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Joy Whitlock
“God and a Girl”
Ardent Records
14 tracks @ 61:57
Grade = A
This is an excellent debut, full of surprises. Fans of Sarah Mclachlan and Kendall Payne will love this record.
Described in her PR material as a “sleek rocker-chick,” Whitlock grew up as a PK (pastor’s kid) in Mississippi. Bouncing around from town as her father accepted new calls, she eventually had a “rebellion” stage.
Whitlock says, “I tried to fill the emptiness I felt with anything that numbed or felt like love, drugs, promiscuity, the usual stuff.” Whitlock credits the Mel Gibson movie The Passion of the Christ with getting her life turned around.
Some of that pain is reflected in the song “Don’t Look Down.” One lyric goes “have you got the stomach for this? Tragedy has left its mark.” That’s an honest revelation.
The best track is the worshipful, grateful “Psalms.” “Fake” is an excellent rocker while “Days of the Lord,” with its Strawberry Fields-like open, is another excellent track with strong theology, “death, where is your victory.”
Whitlock says, “Because I still have many struggles in my life, even as a child of God, the subject matter of most of my songs tends to gravitate towards struggle. I want people to know that pain is not working against us. It brings us closer to the one who knows pain better than anyone else, Jesus Christ.”
This is a new artist to keep an eye on, very exciting.
Rob S.