’ “My Lord Will Send a Moses”?

Or anyone besides Kirk Talley sing “I Know a Man Who Can”?

Or anyone besides Gold City cut “Windows of Home”?

Or anyone besides the Rambos cut “In the Valley (He Restoreth My Soul)”?

While many groups would have cut, say, “Boundless Love,” “Step Into the Water,” “Midnight Cry,” and “He Looked Beyond My Faults,” this approach to song selection, coupled with delightful arrangements, make this recording a pleasure to listen to.

At about the same time the Old Paths reissued Songs From the Old Path Vol. 3, they also issued Signature Collection. The recording takes fourteen of the group’s earlier songs and delivers new trio arrangements. While it breaks little new ground, that’s not its purpose—to have the concert favorites by the group available at their table. For someone new to the group’s music, it’s also an excellent introduction to the sound of their current lineup of some of their best songs.

Rating: 4.5 stars. ♦ Average song rating: 4 stars. ♦ Group members: Jeremy Peace, Tim Rackley, Doug Roark. ♦ Produced by: The Old Paths. ♦ Available from: Artist. Review copy provided. ♦ Song list: Homeland; He’s Still Living; I’ve Got a Feeling; In The Valley (He Restoreth My Soul); He is Mine; My Lord Will Send a Moses; Windows of Home; I Know a Man Who Can; Hello Mama; We’ll Soon Be Done With Troubles and Trials.

When a group goes from an ambitious project, pushing their sound in new directions, to a hymns table project, some might take that as an admission that the new sound either didn’t work out or was too much too fast for their fans. But that doesn’t appear to be the case here, since the project covers a broad range of styles and offers arrangements that are innovative without making unnecessary changes just for change’s sake.

“Standing On the Promises” features older son Adam and is arranged in a jazzy / big band style.

“I Sing the Mighty Power / Canon in D” features the children on their electric violins (or, at any rate, probably will in live concerts, though from the liner notes it appears as though daughter Michaela may have laid down all violin tracks in the studio). The arrangement, which was put together by Michaela, is an interesting mixture of the old and new, with string arrangements and keyboards combining for a driving arrangement with clear classical influences.

“I’ll Fly Away” also features the electric violins, and a vocal solo by younger son Andrew. He is vocal dynamite right now, one of the strongest child vocalists in Southern Gospel in recent years. If his voice can retain the same power once it changes, it may be the bankable power needed to take the group to a new level.

There are two acapella songs, arrangements of “In the Garden” and “Beulah Land.” The latter is a song they have done live (on their Live @ the Factory DVD), but put on CD for the first time.

Michaela turns in a strong rendition of “My Jesus, I Love Thee.”

Mother Shelly’s rich alto is a perfect fit for “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”; a duet with Adam on several lines in a verse is brilliantly executed and all too brief.

The project’s standout track, an a capella rendition of “Wonderful Grace of Jesus,” starts off sounding like pretty much every other rendition since the Cathedrals introduced a now-classic arrangement in the 1980s. Through the verses and first two choruses, they do the standard two counterpoint lines with harmonies.  A little over two minutes into the track, they break into three counterpoint lines, with vocal activity rivaling what a top quartet could pull off on “Heaven’s Joy Awaits” or “Getting Ready to Leave This World.”

Returning to an earlier comment, these arrangements are innovative without making unnecessary changes just for change’s sake. Far from being “just another hymns project,” this project helps establish the Browns as a serious player on the national level, as a group that can be creative and innovative even on a smaller table project-sized budget.

Rating: 4.5 stars. ♦ Average song rating: 4.1 stars. ♦ Group members: Shelly Brown, Michaela Brown, Adam Brown, Andrew Brown. ♦ Produced by: None credited. Executive Producers: Shelly Brown, Michaela Brown. ♦ Available from: The Browns. Review copy provided. ♦ Song list: Standing On the Promises; My Jesus I Love Thee; I Sing the Power / Canon in D; Cross Medley; When We All Get to Heaven; In the Garden; Wonderful Grace of Jesus; I’ll Fly Away; Beulah Land; Great Is Thy Faithfulness / Majesty.

Two songs (“Jubilee” and “Jesus Will Hear Me When I Pray”) feature the entire choir. Each group is also featured on one solo song; Greater Vision sings “He Pilots My Ship,” Legacy Five sings “Someone Who Cares,” and the Booth Brothers deliver a smooth swing rendition of “In the Sweet By and By.”

It’s where the groups combine that the unique potential of the idea is brought to the forefront. Glen Dustin, being the only bass in the ensemble, is featured on a Legacy Five / Greater Vision rendition of ” I Can Hardly Wait.” He also joins the Booth Brothers on “Jesus My Wonderful Lord.” Scott Fowler, Gerald Wolfe, and Michael Booth—the three who came up with the project—deliver a power trio sound on the second verse of “Come Unto Me.”

Kudos to Jacob Kitson for doing an incredible job on the graphic design. It gives the project a classic, classy look that fits the songs perfectly.

Fans of these three groups—and of classic convention-style singing done well—will want to add this to their collections.

Rating: 4.5 stars. ♦ Average song rating: 4.1 stars. ♦ Group members: Jacob Kitson, Gerald Wolfe, Rodney Griffin (Greater Vision); Michael Booth, Ronnie Booth, Jim Brady (Booth Brothers); Frank Seamans, Scott Fowler, Scott Howard, Glenn Dustin, Tim Parton (Legacy Five). ♦ Produced by: Gereald Wolfe. ♦ Available from: Booth Brothers, Legacy Five, Greater Vision. Review copy provided. ♦ Song list: The Happy Jubilee; Come Unto Me; He Pilots My Ship; I Can Hardly Wait; In the Sweet By and By; Someone Who Cares; Better Hurry Up; Jesus My Wonderful Lord; Life Will Be Sweeter Someday; Jesus Will Hear Me When I Pray.

I say “time-tested” with some hesitation, because while most of the songs on the project are established classics, there are a few exceptions. The Talleys put their own stamp on a few more recent songs, including “If It Had Not Been” (McRaes), “The Promise” (Karen Wheaton, Allison Durham Speer et al), and a Dianne Wilkinson tune, “It’s Jesus,” previously recorded by the Mark Trammell Trio. The latter track is completely reinvented—an arrangement that works as well as the original.

Long-time Talley Trio fans have appreciated several past a capella arrangements from the group, and true to form, the group delivers pleasant renditions of “Pass Me Not” and “He’s a Personal Savior.”

There are several nods to their heritage in the genre. The group recorded three classic male quartet songs, and took them three entirely different directions. “He’s a Personal Savior,” though a capella, stays fairly close to a convention-style vocal arrangement. “How Big is God,” best known as a bass solo for the likes of legends like Big John Hall, Buddy Liles, or Pat Barker, becomes an alto feature under Debra Talley’s able management. “Just a Little Talk with Jesus” is reinvented as an uptempo song with a modern track.

Anchoring the album are its opening and closing tracks. “He’s Alive,” originally a folk ballad by Jesus Music balladeer Don Francisco, is brought back as a (literally) showstopping ballad featuring Lauren. And though I have no less than sixty-seven versions of “Amazing Grace” in my music collection, the rendition on this album is easily the best. If not for any other reason, this project would be worth acquiring for just these two songs.

Rating: 4.5 stars. ♦ Average song rating: 4.1 stars. ♦ Group members: Lauren Talley, Debra Talley, Roger Talley. ♦ Produced by: Roger Talley. ♦ Available from: Label, Artist. Review copy provided. ♦ Song list: Amazing Grace; The Promise; Just a Little Talk With Jesus; Pass Me Not; He’s So Good to Me; Hold On; It’s Jesus; How Big is God; He’s a Personal Savior; Oh What a Reason; If It Had Not Been; He’s Alive.

Note: This review was written months ago, not too long after NQC, and long before I started working with Crossroads.

Until last November, when the McKameys scored their 15th #1 with “Between 12 and 33,” the McKameys and Crabbs had been tied for most #1s ever on the Singing News chart at 14 each. The Crabb Family included four of those songs, “Please Forgive Me,” “The Lamb, The Lion, and the King,” “Please Come Down to Me,” and, of course, their signature song, “Through the Fire,” on the video.

The video starts and ends with the driving uptempo material the final lineup of the Crabbs was best known for. In between, there are several segments where the pace slows for a relaxed acoustic set of several songs.

The Crabb Family kept a live band on the road through their final tour, and used it here to good effect, with few if any soundtracks mixed in with the largely live sound.

The video was recorded in standard definition, but the quality is as good as standard def footage can be—the lighting and the placement and focus of the cameras are excellent. The editing is also well done, using split screens or even quarter screens to highlight the live band when appropriate.

The extras are valuable additions. Each of the five touring siblings—Jason, Adam, Aaron, Terah, and Kelly—is featured in a behind the scenes interview segment. Concert and behind the scenes footage is mixed in to make each segment a 5-10 minute mini-featurette.

There is one bonus song, “Redeemer” (the Nicole C. Mullen song that the Crabb Family cut on Blur the Lines). Some footage from what appears to be an early-90s or late-80s visual depiction of the life of Jesus is spliced in. It’s as much or more a testament to the live film crew that the concert footage comes across as being of a higher quality than the visual depictions of Jesus.

Rating: 4.5 stars. ♦ Group members: Jason Crabb, Kelly Crabb Bowling, Terah Crabb Penhollow, Adam Crabb, Aaron Crabb. ♦ Available from: Label. Review copy provided. ♦ Song list: Promised Land; My Keeper; Greater is He; Travelin’ On; Sacrifice of Praise; Amazing Grace; Please Forgive Me; Please Come Down to Me; Because of Who You Are; I Surrender All; Through the Fire; I’m Going Home with Jesus; Good Day; I’ve Come to Take You Home; I’d Rather Have Jesus; The Lamb, The Lion and The King; Can’t Nobody Medley / Power in the Blood (Bonus Track: Redeemer).

Average Song Rating: 4.3 stars

Executive Producer: Mark Trammell. Associate Producer: Dustin Sweatman.

Song list: Leave Your Sorrows and Come Along; Mansion Over the Hilltop; Hold Me; John Saw Me; Standing On the Solid Rock; While Ages Roll; Sweetest Song I Know; Sin Will Take You Farther; In the Sweet Forever; Hide Thou Me.

* * *

After Joel Wood joined the Mark Trammell Trio earlier this year, there evidently wasn’t enough time to turn around a CD of new songs featuring the new lineup by NQC. So the group decided to put out its second CD of classic songs. (Their first, Journey Thus Far, introduced Dustin Sweatman in 2006.) Much like Journey This Far, Vintage Gospel includes a mix of hymns, classic convention songs, and songs Mark Trammell was known for other with other groups.

Mark Trammell reprises his rendition of his Cathedrals hit song “Sin Will Take You Farther.” He also performs a song that originally featured George Younce, “Hold On.”

Uptempo convention songs like “Leave Your Sorrows and Come Along” and “Sweetest Song I Know” reinforce something I’ve said before: The Mark Trammell Trio is the best quartet without a bass singer on the road today. Other trios, like the Booth Brothers, Voices Won, and the Bishops, have (or had) a sound that was so trio a bass singer just wouldn’t fit. But this group is a mega-quartet waiting to happen.

Joel Wood is featured on “Mansion Over the Hilltop” and “Hide Thou Me.” Particularly on “Mansion,” his voice tone is enough like Eric Phillips that a casual observer might hear the song and not even notice that there’s a new tenor. His voice doesn’t seem to be quite as high, and seems to have a more power-tenor mid-range (should the group choose to employ it). But he should have little problem with the group’s repertoire.

Dustin Sweatman keeps improving as a vocalist. This is most notable on the song “John Saw Me,” where he has an impressively smooth yet powerful solo.

It took a member change to prompt Journey This Far—one of the group’s best CDs to date. It took another member change to prompt this project. If this keeps up, the group might soon find their fans doing something incredibly odd: Hoping there will be a member change … so the group puts out another table project of this caliber!

But, truth be told, it would be far more sensible for the fans to do something that would work just as well: Purchase so many copies of this project that it doesn’t take a lineup change for them to put out the next one.

* * *

About two and a half years ago, Bill Gaither hosted two video tapings on consecutive days. One day was a hymns taping; three DVDs/CDs resulted (Rock of Ages, How Great Thou Art, and the Grammy®-nominated Amazing Grace). The other day featured a more familiar Homecoming mixture of new songs and classics. These resulted in two DVDs released this week, Nashville Homecoming and Joy in My Heart.

Let’s take a look at Nashville Homecoming.

• The Hallelujah Side. This is a nice up-tempo song to kick the project off. A trio of Charlotte Ritchie, Wesley Pritchard, and TaRanda Greene sing the first chorus and the second verse and chorus; Chris Freeman offers a soulful solo on the first verse.
• I Wish I Could Have Been There. Unlike most recent Homecoming tapings, where the artist could deliver the song either to a live audience or a semi-circle of artists which they could face while singing, this Homecoming setup places the audience of artists behind the singers, leaving the artists to play only to the cameras. Especially for artists new to the Homecoming video tapings (such as Perrys lead singer Joseph Habedank, featured on this song), this would only serve to compound the already jarring experience of singing to a sterile audience of high-definition cameras. So, perhaps understandably, Habedank started the first verse a little tentatively. But this wore off by the end of the first chorus, and the audience of artists stood for the encore. A second encore was called as the Perrys were walking off center stage; the video cuts away from this to a video of Bill Gaither talking with Duane Allen.
• Try a Little Kindness. This familiar song, featuring Tim Surrett, is a nice mid-tempo change of pace.
• I Wouldn’t Take Nothing For My Journey Now. Songwriter Mosie Lister had recently produced a project called Mosie’s Men, a project featuring about 50 male voices. He directs all the male voices in the Homecoming choir on this classic. The choir’s sound is so pleasant and distinctive that one wonders if this song’s success might spur Gaither to do more songs featuring just the male voices in the choir. Gene McDonald and Glenn Dustin are featured on the verses. McDonald is stellar (as always); Dustin’s solo is one of his career best. He has been a great bass vocalist from day one, but this song is one of several recent solos showing his growth as a singer.
• God is In the Shadows. This song is sung by a female trio of Kim, Brooklyn, and Courtney Collingsworth. Younger sister Courtney has the solo. Of all the vocal configurations the Collingsworth Family uses in any given concert, this female trio is possibly their best and certainly their most distinctive. The Collingsworth ladies are Southern Gospel’s female Booth Brothers. They match their enunciation and vocal placement more precisely than any other group in the genre (besides, perhaps, the Booth Brothers, the Isaacs, and Voices Won).
• Over and Over. This song, sung by Jeff & Sheri Easter (featuring Jeff), is Charlotte Ritchie’s final Homecoming appearance as part of the group.
• I Don’t Regret a Mile. This song features Johnny Minick playing piano and singing the lead; Guy Penrod and Sheri Easter added the trio harmony parts. As the first verse finishes, the video and audio both transition to Howard Goodmans’ narration from the Happy Goodmans’ 50 Faithful Years video. As the final chorus fades back in, the cameras cut between the 50 Faithful Years rendition and the live taping, and the Homecoming Choir’s voices were mixed in with Howard and Vestal’s vocals.
• Child of the King. In another video montage, Mike Allen kicks the song off before the video cuts to an earlier version of the song by Brock Speer (from Moments to Remember). Tim Duncan sings the entire second verse. Halfway through the second chorus, the video fades back to Brock Speer, and the audio mixes the classic and current Homecoming choirs.
• I’m So Glad. Practically every Homecoming video has its soul Gospel moment, and fans of those moments will appreciate this solo by Jessy Dixon and Alicia Williamson. Williamson’s verse is particularly enjoyable.
• The Dearest Friend I Ever Had. The first verse of the song is a musical background to a video clip of Kelly Nelon Clark and Janet Paschal trading memories of their days with the Nelons. The second features the Homecoming Choir. (The complete song may be on the CD, which I do not have as of the time I write the review.)
• Feet on the Ground. This song features Dallas Holm. Though his roots in contemporary music are evident, the song selection fits the rest of the project well.
• Bill Gaither reminisces with Jimmy Blackwood about James Blackwood’s role in the first few videos.
• O Happy Day. This song features Lillie Knauls, who was in the Edwin Hawkins Singers when this song became a big contemporary hit. The Talley Trio sings backup vocals. The look of shock on Knauls’ face when the encore kicked off was priceless, but she recovered instantly and turned in a strong encore.
• Jonah, Job & Moses. This song, featuring the Oak Ridge Boys, is introduced by a clip of their lead singer, Duane Allen, reminiscing with Bill Gaither about the great voices in Southern Gospel music, past and present.
• I Just Came to Talk With You Lord. This was Dottie Rambo’s final Homecoming performance; a brief tribute before the song honored her memory…but no tribute could be better than seeing her singing one of her classics. Fortunately for history, Gaither had a chance to capture her in high definition before her passing.
• The Promise. The Martins, who have come back together for occasional tour dates, sang this song, from their final release (Above it All, 2003).
• Ain’t Gonna Give Up on God. This song featured Gordon Mote singing and playing organ.
• Meeting in the Air. After a few less traditional songs, Gaither nods to aficionados of classic quartets by including a Joshua Pope piano solo. Pope, now 16, was 14 at the time of the taping. He is as good a showman as he is a pianist, looking up and smiling at the (nonexistent) audience at appropriate points in the song.
• Strike Up the Band. Legacy Five sings the opening track from what was a current release at the time of the taping, Live at Music City.
• In the Upper Room. Larry Gatlin said that one of the greatest honors one songwriter can pay another is recording their song. He thanked the Gaither Vocal Band for giving them that honor when they cut “Heartbreak Ridge and New Hope Road,” and said they would return the honor by singing this early Gaither composition.
• Bill Gaither reminisces with Lily Weatherford about the classic recording In the Garden.
• The One I’m Dying For. This song is performed by the Isaacs, featuring Becky Isaacs Bowman.
• It Won’t Rain Always. Bill Gaither introduced Janet Paschal by asking her to give an update on her cancer. (The update is slightly jarring to someone who follows Southern Gospel headlines closely, with the videos being recorded over two years ago.) Backup vocals were provided by Sheri Easter and Charlotte Ritchie.
• Make it Real. Mark Lowry sings this classic Gaither Vocal Band song. (More thoughts later.)
• I Need Thee Every Hour. Bill Gaither leads the Homecoming choir in this classic hymn, as a segue from the thoughts in the closing chorus of “Make it Real.”
• Yaweh. The Hopper’s powerful rendition of this Paula Stefanovich classic-in-the-making helps bring the project to a strong close.
• Send it On Down. This song features solos from Reggie Smith and TaRanda Greene. In an odd coincidence of history, the DVD’s actual release date (this past Tuesday) was the same day TaRanda was in surgery, donating a kidney to her husband Tony.

The video ends with a brief tribute to Dottie Rambo.

The Gaither team’s cinematography is excellent, as always. Overall, the Homecoming video crews have handled the transition to widescreen seamlessly, though there are a few minor glitches (such as a close-up shot of Kim Hopper toward the beginning of “Yaweh” where the bottom half of Dean Hopper’s head is a little too prominently in the frame for a little too long). But overall, the video quality shines; one can only hope that a Blu-Ray release may be in the works.

A bonus feature includes Bill Gaither discussing alligator hunting with Joel Hemphill (complete with photos of Hemphill with successfully hunted alligators). Before any controversy starts, in all fairness to Gaither, it must be said that this was taped well over a year before there was any public controversy over Hemphill’s doctrinal views.

In a slightly odd editing choice—I say “slightly odd” because I don’t see any particular connection between the two—the Hemphill interview segment segued into a bonus track from the Lewis Family, “A Step Away.” Most Gaither videos have included bonus segments as separate menu options.

Though a few deserving groups got their first Homecoming solos, or their first in quite some time, probably the most noteworthy part of the lineup is what isn’t there. There is no song featuring the Gaither Vocal Band on the entire project. Now it’s not like Gaither is trying to erase the memory of that lineup—after all, the companion DVD, Joy in My Heart, features the Hampton/Penrod/Hall lineup singing “Bread Upon the Water.” Yet this video will still probably go down as an anomaly in the series. I don’t know if I can definitively say whether this is the only Homecoming video without a Gaither Vocal Band song. (Do any readers know of others?)

Interestingly, the closest the video comes to a GVB song is “Make it Real,” a song featuring Mark Lowry, with backup vocals by Guy Penrod and Marshall Hampton Hall.

The taping that produced these two DVDs, and the Hymns DVDs, was the first Homecoming taping in four or five years featuring a fairly full, 150 to 200-voice choir. That makes these the first two DVDs of new songs taped in the classic format in a number of years—in fact, since legends like George Younce, Jake Hess, James Blackwood, and Vestal Goodman were still in the Homecoming Choir.

It’s not quite the same. It’s a little different—as it would have to be. But it’s quite good in its own way. There is really no other product out there (except maybe the NQC Live projects) that comes anywhere near to providing as broad a taste of the best Southern Gospel has to offer, in high-definition video and audio quality. Nobody knows how much longer we will have Bill Gaither preserving these moments for us. But it’s a privilege more or less unique to our genre—one it’s worth recognizing for the blessing it is while we still have it.

Members: Mike Franklin (tenor), Jonathan Sawrie (lead), Jeremy Raines (baritone), Gerald Williams (bass).

Song List: Give the World a Smile; God is Great, Good, and Merciful; How Great Thou Art; Sing Me A Song About Jesus; Somewhere Someday; Pray; Faith in My Savior; Gonna Get My Sins Forgiven; Dying to Know You; You Must Have that True Religion; UFO; Listen; Over the Moon; Settled In the Promised Land.

Available From: Artist.

* * *

This project was originally recorded about ten years ago and was first released on VHS. This project, since reissued on DVD, is worth revisiting for a number of reasons. One of them, obviously, is the project’s historical significance to the group, marking the group’s 50-year milestone since Smiling Joe Roper took over management of what at the time was a Stamps-Baxter group and renamed it the Melody Boys. That year, 16-year-old bass singer Gerald Williams joined the group as its bass singer.

Another reason is that the lineup that recorded this project—tenor Mike Franklin, lead/pianist Jonathan Sawrie, baritone Jeremy Raines, and bass Gerald Williams—is frequently named as the group’s best lineup.

Though the DVD was clearly recorded in and transferred from an analog format, the visual production value on the original product is quite solid. There are a number of camera angles for wide shots and closeups. (The credits seem to indicate there were four steady cameras and one roving camera.) All the shots, even the audience shots, are well-lit.

One artifact of the VHS-to-DVD conversion is that the project is not split into song-by-song chapters. Perhaps this could be rectified if the project goes into further pressings.

The program alternated between piano-only accompaniment, songs with soundtracks, and acapella numbers.

Interviews with current and former Melody Boys members are interspersed with the songs. A clip from Rex Parnell highlighting his favorite Joe Roper song as “Somewhere Someday” introduced the current lineup’s rendition of the song. Gerald Williams introduces “Pray” by explaining how challenging it was for the original group to learn. Several other previous and (then) current members introduce songs and share highlights from their Melody Boys years.

Toward the end of the project, a number of past Melody Boys came on stage and sang a half-dozen songs. This footage, plus the interviews with (then) current and past members, makes the project worth the purchase price for this if for no other reason.

This project is a worthwhile addition to the library of any fan of classic male quartet singing.

Average Song Rating: 4.3 stars (of 5)

Members: Billy Hodges (tenor), Arthur Rice (lead), Steve French (baritone), Jeff Chapman (bass), Andy Stringfield (piano), Kreis French (baritone), Dennis Murphy (drums).

Song List: On the Gloryland Way; Biblically Correct; He Locked the Gates; Help Me Lord; Fire Away; Turnin’ Loose; As Good as I Can Be; Steppin’ On the Stars; When the Story of My Life is Told; Jesus Showed Up; When You Look at Me; The Empty Tomb Says it All.

Available From: Label, Artist.

* * *

Music critics in other genres such as Contemporary Christian music rate albums on how much a group has changed or grown since their previous project. But in Southern Gospel, in most cases (outside of progressive SG), that’s not what the fans want. Besides, in Southern Gospel, you’re frequently hearing mature performers on their 39th project, not teens on their third. The Kingdom Heirs know what their fans want, and that’s exactly what they give them.

Rodney Griffin contributed “He Locked the Gates,” a barn-burner convention song in the tradition of “I Know I’m Going There,” another Griffin tune the group cut in 2004. This should be a concert favorite, and was the obvious pick to be the project’s first single.

Joseph Habedank and Matthew Holt contributed “Turning Loose,” a mid-tempo number that fits the Kingdom Heirs’ style well.

The project’s closing tune, “The Empty Tomb Says it All,” was penned by Daryl Petersheim. The song became known through winning the Singing News songwriters’ contest a year or two back.

As in previous projects, the Kingdom Heirs draw heavily from the pen of Dianne Wilkinson. She wrote or co-wrote the other nine tracks on the project. The two co-writes were “Biblically Correct” (with co-writer Rusty Golden) and “Steppin’ On the Stars” (with co-writer Niles Borop). Both songs utilize modern harmonies well suited for the groups’ sound.

One other Wilkinson contribution particularly worth mentioning is “Fire Away,” an uptempo composition featuring Billy Hodges. The first line of the chorus brings to mind Brian Free & Assurance’s “Pray, Daniel, Pray.” This could be a concert favorite or even a strong radio single.

David Bruce Murray described When You Look at Me aptly: “The songs on this CD seem familiar right away, even though the lyrics are new.” There is little stylistically to differentiate this from previous Kingdom Heirs projects, so if you loved their previous projects, you should love this one.

Average Song Rating: 4.4 stars (of 5)

Members: Libbi Perry Stuffle (alto), Joseph Habedank (lead), Troy Peach (baritone), Tracy Stuffle (bass), Bryan Elliott (pianist).

Song List: This Old Sinner Testifies; If You Knew Him; An Old Fashioned Altar; Almost Morning; I Love to Tell; The One Who is Unworthy; Dying is a Day; Prior to a Prayer; You Cannot Improve On the Truth; Did I Mention.

Available From: Artist.

* * *

The Perrys released their last studio project, Look No Further, roughly two years ago. It was one of their career best projects, and produced a string of radio hits and concert favorites for the group. Frequently, in Southern Gospel, when a group hits on a formula that works that well, they stick with what they know works, choosing a similar mixture of fast songs and ballads and a similar arrangement style for their following recordings.

The Perrys show that they aren’t content to rest on their laurels—with Almost Morning, they branch out to experiment with new styles. They bring in Cajun influences for “Old Fashioned Altar,” swing for “You Cannot Improve on the Truth,”* and progressive for a new Joseph Habedank / Matthew Holt composition, “Dying is a Day.” (*Hat tip to Wes Burke on that one, since I’m unfamiliar with swing.)

The Perrys don’t stray too far from their roots, though; most of the other songs on the project are arranged in styles that would have fit quite well on their earlier projects. “One Who is Unworthy,” a new Rodney Griffin song, features Libbi Stuffle; its arrangement brings to mind “Mary For a While.” Libbi Stuffle’s power alto rendition of “Did I Mention” brings a song like “Holy Shore” to mind, even though “Did I Mention” is somewhat less orchestrated. And with “I Love to Tell,” the Perrys maintain their tradition of including a classic convention style song on each project.

Probably the biggest news with this project is Joseph Habedank’s growth both as a songwriter and vocalist. When he initially moved from the baritone to the lead role, a number of Perrys fans questioned whether Tracy and Libbi had put him in shoes bigger than he could fill. With every year and every project since, he’s improved as a vocalist. This is particularly well illustrated on two of his feature songs on the project, “Almost Morning” (a song he co-wrote with former Perrys pianist Matthew Holt), and “If You Knew Him” (a song he co-wrote with Rodney Griffin). On “Almost Morning,” his soft, tender vocals fit the gentle ballad, while on “If You Knew Him,” he carries a power lead on the project’s standout big ballad.

Almost Morning covers enough new ground for the Perrys to win them some new fans, but it retains enough familiar styles to keep their previous fans along for the ride.

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