It Is Well with My Soul

Alan Jackson’s Precious Memories exists because he sang a hymn at his father-in-law’s funeral and kept going from there – an entire 2006 album of traditional gospel songs, released with no single and no radio push, that went on to earn a platinum certification anyway. “It Is Well with My Soul” fits the album’s whole approach: a full band present but mixed to stay out of the way, Jackson’s plainspoken baritone doing nothing a hymnal wouldn’t already ask for, no key change or vocal run inserted to make the recording feel like an event.

That restraint is the point and also the limit of the performance. Compared to a reading built around vocal drama, Jackson’s version doesn’t argue for the song so much as get out of its way and let a familiar melody do what it’s always done. It’s a defensible choice for a hymn this well-known – not every recording needs to reinterpret the material – but it also means the record is more valuable as a faithful, well-sung document than as a distinct artistic statement.

7.6/10 – a country singer treating a hymn like it doesn’t need his help, and mostly, he’s right.

Hero image: Album cover: Precious Memories, Alan Jackson (2006, Arista Nashville). Used under fair use for editorial review.