Cory Asbury “Cover to Cover” Album Review

Prime Cuts: You're Still the One, I Hope You Dance, Landslide

Overall Grade: 5/5 

Shania Twain, Fleetwood Mac, Counting Crows, Peter Gabriel, and Snow Patrol are as diverse as you can get in musical genres and eras. Yet, Cory Asbury has a way of drawing a gamut of styles and making them his own. Reimaging classic tunes, such as Twain's "You're Still the One," the Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris," and Creedence Clearwater's "Have You Seen the Rain," Asbury has surrounded them with his rugged vocals and his folky guitar. The result, as a whole, is stunningly honest and strikingly therapeutic. 

"Cover to Cover," as the titular indicates, is a cover album, a labor of love for Asbury. For the uninitiated, Asbury was a former signee of Bethel Collective. Asbury's sophomore single for the label, "Reckless Love," became his first No. 1 single on the US Hot Christian Songs chart in March 2018 and went on to peak at No. 3 on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100, thus becoming his highest charting entry in his career. Billboard ranked the song as the biggest Christian song in 2018 and the fourth biggest Christian song of the 2010s. Though he has had various radio singles after "Reckless Love," no other song could match that success.

Taking a break from recording his original material, Asbury recorded a non-Christian cover album. However, many of them have inspirational messages. Lee Ann Womack's 2000 "I Hope You Dance" speaks of how we can face trials with a positive and hopeful disposition. Meanwhile, the Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris" has such an emotional resonance that it gives the most explicit articulation of what a soul that longs for love looks like. Asbury approaches Counting Crowns' "Round Here" with a Bruce Sringsteen-esque storytelling style; the struggles of the song's protagonist has never been more palatable. 

Shania Twain's "You're Still the One" is often noted for its pop-glossy bubbly sheen. With just his guitar, Asbury reconstructs this pop-country ballad into an edgy Neil Young-esque love song that comes with an unencumbered gravitas. Rivaling the Chicks for the best cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide," Asbury's take hits an emotional bullseye. After countless (and unsuccessful) tries to come up with yet another Christian hit, one is glad Asbury has taken a break to record this gem of an album. Listen to his gripping delivery, and believe in this man when he sings these heart-churning songs. 

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