Music Review: Bless the Broken Road by Selah

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: The trio is still producing music that focuses our hearts on God

Cons: Don't care for the last 20 seconds of "I Will Sing of My Redeemer"

The Bottom Line:

Disc of transition

But songs still focused on God

Hearts lifted in praise

Selah's Transition Disc is a Blessing

2005 and 2006 say some transitions for the trio Selah.  Founding member Nicol Smith decided to leave and pursue a solo career.  While Todd Smith and Allan Hall worked to find a new female to join the group, they released Bless the Broken Road: The Duets Album.  While I've just found the group in the last year, I'm sure it was proof to their fans that the group had lost none of their magic.

As the title implies, each song on the disc is a duet with a different artists.  And yes, all but one of them is female.  The different artists mesh well with Selah's style.  Of course, while most of Selah's songs fall into the inspirational category, they branch out quite regularly, so that's not that hard to do, really.

The disc opens with the title song and an appearance by Melodie Crittenden, who almost joined the trio as the third member.  While the "to you" of the chorus can be interepted many ways, the idea that "God blessed the broken road/And led me straight to you" is a great reminder of His sovereignty in all things.  The strings on this one are beautiful, and Todd and Melodie harmonize so well together.

The very first time I heard "Glory," I said to myself that it sounded just like a Nichole Nordeman song.  I knew she was duet for the song, but when I looked at the booklet I confirmed she also wrote it.  The melody is what gave it away.  It's a great song about the hope of the day that the entire world will be singing Glory to God.

For some reason, "All My Tears" had never grabbed me when Jars of Clay covered it (the same year), but I love the song here.  An upbeat song in a minor key, I'm really drawn to the idea that once we're dead, nothing here is going to matter any more.  It helps that the song is hauntingly beautiful with Kim Hill's lush vocals being the perfect match for the arrangement.  The background vocals really add to the pleasure of the song.

That song is followed up with "Ain't No Grave."  This time the gust vocals are from Jason and Adam Crabb.  It's got a similar theme in the hope of the resurrection.  It's probably the most uptempo piece on the disc, and the blues harp Adam plays gives it a fun hint of country.

The guest vocal list is actually pretty impressive, including the likes of Barlowgirl, Nicole C. Mullen, Plub, and Christy Nockels, then of Watermark before she set out on a solo career of her own.  The variety doesn't make for a disjointed disc at all.  Instead, things flow along well despite the differences in styles.

Allan Hall usually adds some background vocals and excellent piano work to Selah releases, but here he steps into the male lead vocal role twice.  One of these is on the disc closer, "Softly and Tenderly."  This is a fresh arrangement of the classic hymn, and yes, Allan does provide some amazing piano for it, although it takes a back seat to the amazing strings much of the time.

The other time is much earlier in the disc.  "Gentle Healer" is a cover of a song by Michael Card about the power of Jesus in a small village during His earthly ministry.  The duet this time is with Amy Perry, who had joined the group as the third member of the trio by the time they recorded parts of the disc.  You can hear her hear but also in the background vocals of many of the songs.

She does a duet with Todd as well on "Be thou Near to Me," a simple song of prayer asking for God's presence in daily life.  It's a mid tempo blend of guitar and piano, and I love it.

The only real misstep on the disc is the coda to "I Will Sing of My Redeemer" where Todd has his three year old daughters sing the chorus.  It's cute once, but after that I don't care for it.  That probably makes me a grump, right?

At this point in their career, Selah had a reputation for lifting the hearts of their listeners in praise to God.  Bless the Broken Road proved that they were going to be focusing on that going forward.  There are many awesome songs here, and their fans will not be disappointed in the disc at all.

CD Length: 48:00

Tracks:

1. Bless the Broken Road (with Melodie Crittenden)

2. Gentle Healer (with Amy Perry

3. Glory (with Nichole Nordeman)

4. I Will Sing of My Redeemer (with Barlowgirl)

5. Follow Jesus (Landa Yesu) (with Nicole C. Mullen)

6. Mary Sweet Mary (with Plumb)

7. All My Tears (with Kim Hill)

8. Ain't No Grave (with Jason and Adam Crabb)

9. Be Thou Near to Me (with Amy Perry)

10. Faithful One (with Christy Nockels)

11. Sweet Jesus (with Jill Phillips)

12. Softly and Tenderly (with Cynthia Clawson)