Reviewed by David Carter

Roly isn't the Midlands schools worker you may remember reading about in CR1 (he's called Roly Johnson Bell). This Roly is a Geordie singer/keyboards man who's committed to grassroots evangelism and in the last year has made three fruitful sojourns into Russia. He now offers a nicely evocative album which gets its roots flavour from some tasty touches of mandolin, fiddle et al. Several of the tracks feature nothing more than Roly's piano and Rod Clements' fretless (folk rock devotees will recognise Mr Clements as one time member of Lindisfarne). There's a passionate eloquence in much of Roly's writing and though the lack of any percussion makes the album drag a little this is still a fine, emotive album from a skilled communicator of the gospel.

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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