Billy DorseyMarathon(2013)
By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog
Although he is a fitness buff, the marathon Billy Dorsey sings about isn’t the 26.2 mile version but the all-encompassing 24/7/365 version.
Grammy, Stellar, and Dove Award-winning songwriter and producer Dorsey is well known for his work with Lecrae, especially on Gravity, which made history by being the first Christian hip hop album to receive a Grammy for Best Gospel Album. Dorsey is also worship leader and outreach ministerat Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas.
Marathon is Dorsey’s debut solo album. It is a collection of ten radio-sized inspirational selections with buzzy beats and candy-coated melodies that evoke the swagger and electric crackle of Deitrick Haddon and Kierra Sheard.
Thematically, the album gushes gratitude to God who saves wretches like us and the discipleship that accompanies such unconditional love, or at least ought to. The title track articulates this theme best: life is a marathon with plenty of challenges through which God carries us to the finish. The album makes ample use of the race metaphor in titles such as “Second Wind” and “Finish Line.” On the former, Dorsey recognizes that it is the breath of God and the latter rain that help him break through the wall of life. The latter’s reference to the finish line is the final finish, that crossing of Jordan when the Master says, “well done.”
An album highlight is “Highest Praise,” a duet with the very engaging Mayra Alvarez, where Dorsey lofts hallelujahs to the Most High. His tenor takes frequent flights into falsetto here and on other selections.
“Put Up With Me” is the album’s most affecting selection. Feeling a bit like a bonus track, the song is about a lost loved one—Mother? Grandmother?—who, like God, loved him even when he wasn’t at his best, but who has gone on to Heaven without seeing that he made it.
Marathonis feel good inspirational music aimed at the younger crowd or the young at heart.
Three of Five Stars
Picks: “Marathon,” “Put Up With Me.”
Written by : Bob Marovich
Bob Marovich is a gospel music historian, author, and radio host. Founder of Journal of Gospel Music blog (formally The Black Gospel Blog) and producer of the Gospel Memories Radio Show.
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