DeWayne Woods & When Singers Meet – My Life’s Lyric

DeWayne Woods & When Singers Meet
My Life’s Lyric
Quiet Water Entertainment/Verity Gospel Music Group
(release date: June 22, 2010)
www.verityrecords.com

Singer-songwriter and multiple Stellar Award-winner DeWayne Woods has made such a mark on gospel music that it’s remarkable to learn My Life’s Lyric is only his second CD.

Nevertheless, this sophomore offering from the man responsible for the award-winning gospel hit “Let Go” delivers more of the optimistic, tuneful, eminently singable songs that characterized his debut. Woods considers his new album “more mature and sophisticated,” although his debut was certainly well-crafted. So consider My Life’s Lyric a second story on an already-solid foundation, with songs that reflect Woods’ personal growth from then to now.

The first single culled from My Life’s Lyric, an energetic cover of Douglas Miller’s “Living on the Top,” is number one in the album’s opening one-two punch. It is followed by the melodic workshop ballad and upcoming single, “I Won’t Be Afraid.” When this selection plays, you picture rows of hands waving in the air.

Guest artists are a-plenty. The Murrills contribute vocals on “Still Here,” while PJ Morton – a very important emerging talent – appears on the bright “God Can.” Daniel Weatherspoon produces as well as lends musical muscle to the floor-thumping “Positive.” When Singers Meet offers its cathedral-filling wall of sound throughout the project.

A sleeper is the airy inspirational ballad “It Might Be Hope.” I don’t know if the song has been targeted for single release, but more than any selection on the album, it reflects today’s cautious optimism. “It’s been a while since I’ve felt this,” sings DeWayne Woods in his expressive tenor voice, “but it feels like it might be hope.” It is exactly the message people need today, a new and positive spin on the old expression, “trouble don’t last always,” ‘cause it doesn’t.

gPod Picks: “Living on the Top,” “Good Times,” “It Might Be Hope.”

Four of Five Stars

Reviewed by Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.