Get the new FREE JFH MP3 compilation -- Vol. 13!
Get the new FREE JFH MP3 compilation -- Vol. 13!

JFH Music Review


Zach Williams, Survivor: Live From Harding Prison - EP
CLICK COVER TO ENLARGE

Zach Williams
Survivor: Live From Harding Prison - EP



Artist Info: Discography
Genre(s): Live / Southern Rock
Album length: 6 tracks: 28 minutes, 11 seconds
Street Date: September 14, 2018


READER RATING:   


There has not been, in the annals of Christian music, a prison album in the vein of Johnny Cash's iconic Live At Folsom Prison till now. And although Zach Williams' new live album is just an EP, it represents an expansion of the kind of music that a CCM artist can do, or the places where they can minister. Many artists of faith (and otherwise) play music in prisons and jails, but as a document of this act, it's not such a common thing.

And Zach Williams is exactly the artist to right this wrong. His gritty, no-nonsense, blue collar Gospel rock and roll is the sort that translates directly into the lives of those who most need to hear the good news of Jesus. Alas, at only six songs, the EP is over much too soon. With a few more traditional hymns or Gospel songs, he would have a classic album on his hands. But what is there (a string of recent hit songs and one worship cover) are well done and highly appropriate to the setting.

New single and title track "Survivor" launches the set with a great repeated guitar line, and Williams' meat-and-potato lyrics about redemption are well-delivered in the artist's signature raspy, southern-fried delivery, "For so long I carried the weight of my past Cripple by burdens like stones on my back / I thought I had fallen too far from your grace But you came and showed me the way. As a statement of purpose for a prison show, you can't get much more direct than this."

Recent hit "Old Church Choir" is also a great choice for this setting. With an extended, old-timey Gospel-styled piano and organ intro, the song's uplifting (and somewhat goofy) nature translates well in this context. Williams' brief testimony before "To The Table" works the song's strong Biblical metaphor into a bit of storytelling that sets up the tune's invitation quite well. The one cover here is also very well chosen. "No Longer Slaves" is a powerful worship song in its own right, but sung against the backdrop of incarceration, it gains a poignancy of metaphor and message. To hear the inmates singing along at the end of the song is a transcendent moment. "Fear Is A Liar," and the ending "Chain Breaker," are both likewise poignant moments when considering the venue of the concert (especially that "prison shaking savior" line).

Zach Williams is to be commended for taking his songs to a place where there is a great need for them. May many more artists take risks like this, because music is a tremendous gift of God to shine light in some of the darkest (and most forgotten) corners of our world.

- Review date: 9/24/18, written by Alex Caldwell of Jesusfreakhideout.com



(JFH Sponsor Spot)

Get the new FREE JFH MP3 compilation -- Vol. 13!

 

. Record Label: Provident Music Group
. Album length: 6 tracks: 28 minutes, 11 seconds
. Street Date: September 14, 2018
. Buy It: iTunes
. Buy It: Amazon.com (CD)

  1. Survivor (Live) (4:00)
  2. Old Church Choir (Live) (3:41)
  3. To the Table (Live) (5:18)
  4. No Longer Slaves (Live) (6:29)
  5. Fear is a Liar (Live) (4:35)
  6. Chain Breaker (Live) (4:08)

 

 JFH Album Sample Player

 



Leave a Comment

 

 

go to main Album review page
go to Album review archive

 


(JFH Sponsor Spot)

 

 

                 
Get the new FREE JFH MP3 compilation -- Vol. 13!

Search JFH




This Friday, November 8, 2024
ALBUMS
Gabby Barrett Carols and Candlelight [Warner Music Nashville]
CXMMXNS CXMMXNS Chapter 1 - EP [Essential Worship]
New Hope Oahu There Is One - EP [DREAM]
Neal Morse & The Resonance No Hill For A Climber [InsideOut]
TAKE Time Bomb [Resuscitation Records]
Lauren Talley A Lauren Talley Christmas [Horizon]

SINGLES
Cory Asbury I Hope You Dance - Single [BEC]
Jordan Kauflin, Laura Story Approach, My Soul - Single [Getty]
Sam Bowman & GLADDEN Misfit Toys - Single [DREAM]
Wavorly Enemies - Single (independent)

VINYL
Michael W. Smith Every Christmas Vinyl [Rocketown]
Stryper To Hell with the Amps Vinyl [Frontiers]
TAKE Time Bomb Vinyl [Resuscitation Records]

DVD
Stryper To Hell with the Amps Blu-Ray [Frontiers]

Next Friday, November 15, 2024
ALBUMS
Dolly Parton & Family Smoky Mountain DNA – Family, Faith & Fables [Owepar Entertainment]
The Lore Family Faith Over Fear [Horizon]
Fernando Ortega For All the Saints - EP (independent)
Earnest Pugh Worth is the Lamb
We Are Messengers Rejoice! (A Celtic Christmas) - EP [Curb]
Paul Wright III Reverie [United Alliance]

SINGLES
Big Dismal Here In My Heart - Single (independent)
Hannah Kerr It Came Upon A Midnight Clear - Single [Curb]
Olivia Lane Silent Night - Single [BEC]
Tasha Layton Wake Up It's Christmas - Single [BEC]
Jamie MacDonald A Million Chances - Single [Capitol CMG]
Ronnie Martin On Christmas Morning - Single [Velvet Blue]
Hunter Plake Daylight - Single [BEC]
Jordan St. Cyr Christ is Here - Single [BEC]

VINYL
Sixpence None the Richer Divine Discontent Vinyl [Word]



For all release dates, click here!
 



Check out the new album from Taylor Holland Armstrong!



Listen to the new Single from Second Adam and the New Creations!

Check out depositphotos for royalty free images