Reviewed by Tom Lennie

We've seen a massive surge of hymn projects in recent years (Selah, Loeffler, 4Him, Amy Grant plus loads of various artists comps), some of them thoroughly blessing this listener's ears. This 'Hymnal' from young US singer/songwriter Randall Goodgame is partly in that vein, with some fine folk/Americana re-interpretations of rare and popular oldies ("Leave It There" comes in classic bluegrass style; "Father's World" is co-sung with Andrew Peterson, while "Guide Me O'..." - over two and a half centuries old - receives smart acoustic format). We're also treated, though, to a couple of striking, non-cliched ballads from RG's own pen. The guy has a beautiful, smooth voice - accompanied by top rate mandolin, piano, fiddle and French horn on various tracks, and by wife Amy's delectable harmony tones. Shame there's only nine full music tracks - with sounds as good as these, I'm left yearning for much more!

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