Passing Through

1	Pick Up the Oars and Row 2:50
2	Four Walls 3:42
3	That Was Us 3:29
4	Angels 3:45
5	Running Blind 2:53
6	My Daddy Never Was 3:56
7	A Place to Hang My Hat 3:19
8	Right on Time 3:58
9	My Poor Old Heart 2:48
10	I'm Your Man 3:27
11	Train Long Gone 3:56
12	I Can See It in Your Eyes 4:17

Barnes & Noble

Family tableaus dominate the narratives of Randy Travis's 16th and most reflective studio effort. A vocalist nonpareil, the country crooner takes a hard look at the ties that bind, from the touching country ballad "Four Walls," offering gentle, loving life instructions at the hands of wise elders, to the quiet, acoustic-based meditation "My Daddy Never Was," which portrays a son's attempts to avoid the negative example of an absent father. On his heart-tugging original "I'm Your Man," Travis avows his commitment to unconditional love, the tune made all the sweeter by a keening pedal steel and a churchy acoustic piano interlude. His sensitivity carries over to the wry but cautionary look at small-town reckless youth in the propulsive (and semi-autobiographical) "That Was Us," where a stinging electric guitar line underscores Travis's sense of gratitude for having survived his lapses of common sense back in the day. A corollary to "That Was Us," "Angels" ascends on a soaring chorus, thumping drums, and cascades of electric guitar lines as Travis alternately speaks and sings an homage to a mother's wisdom and tolerance as she raised her rebellious offspring. On a lighter note, "Train Long Gone" chugs along at a spirited pace, the singer bemoaning a lost love, bolstered by a male gospel quartet and his hard-charging band. Be it ballad or barn burner, Travis is in exemplary vocal form, his deep, emotive baritone and thoughtful phrasing heightening the feelings his songs describe, rendering the scenes in Passing Through in an indelible, evocative hue. David McGee

All Music Guide

In 2000, Randy Travis devoted himself to gospel music, and 2004's Passing Through is the fourth religious record he cut since then, but there's a difference here: instead of focusing on explicitly Christian material, Travis has collected a set of songs and stories about how faith affects life. It's inspirational music in the purest sense -- it doesn't preach, it instructs and inspires through its carefully observed tales. Musically, Passing Through is classic hardcore country, alternating between sentimental ballads and straight-ahead honky tonk and country-folk. Similarly, the songs themselves tell tales that are classic country, but the difference is that each has a subtle message or religious undercurrent to it. It all makes for a very strong album, either in contemporary Christian terms or by a purely musical yardstick, and it's further proof that Travis's traditionalist country continues to reap considerable rewards. Stephen Thomas Erlewine