HisVoice Concert Review - Knoxville, TN

I had been looking forward to hearing the Southern Gospel trio, HisVoice, for some time. I have been enjoying their MySpace page and the songs on it plus one of their CD's from a few years back. But, I had never seen the group in person. I had only spoken with the group's manager/baritone, Allen Davenport, a few times via e-mail. You never know what to expect when you invite a group out to sing. Will they be Spiritual? Will they follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit? Or will they be self-centered and all about themselves? Well, tonight I found out...read on.

We arrived at the church about 30 minutes before starting time. One of the deacons had let the group in at 4:00 to set up their equipment. No one else was present yet besides my family and the members of HisVoice. They were wrapping things up with their setup and doing some final mic checks. I introduced myself to Allen and then went out front to greet folks as they arrived. Everyone seemed really excited to hear the group sing and lots of fellowship and laughter could be heard as folks slowly started filtering in.

We opened up the service with a couple of congregational hymns and welcomed everyone to the church. I quickly got out of the way in order to let HisVoice minister and worship with us. They walked up to their mics and immediately began belting out a hand-clapping rendition of "I Kept On Searching." I knew from the get-go that we were in for a real treat. It’s no wonder that this group was just signed to a major recording contract with the Eddie Crook Company in Nashville. The trio has a tight sound with very strong vocal harmonies. They use pre-recorded tracks that their sound guy, Sonny Hinkle, expertly delivers on queue.

Next they dove into an old Mcruder's hit, "I'm Going Home With Jesus." Then my very favorite song of the entire night, "Stacking Some Stones Up." This one was lead by Alto, Kristen Kitts. I was crying like a baby before she even got through the first verse. The song talks of the children of Israel after they crossed the Jordan River and had built an altar of stone to make sacrifice and to remind them of what God had brought them through. This is a very touching song and there wasn't a dry eye in the entire house. I was so happy that they decided to sing the entire song again. Kristen has a very beautiful and strong alto voice, I could listen to her sing all day long.

The next song on their list was "Mission Not Impossible." I had never heard this one before but it was a very catchy tune and Soprano, Alysia Haluska, did an outstanding job working the crowd and singing praises. She had a huge smile on her face the entire time she was on stage and you couldn’t help but smile back when you looked at her. It was very contagious! Up next was a song that said, "You Picked the Right Time to Leave the Wrong Thing Behind." Followed up with Allen leading out on, "The Story Untold."

“He Chose this Valley For Me,” was my second favorite song of the night. Of course it was another that I cried through the entire time. I wasn’t the only one though. I looked over at our pastor and could see that he wasn’t able to contain himself either, as he was crying his eyes out and lifting his hands toward Heaven in praise. “Grace Abounds,” was the next song. Alysia did another spectacular job on this one.

After a heart-wrenching story by Allen, the group jumped into the Talley Trio’s, “Broken Ones.” My kids have loved this song ever since they first heard Lauren Talley sing it a few months ago. If this song doesn’t touch you, then you can’t be touched. It’s not only touching but the words are so true. Immediately following, they made an altar call with the beautiful, “He Can’t Pick Up What You Won’t Lay Down.” As folks were praying around the altar, the group broke into, “There Is A Remedy,” followed up with “Amazing Love.”

As they say, all good things must end, and so did our time with HisVoice. They ended things with the upbeat, “I’m Free.” After a few words from our Pastor and a final altar call, we reluctantly dismissed and made our way back home. It was truly a wonderful night of Southern Gospel music and worship with HisVoice. You might want to book this group at your church while you still can because I am predicting big things for them and I’m sure their schedule is going to fill up quickly!