Jill Phillips Returns to Her Southern Roots with "Lead Me Home"

Singer and songwriter Jill Phillips returns to her southern roots and faith heritage for her new album Lead Me Home. The album finds Phillips revisiting the gospel songs and old hymns reminiscent of her childhood. Both sides of her family were from rural eastern North Carolina where this music has shaped them for generations.

Phillips recalls, "I thought of my Grandma Bea and singing Great is Thy Faithfulness at her funeral last year.  It is one of my favorite songs of all time and it was one of hers.  It still moves me to tears and I had a hard time getting through recording the vocal for this record.  My Grandpa dropped out of school in the second grade to work his family farm.  Though he was a simple man by the world's standards his life experiences gave him an empathy and gentleness of spirit as well as a strong faith.  I can still hear his voice singing many of these old hymns."

Lead Me Home was produced by Jill's husband Andy Gullahorn and good friend Gabe Scott.  They played all of the instruments and sang all of the male background vocals.  Jill Phillips herself covered all of the vocals and female background vocals with the exception of having Lori Wilshire and Natalie Schlabs join me for "Precious Lord, Take My Hand." 

Here is the track listing for the record:  (1) Come Ye Sinners  (2) Rank Strangers (3) Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen (4) Abide With Me (5) Peace in the Valley (6) Great Is Thy Faithfulness (7) Eyes on the Prize (8) Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus (9) I'd Rather Have Jesus (10) Precious Lord, Take My Hand. 

 

Jill Phillips is a Nashville-based singer-songwriter who got her start in the business after graduating from Belmont University in 1998. Her guitar based folk-rock sound combines with rich, insightful lyrics that deal with age-old topics in new and fresh ways. Her self-titled debut album on Word Records was produced by grammy-award winning songwriter Wayne Kirkpatrick ("Change Your World" recorded by Eric Clapton) also known for producing such artists as Amy Grant, Garth Brooks and Susan Ashton.

After touring extensively with Caedmon's Call and Bebo Norman, Phillips decided to step out and record her next album independently. Produced with Matt Stanfield (Plumb) and Andy Gullahorn, God and Money received critical acclaim and helped Phillips to be named CCM magazine's reader's choice for Independent Artist of the Year in 2002.

 

 

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