Listen
Lauded earlier in her career with numerous Dove awards, Cindy Morgan'sListen, her fourth release, demonstrates a songwriting maturity worthy of recognition above and beyond any chart success. This 1996 effort is full of songs that aren't aimed at being chart toppers. Certainly "They Say It's Love" and the opening "The Master's Hand" contain enough zest and appeal to sound good on the radio, but like Tori Amos, another brilliant songwriter and pianist who focuses more on the art rather than the chart, Morgan's story-songs spotlight endearing characters struggling to balance humanity with spirituality. The silky-smooth "Jamie" reveals a woman unable to recognize happiness as she walks through people and relationships; the poignant "The Promise" introduces a woman full of grief over a failed marriage; "Gravity" pulls us down to the painful realities of life as we look upward. But within each struggle, Morgan shows us a higher power who is willing and able to help us transcend the hurdles. This is an honest and uplifting release and one that, with time, grows with the listener.--Michael Lyttle