Reviewed by Steve Husband

A worship leader in the Vineyard church for over 15 years, Ryan from the central coast of California attends the Five Cities Vineyard Church in Arroyo Grande. He has written and recorded several songs with Vineyard Music, including "Better Than Life", "Set Me On Fire", "Let It Come" and "Jesus' Name". This album blends country, rock, gospel and folk together to create the musical backdrop where Ryan is joined by Marc Ford on guitar and John Barnett, Chris Lizotte and Ireland's Brian Houston. Whilst I'm sure Ryan is a good live worship leader, this album falls short of what it could have been. Much of the musicianship is good with great starts to "Mercy" and "Sing Like Mary Sang" and "The World Can't Take It Away" but I'm afraid they often don't last long. The lyrical themes are sound but there are just too many points where the vocals fall short of the intended note and there is a sombre feel to too many tracks making them hard to stick with. There is also too frequent a use of Christianese in tracks like "Sing Like Mary Sang", "Jesus' Name" and "The World Can't Take It Away" that's fine for church settings but can be a turn off to the ears of those outside the walls.

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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