::ALBUM REVIEW::
by J Matthew Cobb
Posted: October 23, 2009

On “Callin’ Mama,” Johnny B. Williams calls his dear mother towards the end of his new album. It’s a cute moment, capturing the Southern charm of his mother’s religious convictions. “I don’t want you playin’ with God now,” Mary Williams declares. “Make the record for God and not for the devil.” Her son replies, “It’s a gospel record, mama.,” as he tries to calm her billowing concerns. It is fair to say Williams could have gone down the R&B pop star route, against his mama’s wishes. His voice is tailored in the contemporary vocal traditions of Detroit’s youngblood like Marcus Cole and J Moss with a splash of urban R&B synergy made most accessible by Trey Songz and Chris Brown. Factor in the super incredible talent on the keys and guitar and Williams comes out stronger than most gospel newbies. But Williams, a worship leader, is clear in his objectives to birth songs stemming from his faith, salvation and testimony on The Way I Worship.

At times he approaches the styles of Steven Curtis Chapman (“The Way,” “Forever Praise”) and even jumps into the reverent pop praise of Lakewood (“My Heart Is Rejoicing”). Those extensions from Williams’s worship background are most certainly appealing to the global modern worship service. But Williams becomes even more interesting when he rocks the R&B-quartet drives of “I’m Gonna Serve the Lord” and the ‘90s funky soul echoes of “I Love the Lord.” The latter, saturated in an irresistible cool melody, is so embellished in smooth Saturday cruising music due to Williams’s warm upper register and his acoustic guitar strides. The last of the cool spots, “Wasted Conversation” pleasantly evokes a noteworthy sample from the Musiq Soulchild catalog; bearing all the key ingredients of neo-soul playfulness from the R&B crooner.

The album’s strongest and most noticeable moment takes place on “The Letter;” a poetic reading by Xene Taylor that finds the writer crying out for help while morbidly revealing society’s ills - and even its self-righteous gluttons - as being her innermost pain’s point of origin. The story, full of claustrophobic gloom, will easily resonate thoughts of empathy for the victim. Thankfully, the darkness fades as Williams follows up on the tragic tale with a churchy, Smokie Norful-ish “He’ll Pick Up the Pieces.” While rollicking with lengthy verses, gospel vet Kathy Taylor tags along and easily turns the gospel power ballad into an immense album highlight.

Probably the album’s biggest gripe would be its adventurous trips into musical eclecticism. He’s good at doing it all but instead of being a jack of all trades, Williams would be better making an album bearing only the strongest of them all. Clearly he’s a strong contender on the younger stuff and his heart remains glued to worship-oriented choruses but he’s just as good at flexing his vocal guns on the meatier traditional gospel. Still, The Way I Worship flutters in and out of all of these genres and styles. Some of the songs are also heavier on beats and lyrically loses steam in a few spots. But besides those mishaps, The Way I Worship showcases a talented singer in need of a much broader audience. We’re absolutely certain he’s on his way to that goal.