Title: "A King's Ransom"
Description: Dave Williford Band
Chadley - September 14, 2007 10:40 PM (GMT)
Group Name: Dave Williford Band
Website: www.willifordmusic.com
Album Title: “A King’s Ransom”
Song Titles:
1. Forgiven
2. Over And Over
3. Cowboy Heaven
4. Born To Sing
5. He Did
6. A King’s Ransom
7. What I Believe
8. When I See Your Face
9. American Christian
10. I’ll Pray
11. I Don’t Have A Prayer
12. Do You Know Jesus
The Dave Williford band was formed in 2006, making it a relatively new group to Southern Gospel/Christian Country. This quote from their website, I think, accurately describes them: “Our unique blend of song material and live band create numerous opportunities for us to minister to audiences of all ages. We have a lot of fun with young people and we want to be an encouragement to them through our music and message. Older adults love the new arrangements to classic hymns. This makes us family friendly! Whoever we sing to, and wherever we are called to perform, we will strive to be a blessing and encouragement as we share the Good News!” The group consists of Dave Williford (lead vocals/keyboards), Rebecca Williford (vocals), Steve Allbritton (bass guitar), and Jeremy Allbritton (drums).
“A King’s Ransom” is the first album by the group. Dave is the only one pictured on the cover of the album, and the group name is listed as only “Dave Williford”. Personally, I’d rather have seen the entire group pictured and listed as the “Dave Williford Band”. Looking on the inside of the cover, I was happy to find that the song lyrics were included. With that in mind, let’s take a look at each of the songs on the album.
Starting things off is the first radio release from the album, an up-tempo song entitled “Forgiven”. This song has a definite country feel to it, and it quickly became one of my favorites. This was a good choice for a first radio release. The tempo stays the same for the second song, “Over And Over”. This song is a bit lighter than the previous one, and it has an encouraging message that will be a blessing to all who hear it.
Song #3 is, admittedly, my least favorite song from the album. “Cowboy Heaven” is a medium-tempo story ballad about a cowboy. The storyline and the message are both clear, but for some reason the song just doesn’t resonate with me. The tempo speeds up again for the fourth song. “Born To Sing” has a more “modern” sound to it than the previous songs. This might be a good one to consider releasing to radio at some point.
Song #5 is a medium-tempo number entitled “He Did”. The arrangement of this song, couple with it’s strong message, easily give this song a spot on my list of favorites from this album. The sixth song is the album’s title track. “A King’s Ransom” is the first truly slow ballad-type song on the album. And a “power ballad” it is! What I said about the previous song applies to this one as well- it’s message earns it a spot on my favorites list. These two songs easily have the strongest messages of all the songs on this album.
The seventh song is another up-tempo number entitled “What I Believe”. This is another one that should be considered for radio release at some point. It will definitely get people’s attention. The tempo slows down considerably for the next song, a ballad entitled “When I See Your Face”. The arrangement of this song has to be the smoothest of all the songs on the album, and it’s very pleasant to listen to.
If you have any kind of patriotic streak in you, then Song #9 is just for you! “American Christian” is a medium-tempo song that paints a painfully accurate picture of the condition in which our country finds itself today. The writer then boldly declares that he’s a “flag-wavin’ American Christian” that stands for the Lord and what our great country was founded upon. It took only one listen for me to dub this song my absolute favorite from this album. Following this song is a medium-tempo number entitled “I’ll Pray”. The harmonies and chord progressions found in this song are beautiful. This is another song with a more “modern” sound.
The tempo is once again upbeat for the eleventh song, “I Don’t Have A Prayer”. This song has a “driving” beat to it that I’m sure makes it fun to sing and play, and in the middle of the song we get an instrumental interlude that seems to illustrate this. Finally, the album ends with a slow, smooth song called “Do You Know Jesus”. This was an excellent choice to close things out.
Dave’s tenor voice definitely has a country flair to it, and it really fits the style of music found on this album. I’ve got to admit that, out of all the albums I’ve listened to lately, this one did probably the best job of putting the songs in the right order so that they flowed smoothly from one to another. Also, I really liked the ratio of slow to medium to uptempo songs. I guess my only real complaint is that I would like to see the group featured a bit more.
My thanks go out to the Dave Williford Band for the opportunity to review this album. It truly was a blessing to listen to, and I look forward to hearing what the group puts out in the future. If you like the Christian Country side of Southern Gospel, then this is a group you need to check out. All things considered, I would give this album a rating of 8 out of a possible 10 microphones!
Personal Favorites: “Forgiven”, “He Did”, “A King’s Ransom”, and “American Christian”