Deanna Ransom
Never Say Never…Again
LizaRan Music/NuVybe Records
By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.
If becoming a true gospel singer means travelling through the storms of life, Deanna Ransom has earned her stripes by sailing through a Category 5 hurricane of circumstances.
In her young life, the New Jersey-born singer has dealt with, and overcome, the loss of her mother, a vocal cord illness that threatened to take her singing voice, an assault, the loss of a baby, and the death of her husband of fifteen months.
It’s no surprise, then, that her third CD, Never Say Never…Again, riffs on the title of her debut album (Never Say Never). The album opens with the barely discernable sound of a woman sobbing, but from that point forward, the songs wipe away the tears. Borrowing lines from the Bible, the lyrics encourage strength by holding onto God’s unchanging hands. As Ransom shouts on “Hold On:” “you shall live and not die.”
Musically, Ransom draws on the urban AC groove, though she also drops in some hip hop on her remix of “It’s Working” (courtesy of John the Rap’tist – my favorite gospel rapper name), dance beats on the praise rave “Only Bow to You,” and a cameo by star singer Melba Moore on “Rise Sistah,” an inspirational ode to broken women. Ransom is as comfortable singing in a pop style as in a gospel voice.
But it’s her gospel voice that Ransom pulls on for “I Am Healed,” the album’s musical and lyrical high point
On Never Say Never…Again, Deanna Ransom faces down life’s dark moments with a mixture of joy, power, wisdom, and courage. And, as she writes in the liner notes, she plans to “never say never again.” What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
Four of Five Stars
Picks: “I Am Healed.”
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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