Bill & Gloria Gaither and Their Homecoming Friends - Homecoming Lullabies

Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

So then, Southern gospel made a revival in the past few years, mainly due to the vision of veteran Christian music Bill Gaither who bucked all the trends and made the genre hugely popular again. Consequently there have been many themes for Homecoming CDs, initially gathering a whole load of oldsters in a room to croon oldies, and is now the largest selling Christian album series in Europe. With the release of 'Homecoming Lullabies', it could be argued that these Southern gospellers are busy starting 'em young these days! In fact what you get are some of the finest stars in the Homecoming firmament crooning lovely tunes for tots sleeping. Highlights include "Last Boat To Dreamland" by the Gaither Vocal Band, Russ Taff wrapping his tonsils around "The Miracle" and the incredible voice of David Phelps singing "I Spy". Country singer Randy Travis sings "Counting On Me" and Linda Randle (sister of dc talk's Michael Tait) offers the tender "Do You Dream Of Me". With some gorgeous orchestrations and excellent vocal performances, from a distance this looks like it could be incredibly cheesy. Somehow (and it's a measure of the quality of the talent here) what you get is a delightful set of lullabies that will send your kids to sleep in peace.