He's Alive - Barry Rowland and Deliverance - CD Review

Barry Rowland and Deliverance's latest release, He's Alive, came out on June 18. If the name Rowland
sounds familiar, Barry is the son of Kyla Rowland, well-known southern gospel songwriter. She wrote eight of the 10 songs on the project.

I had the chance to see this group in person for the first time in Branson last year and was impressed! And this album continued to impress me. The group consists of Barry Rowland, Tammy Rowland (his wife) and Shawn Rupert.

"He's Alive," the title cut, gets the album off to a great start. This is a fun tempo song that's been recorded before by several different artists, but this version is definitely worth a listen!

Tammy Rowland absolutely shines on several ballads that she's featured on including "Simply Because I Believe." "No Place That Far" and "God's Been Good to Me." "No Place That Far" is my favorite of these. I love the comforting message of the song that there's nowhere we can go that God cannot reach us.

Another highlight for me was "Death Had to Let Him Go." Shawn is featured on this song and shows off an impressive range. The song tells the story of Jesus coming to the funeral of the son of Nain and raising the boy from the dead.

"Sweet Things Out of Dark Places" is a great ballad featuring Tammy and Shawn. They have a great blend on this country-flavored song. I also love a chorus of "'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus" that's included toward the end of the song.

"Fear for Faith" is a fun uptempo song that definitely has a Kyla Rowland feel to it to me. "We'll Go Down Standing Up" is another great toe-tapper song.

Barry Rowland can be heard on a couple of lines in the chorus on "He's Still God," but he really let Tammy and Shawn step out on this project and take the features.

Album Rating - 3.75 stars - Solid project vocally and great song choices with a good mix of ballads and uptempo songs.


Song List
1. "He's Alive"
2. "Simply Because I Believe"
3. "Death Had to Let Him Go"
4. "Fear for Faith"
5. "No Place That Far"
6. "We'll Go Down Standing Up"
7. "God Has Been Good to Me"
8. "He's Still God"
9. "Sweet Things Out of Dark Places"
10. "What a Wonderful Time to Be a Christian"