Reviewed by Dave Brassington

Film soundtrack albums often take in a wide variety of styles though in this case the music is dominantly black gospel with occasional pieces of country and Southern gospel creeping in here and there. The album opens with a Dolly Parton penned song, "Not Enough", where she is featured with Queen Latifah. The R&B star's film daughter Keke Palmer then shines on the catchy "Mai In The Mirror" (NOT the Jim Glaser country song of years ago). On the album I didn't think Kirk Franklin's studio recording of "In Love" was anything like as effective as in the film. More impressive is "Fix Me Jesus" by Queen Latifa accompanied by just piano. Dolly, Kris Kristofferson and Jeremy Jordan (husband and grandson in the film) perform the only country track on the album, and very nice it is too while Southern gospel's Karen Peck offers a rousing version of "Mighty High". The choir are let loose on several tracks and everybody gets to join in on the other song Dolly wrote for the film, the very atmospheric and perceptive "He's Everything". A joyful noise indeed.

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.