Song Titles: "Brethren, We Have Met To Worship," "When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder," "I'd Rather Have Jesus," "Heaven Came Down," "When They Ring Those Golden Bells," "There Is Power In The Blood," "Sweet Hour Of Prayer," "Hymn Medley," "I Must Tell Jesus," and "Rock Of Ages"At their first public performances earlier this year, the newly formed Integrity Quartet introduced three CDs. Two of those projects are now being pushed to the public in print ads, and you'll be able to read reviews on those soon. The third one, the one that isn't being pushed so much, is the one that's being reviewed here. It's titled Smoky Mountain Hymns.
Several songs are presented as vocal solos all the way through, with simple piano accompaniment. Lead singer Clayton Inman offers two in this fashion: "I'd Rather Have Jesus" and "Sweet Hour Of Prayer." Similarly, tenor David Sutton covers "When They Ring Those Golden Bells." Bass vocalist Eric Bennett gives "I Must Tell Jesus" the same treatment. Bennett's song is the most effective of the solo features, by the way. He injects more feeling into his vocal delivery. Baritone Scott Inman performs a verse of "Because He Lives" as a solo in the "Hymn Medley," with the other singers joining him on the chorus. The other five selections feature the entire group singing in harmony, with generic sounding organ tracks added to the piano accompaniment. One interesting side note: "Rock Of Ages" includes a verse in solfege. (For those readers who never went to singing school, that's using the "do, re, mi" syllables instead of words.)
Fans of Integrity Quartet may want to add Smoky Mountain Hymns to their library as a collector's item, but it is not what the average quartet fan would consider a "must have" or a definitive example of what this group is capable of producing. In essence, this is a collection of very average performances. Another strike against this CD is its brevity, less than 30 minutes in duration. Some fans will appreciate the overall simplicity of Smoky Mountain Hymns. Integrity did choose some of the most popular hymns ever written. That's the primary redeeming quality of this CD.