One Beautiful Day

Listen to Front Range's earlier albums, and it sounds like they're just dying to make an all-gospel record; on One Beautiful Day you can almost hear the joyful relief in their voices as they give in to the temptation. The majority of these songs were written by bandleader Bob Amos, and are of very high quality: his "I Am the Way" is a Christological barnburner, while "A Father's Prayer" is a sweet and gentle invocation of heavenly blessings on home and family. The band's version of the classic Ralph Stanley tune "Will He Wait a Little Longer?" lacks the vinegary mountain edge of the original, but lacks none of its energy; their rendition of Rick Lang's "Sing Praises to the King" is absolutely perfect, bringing rich four-part harmony and unobtrusively virtuosic instrumental chops to bear on yet one more variation on the "old model church" theme. They also take the traditional "Create in Me a Clean Heart" and strip it down to the bare essentials, letting its simple beauty shine through. Highly recommended. ~ Rick Anderson