Come on Home CD Review - The Nelons

The Nelons released Come on Home in early 2012. However, I just got my hands on a copy at the end of 2012 and found out that I had been missing out by not having this project sooner!

First of all, I love projects that have more than your traditional 10 songs, and this one has 15 tracks. Most of the songs are Gaither-influenced with Bill or Gloria or both being a writer on many of the songs. Bill has a guest vocalist spot on the first song, "I Have Seen the Children." He along with Jason produced the album. And Jason Clark also wrote two of the songs, "Jesus, I Just Want to Say I'm Sorry" and "The Little Brown Church."

"Come to the River" is definitely a stand-out song on the project. It features a great blend of all three vocalists. Another song that jumped out at me was "Down to the River." Even though this song has been covered a lot, the Nelons' version is not one to be missed. It's a great a cappella arrangement of the song, and this group really shines on a cappella numbers. They really show off their strong harmonies on both of these songs.

Most of the songs have a strong acoustic feel. It's a great easy-listening CD with most of the songs being a slower tempo. However, the uptempo songs do stand out and are among my favorite songs on the project, especially "The Diff'rence Is in Me."

I love that they went back and covered "The Sun's Coming Up", and Kelly is incredible on this song. However, my favorite of her features on this album is "Somebody's Praying." Beautiful song!

My favorite of Jason's features is "Excuse Me Are You Jesus." It's a new one from Bill and Gloria Gaither and Larry Gatlin that has a message we all need to be reminded of again. I also really enjoyed Jason's performance on the more uptempo "I Choose the Lord."

Amber absolutely shines on "Morning Has Broken." Her voice soars to the high notes of the song beautifully. Amber also has the feature on one of the song's Jason wrote, "Jesus, I Just Want to Say I'm Sorry," which proves she can take lyrics that sound like they should come from someone older and produce a very convincing vocal. This song also shows off Jason's writing ability, very touching, heartfelt lyrics.

Album Rating - 4.25 stars - Despite the lack of original songs, the song selection for the project overall is strong. The arrangements and vocal performances show that the Nelons can take a song and make it their own. I love the acoustic feel to the project that gets down to the roots of the songs. It's definitely one that you'll want to add to your collection!


Song List:
1. "I Have Seen the Children" **
2. "Come on Home"
3. "Come to the River" **
4. "Somebody's Praying" **
5. "Down the River" **
6. "The Diff'rence Is in Me" **
7. Excuse Me Are You Jesus?" **
8. "Handful of Dust"
9. "Morning Has Broken" **
10. "When He Talked About His Home"
11. "The Sun's Coming Up"
12. "I Choose the Lord"
13. "I Heard It First on the Radio"
14. "Jesus, I Just Wanna Say I'm Sorry" **
15. "The Little Brown Church"

** Personal favorites

Review copy provided