Fresh off her multi-award-winning debut live project Believe For It, CeCe Winans drops another five-star live project with More Than This.
From the aerobic and pop-infused P&W “Lord and Friend” to the vibrant but somewhat lyrically cloying closing cut “In a Little While,” the album is joyous, the energy abundant, and the singalong audience often as much a part of the recording as Winans and her singers and musicians.
As always, Winans’ warm and captivating voice embraces, soothes, and invites listeners into an intimate worship experience, even in a cavernous megachurch. Winans is a consummate professional in full command of her audience, guiding the spiritual ebb and flow of the worship service like a conductor directing an orchestra. Though her more recent music sounds closer to CCM, her gospel-honed vocals inject soul into the honeyed melodies.
The current single from the new album is the vigorous and rhythmic “That’s My King.” Especially affecting selections include the worship ballad “Be Still and Know,” based on Psalm 46:10. “Too Late to Lose” is a power ballad of encouragement. Winans even weaves the beloved African American congregational hymn “Oh, the Blood of Jesus” into the mix. Todd Dulaney joins Winans on the anthemic title track, offering a lifetime-plus of praise.
The most gospel-flavored song is “Come Jesus Come,” a dramatically-sung tearjerker that earnestly awaits Jesus’s return to turn the world around. The melodies of songs like “Holy Forever” and “Is He Worthy” are a welcome relief from the all-too-frequently derivative P&W fare. Producer Kyle Lee and co-producers Thomas Hardin Jr. and Tyrone Jackson give the album a crisp studio quality while capturing the electricity of the live audience.
With More Than This, CeCe Winans demonstrates why she is the most honored gospel artist in modern times.
Five of Five Stars
Picks: “That’s My King,” “Holy Forever,” “Come Jesus Come”
Robert M. “Bob” Marovich is a gospel music historian, author, and radio host. “Gospel Memories,” a radio program of classic gospel, spiritual, and jubilee music, airs on Chicago’s WLUW-FM and throughout the week on Internet, low-power FM, and terrestrial radio stations. He writes about classic and contemporary gospel music as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Gospel Music (www.journalofgospelmusic.com).He has received a commendation from the African American Museum of Philadelphia and earned a Gospel Image Award in 2017. His show was named Best Gospel Radio Show of the Year by the Rhythm of Gospel Awards in 2018. He was inducted into the Gospel Industry Network Hall of Fame in 2021 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Prayze Factor Gospel Awards in September 2023.
