Reviewed by Tony Cummings

The era when Amy Grant was the acknowledged queen of Christian music has of course now passed and the singer and mum now enjoys a much more relaxed recording and touring schedule. This set compiled under the auspices of the American retail chain Crackerbarrel Family Stores brings together Amy's renditions of timeless hymns such as "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee", "It Is Well With My Soul", "Softly And Tenderly" and many others. Amy's voice is, of course, faultless and remains one of the most distinctive sounds in modern pop music while the arrangements, veering towards a pop country sound and only occasionally teetering into string-filled MOR, are often imaginative. But so that this set will also attract long term Amy devotees who have all or most of these renditions on other albums, 'Be Still And Know' also offers two new recordings produced by husband Vince Gill. The title track has always been a lovely hymn and as expected Amy sings it well while "Power In The Blood", though not quite as successful musically, has an inspiring lyric. All in all then there's good stuff here though it's a little ironic that the greatest track, Michael Card's "El Shaddai", stretches back to 1982.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

Interested in reviewing music? Find out more here.