Live Worship from Smitty
Posted February 24, 2019
By BPence,
Over the course of his 35-year career, the multi-talented Michael W. Smith has provided the church with excellent music in a number of different genres – pop, Christmas, instrumental and worship. At age 61, he is going stronger than ever, having released three albums in 2018, a live worship album Surrounded, a studio album A Million Lights, and a children’s album Lullaby. In addition, he honored Billy Graham and George W. H. Bush by singing at their funerals. He is back to start 2019 off with the new live worship album Awaken: The Surrounded Experience. The album was recorded at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, on August 30, 2018 at the free Surrounded: A Night to Pray, Worship and Be Awakened concert. The event was a multi-racial, multi-denominational and multi-generational gathering of 14,000 people, which was later broadcast on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) to 175 countries worldwide as the special Surrounded: A Night of Worship, Prayer, and Awakening. The evening began with a time of prayer for the city of Nashville, surrounding communities, and the nation, led by area pastors.
The new album includes 13 songs from that concert, 6 of which were included on the Surrounded album. Also included are Will Reagan’s “Set a Fire”, the opening song, Jennie Lee Riddle’s “Revelation Song” and three songs included on previous Smith albums - “Let it Rain”, “Healing Rain” and “Agnus Dei”. Smith turns over lead vocals on Todd Dulaney’s “King of Glory” to CeCe Winans, and on Sinach’s “Waymaker”, the album’s initial single, to Vanessa Campagna and Madelyn Berry.
The production quality of the recording is excellent, which is especially
noteworthy for a live album. Although the album captures the worship experience well, and I enjoyed it, with nearly half of the album being comprised of songs that appeared on the live album Surrounded just a year earlier, some buyers may feel like they have to choose between Surrounded and AWAKEN: The Surrounded Experience.
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