Doug Anderson “Drive” Album Review

Doug Anderson “Drive” Album Review

Often when we drive our focus is on the destination.  But when God takes the wheels, the journey is sometimes more important.  This is why he hardly arrives at the time as our GPS would predict.  Yet, he’s never late.  It’s through this long scenic tour we get to smell the roses we never even notice in our rush.  It’s through such trips we get to chat and appreciate him with such intimacy that we wouldn’t have cultivated if we were in the driver’s seat.   And it’s through such apparent tedium we get to meet people we would have overlooked if we had always put on foot on the accelerator.  Such are themes found in Doug Anderson’s sophomore solo release “Drive.”  As an exhibition of his centrality of the “driving” theme, the CD itself is poised with a picture of a speedometer.  And disc front depicts Anderson in a suave pose of sitting in a red convertible donning on some cool looking sun glasses.  Released under the ever reliable Stow Town Records (with Ernie Haase and Wayne Haun as the co-owners), “Drive” is a follow-up to Anderson’s hugely successful debut “Dreamin’ Wide Awake.”This predecessor record garnered for Anderson the highly coveted GMA Dove Awards “Country Album of the Year” in 2012 and the CD produced three Top 40 radio singles. 

Keeping all frills to a minimum, the ebullient title cut and lead single “Drive” has a steely-eyed focus of surrender invoking God to take the car keys of our lives.  Featuring some delightful Keith Urban-like banjo licks and a sunny melody that propels us into the wide open unknown with only God at the helm, faith has never been more gorgeously depicted.  On “Yes I Will” Anderson digs deep into his Southern roots for some old time Gospel with a choral call and response reinforcing the same trust in God as the title cut “Drive.”  Calling to mind the current sounds of Florida Georgia Line, “Love With Open Arms” correctly check marks all the right categories for a great radio single to be.  Given the right promotion, “Love With Open Arms” could even work on secular country radio as these are the songs country DJs would gulp.   “God Works” is a track that is difficult to get tired of.  It’s a powerhouse of a pop-country ballad that puts Isaiah 64:4 into music where God works on the behalf of those of us who rest in him.

Just as Anderson covered Billy Dean’s 1990 album cut “Only There for a Little While.”  This time around Anderson reaches even further back in time to resurrect Dolly Parton’s 1975 no. 2 hit “The Seeker.” Described by Parton as her “talk with Jesus,” “The Seeker” is a modern day pilgrim’s prayer for God in the midst of his pain and despair.  Here Anderson gives “The Seeker” a Southern Gospel-upgrade with the patented four part harmonized chorus.  More tete-a-tete intimacy comes with “Moment by Moment Grace,” a first class ballad where we find a pastoral sensitive Anderson offering us hope in Jesus when we feel like our world have caved in.  The emotional shadings of this track really make a home run for the heart.  Just as it is traditional these days for Southern Gospel albums to house a track on heaven, Anderson’s contribution this time is the piano-cum string laden “I’ll Be There with You.”  The soaring crescendo with its haunting coda leading to its explosive chorus truly makes this song as transcendent as the song’s subject matter.

“Drive” again raises the bar for Stow Town Records.  Exquisitely produced that stands toe-to-toe with the best of the major label outputs out there, “Drive” is aurally pleasing to the ears.  Nevertheless, the pride of place is still the thematic focus of these 11 songs.  With the windows rolled down, the wind in our hair, and Jesus at the driver’s seat, this CD is a ride of faith filled with uncertainties, surprises and joy.  Joy because the one who holds the steering never loses his grip.