Back Home In Indiana is a concert recording of 20 songs featuring the Gaither Vocal Band, one of the best vocal groups in the industry. They perform both new and previously released tunes and are joined by several guests from the "Homecoming Friends" crowd. In the tried and true tradition of all things Gaither, you may purchase your choice of cassette, CD, or video. This review is based on the content of the CD.
In order to squeeze 20 songs (over 75 minutes) onto one CD, there's just music with clapping interspersed. There are no introductions of the guest performers, and there's no indication in the liner notes of musicians or vocalists. The art department did see fit to place a black and white photo in the liner notes of the Paramount Theatre that's identical to the color photo on the front cover, filling space that could have been used to provide interesting information. Go figure.
The music is great, though. The GVB sounds like a polished studio project when they perform live. They sing "John The Revelator," "When We All Get Together With The Lord," "In That Great Gettin' Up Morning" (a cappella), "My Lord And I," and "Daystar" to get things started. This is followed by "Goodby, World Goodby" performed by Anthony Burger (whose 95 mph piano is unmistakable). Then Jake Hess (or his clone) sings "When He Was On The Cross" with distinct enunciation. The other 13 tunes are: "The Old Rugged Cross Made The Difference," "When Jesus Lifts The Load," "On My Way To Heaven," "We'll Be There," "I'll Worship Only At The Feet Of Jesus," "Loving God, Loving Each Other" (which will also be the title cut from their up-coming studio project), and "I Believe In A Hill Called Mount Calvary" by the GVB; they are joined by Hovie Lister and Jake Hess on "The Old Landmark" and "Without Him;" Jessy Dixon sings "Joy Comes In The Morning," and "Wait'll You See By Brand New Home;" a woman who sounds like Sheri Easter sings "Tears Are A Language God Understand" and "Jesus Built This Church On Love."
I think this project could have been improved by removing two or three of the songs which didn't feature the GVB and adding some intros and banter. One would expect a GVB concert recording to include some of Mark Lowry's inane comments about Bill Gaither. If the companion video didn't prove otherwise, you might suspect they did this album in a studio and dubbed in the applause. With that one (minor) complaint aside, Back Home In Indiana gets an enthusiastic thumbs up for it's overall musical quality and variety. Bill, Mark, Guy and Jonathan have given us another excellent recording.