The Rex Carroll Sessions

Description

The Rex Carroll Sessions is a solo album by the American singer, songwriter, and guitarist Rex Carroll of Whitecross and King James fame, released on StarSong Records in 1995, distributed by Chordant Distribution Group. The album was recorded at Dave Perkins‘s Garden of Eden in Nashville, Tennessee; with Phil Madeira producing. Mixed at Battery Studios in Nashville.

Featuring Rex Carroll on lead vocals and guitar, backed by a rhythm section consisting of Jackie Street on bass and Aaron Smith on drums (the latter of 77s fame), with producer Madeira sitting in on Hammond B-3 organ. “Invitational Blues” and “Gonna Be There” features Ashley Cleveland and Aaron Benward on lead vocals, respectively, while “Do It For Love” features guitarist Phil Keaggy as well as Dave Perkins on backing vocals.

With the release of ‘The Rex Carroll Project’, Carroll will once again be turning heads. The long awaited solo album is a well crafted, personal album that articulates just where Carroll’s vision, musically and spiritually, lies. Carroll, with the help of co-producer Phil Madeira, has slowed down the metal, added some special touches, and broken new ground by returning to the past. The album can best be described as hearkening back to Allman Brothers Band, music drenched in blues but edging toward the southern rock of Lynyrd Skynyrd or Wet Willie.

Perhaps most notable on the project are the number of lead vocals that Carroll carries himself, a chore he is unaccustomed to but carries off with an idiosyncratic performance that completely fits the music he is performing. But the real soul of the album is in the songs Carroll has recorded. Just like the music, Carroll has chosen to return to his roots, the basic of the gospel message. Songs here include what might pass as a mission statement for the album, «Do It for Love», and a personal message from Carroll to his wife called «I’m Gonna Be There». Surrender is the focus of «Hands of God», which acknowledges our troubles in this world as well as the constancy of God’s care for us in the maelstrom.

Carroll has thrown his fans a curve and is it ever a good one. [Devlin Donaldson, CCM, August 1995]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-rex-carroll-sessions/715680290)

CD tracklist:

01. Do It For Love
02. Anytime (feat. lead vocals by Kenny Meeks)
03. If You Know About Love
04. Gonna Be There (feat. lead vocals by Aaron Benward)
05. Hands of God (feat. lead vocals by Todd Smith)
06. Invitational Blues (feat. lead vocals by Ashley Cleveland)
07. What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You
08. Rescue Me
09. Awful Good
10. I Just Want To Celebrate
11. Cafe Rex

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by StarSong Records.

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