“At the Center of Grace” – Lillian Lilly

“At the Center of Grace”
Lillian Lilly
Xpress Music Group, Inc. (release date: January 23, 2024)

By Robert M. Marovich

What’s particularly gratifying about Lillian Lilly’s new single “At the Center of Grace” is that it evokes in lyric and arrangement an older gospel music tradition while planting itself firmly in a contemporary style.

A veteran vocalist with the Mississippi Mass Choir and an award-winning solo singer in her own right, Lilly expresses her gratitude for God’s salvation with a pocketful of blues notes and subtle church coloration that will resonate with saints young and old. She does not need, nor does she use, any hyperbolic special effects to inject this song, written by James C. Birdsong, Jr., and Shonda English, with an unmistakable faith born of wisdom and experience. It’s restful but righteous.