Reviewed by Dave Brassington

For those of you familiar with the Gaither Homecoming videos, Mark Lowry is a familiar figure, prominent both for comedy sketches and as part of the Gaither Vocal Band. On this DVD, Lowry and Gaither introduce various skits, sketches and vocal performances ranging from the humourous to the serious. I have to confess that for most of the time his humour leaves me pretty cold. It may be something to do with different cultures, because when I have watched him on various Gaither videos, his humour seems to create a huge response from the audiences, so others may find him much more amusing than I do. However, Mark does possess a very fine singing voice and his songs with the Gaither Vocal Band are first class, as are his own performances when he is being serious. Having been thoroughly bored with much of the material on this DVD, I found a couple of gems when looking at the additional material. There is a version of Hank Williams's "House Of Gold" which is stunning, and a brilliant rendition of Bill Gaither's "He Touched Me". Mark also does a wonderful recitation of "Piper Steals The Show" story. The closing track on the DVD has Mark, from a Christmas show, doing a stunning version of his hit Christmas song "Mary Did You Know". But from a very long and dull DVD there re too few highlights.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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