After a long stint as the leader of Southern gospel trio
the Bishops, singer/songwriter
Kenny Bishop has taken solo flight with a self-titled debut record with a Nashville sound pop-country base for his devotional lyrics.
Bishop has an immediately appealing voice, a light and almost boyish tenor that delivers his guileless lyrics with a minimum of effort. (Fans of 1970s country-rock will note an immediate vocal resemblance to
Firefall's
Rick Roberts.) Musically, the album is pure country, with every midtempo song sweetened with bits of fiddle, strings, and/or pedal steel behind the small-combo backing. The lack of musical diversity is a small problem, causing the album to sag by the two-thirds mark as pleasant but undeniably samey songs like "Out of Mercy's Way" and "I Need You More Today" blend into one another, but the album rights itself again near the end with the swinging honky tonk groove of "I Can't Believe What Grace Has Done for Me." ~ Stewart Mason