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Producer: Steve Ivey
Label: Mountain Home Music
Website: http://www.jerrysalley.com

Jerry Salley is a name I first came across way back in 1987 when the Kingsmen recorded his song, “Tell Everyone You Know (That You Know Jesus)” on their “Mississippi Live” album. Since then, I’ve seen his name attached to some great gospel songs recorded by such artists as the Ruppes, Ernie Haase & Signature Sound, Jeff & Sheri Easter, Wendy Bagwell & The Sunliters, Bishops, Steven Curtis Chapman, Kingsmen, Isaacs, and a host of others. Not only has Salley fully integrated his songs into the gospel field, he also is well entrenched in the Country and Bluegrass field as well. This recording features the unique writing talents of Jerry Salley and features a wide assortment of songs from gospel, to bluegrass, to country, and features him with a smorgasbord of talent. Along with Salley, people like Vince Gill, Sonya & Ben Isaacs, Oak Ridge Boys, Bryan Sutton, Darryl Worley, Del McCoury, Ricky Skaggs & Sharon White, Rhonda Vincent, Adam Steffey, Carl Jackson, and many others lend their talents either vocally or musically to this project.

The highly energetic tune, “WIDE OPEN” features a straightforward message that life is meant to be lived at its fullest…“wide open” and the song goes on to say, “I’d rather wear out than rust away.” Another straightforward tune is one of my personal favorites, “THAT’S WHAT YOU CALL A FRIEND”. It’s those times in our lives when we are at our lowest that we figure out who our friends are. I love the hook in the song, “when the good times roll, count your friends, when the chips are down, count again.” Another great tune with some wise advice is the song simply titled, “WEEDS”.

I especially enjoyed Jerry’s version of “JOHN IN THE JORDAN”; in fact, I actually like it better than Signature Sound’s version. Salley’s version has an earthy feel to it and is more believable to me. Other songs that lean into the gospel realm are “GOD DID IT” (recorded last year by the Ruppes), “I’M GONNA TAKE THAT MOUNTAIN” and “HIS RECORD IS ON HIGH” (which features a spoken intro by Salley himself on how the idea of the song was birthed).

The recording features plenty of songs that fall into the country/bluegrass vein (non-gospel), and those songs are “FOR ME, IT’S YOU”, “FLAT ROCK ROAD”, “UNDER A LONESOME MOON” (featuring a strong Bluegrass vocal sound), “THE DISTANCE”, “THE MORE I LEARN”, “FAULT LINE” and “THE PIECES ARE COMING TOGETHER”. For those who don’t appreciate country and gospel being mixed together on one recording, will probably find fault with these tunes, but I didn’t find anything offensive at all. Granted, it’s not completely my cup of tea, but I did find the songs, for the most part, enjoyable to listen to.

Even with the vast majority of this recording leaning more towards the country vein, I felt it worth reviewing, as several songs do apply to Southern Gospel. Also the fact that Salley has written several great gospel songs (and with Signature Sound riding high on one of them right now) almost demanded that this recording, at the very least, be looked at. Salley is a great talent, and this is a solid recording and the production quality is above par.

Personal Favs: WIDE OPEN; JOHN IN THE JORDAN; THAT’S WHAT YOU CALL A FRIEND; GOD DID IT; I’M GONNA TAKE THAT MOUNTAIN; WEEDS; HIS RECORD IS ON HIGH

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