Reviewed by Tony Cummings

This album from 2005 demonstrates the stylistic quandary that face old school quartets still traveling the Gospel Highway in modern times. To find a young audience they need to update their sound with funky backing tracks and slick production. Yet, in doing so, they somehow need to retain enough of the fiery dynamics that made the old quartet sound such a creative tour de force in the '50s and '60s. It's a hard balance to get right - too much modern contrivance and you become just another faceless purveyor of modern R&B (like on "How Long" here). Too little and you're simply a musical anachronism with only white blues enthusiasts likely to applaud your efforts. On the whole, this group of veterans and their producer Cordell Walton do fairly well in sustaining the balancing act with the mid tempo "Speak Your Word" showing Jerome Williams to be a really soulful lead singer while the "Go With Jesus" track is likely to have you doing a Pentecostal two step if you ever heard it performed in concert. A new album from the Evereadys is long overdue. Here's hoping it comes soon.

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.

Interested in reviewing music? Find out more here.