With Humble Praise

Courtesy Tonya Ware

Local gospel recording artist Tonya Ware, a pastor at The Church Triumphant, releases her long-awaited debut album "The Voice."

by Andi Agnew
April 9, 2008

One of the last times I visited the church I grew up in, I noticed the words to the songs and hymns we sang were projected onto a screen, and the songs were a bit different than the sometimes-stuffy hymns that I remembered singing. Having gone to several “contemporary” worship services in Memphis, Jackson and other cities, I knew that projector screens in the church meant “contemporary” worship. Even my small church back home had adapted to this newer, younger style.

A large component of this more casual style is praise-and-worship music, which has become a genre all its own in the last decade or so.

If you’re a spiritual person, and you’re looking for inspirational music, you may find yourself a bit overwhelmed with the hundreds of thousands of praise-and-worship albums out there. Not knowing where to begin, it might be helpful to stick with a motto that the JFP starting pushing a few years back: “Think Global, Shop Local.”

Here in Jackson, you can pick up Tonya Ware’s “The Voice” at BeBop Records on a Friday, and then hear her sing live at The Church Triumphant on Sunday. Ware and husband the Rev. Adrian Ware are pastors of The Church Triumphant, and “The Voice” is Ware’s years-in-the-making debut.

“The Voice” contains a mix of original and cover songs, the most popular single being Ware’s version of the Winans’ “Put My Hand In Yours.” Ware’s voice is strong as she sings: “Offering myself to you/I’m coming to you Jesus/Coming as a friend/Now I see it’s you and me/And with your help/Deny myself/And put my hand in yours.” She is sincere in expressing her faith in song. Ware began singing as a child, traveling with her father to prisons. She would sing for the prisoners and, once she had their attention, her father would preach to them. Her years of experience are evident in the confidence with which she sings.

The overall tone of “The Voice” is one of encouragement, but there also seems to be a challenge to the listener to be willing to be an instrument of God, to have faith even in adverse situations. Ware issues this challenge without being preachy; rather, she is setting an example and admitting her weaknesses right along with the listener. Nearly all of the songs are addressed to God and designed to lead the audience to turn their attention to God as well.

On the R&B-tinged “Taste of Heaven,” Ware sings about feeling love and acceptance from God, which in turn gives her a glimpse of the Promised Land. The song has a surprisingly smooth, catchy groove that even non-religious types could get into. And happily for the old-school church types like myself, there is a bonus track at the end of the album, a medley of the classic hymns “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” and “Don’t Turn Him Away.”

What can I say? I’m a traditionalist. But “The Voice” provides a happy-medium blend of old and new to create a solid, encouraging album.

 
posted by on 04/12/08 at 06:48 PM. [printer-friendly version]   

posted by L.W. on 04/11/08 at 09:28 AM