Peace in the Valley [Arista]

Producers include: Mike Clute, Jozef Nuyens, Pam Tillis, Keith Stegall, Mark Bright. Engineers include: Mike Clute, Jozef Nuyens, Mike Janas. Since its beginnings as a commercial art form, country music has been closely entwined with gospel music. Early groups like the Carter Family, and descendants from Jimmie Davis to the Louvin Brothers and Red Foley made gospel an integral part of their repertoire and identity as country singers. PEACE IN THE VALLEY, a set of gospel and gospel-related songs done by Arista's roster of country stars, brings this tradition into the late 1990s. While PEACE IN THE VALLEY taps into an older tradition, the sound here is mostly contemporary. BR5-49's version of Hank Williams' "A House of Gold" is the only aural nod to an earlier era. To its credit, the album does not limit itself to a strict definition of "gospel" either. Included alongside such country-gospel standards as "Farther Along" and "Peace in the Valley" are more recent spiritually-oriented songs, like Steve Warine... Minimize