While Card and Talbot have recorded each other's songs for the project, the tracks are given new, anointed life by virtue of the performers' deep regard for each other's words and their respective walks of faith. Most significantly, perhaps, Brother to Brother offers an important reminder that the Evangelical and Catholic faiths can coexist and learn from one another.
Michael Card has made more than a dozen recordings, written four books, and is widely respected as an evangelical theologian. John Michael Talbot's musical background reaches back three decades, with country-rock beginnings, an eventual conversion to Catholicism, authorship of a dozen books on theology, and the recording of over thirty albums of music for worship. Most surprising about this collection is that in working together two voices become one, with a unifying message that is never addressed directly at all. These are not two men trying to bring divergent groups together; they are merely performing each other's best work to bring listeners closer to understanding life's mysteries.
Mystery, in fact, is a theme explored more than once in the collection. "The Mystery," two-thirds of the way into the disc, features the first real departure from the soft, acoustic tone set at the opening. After a dramatic rest, it's a bit of a shock to hear drums so prominently, but that's as close to "rock" as the record gets.
Nonetheless it does have a contemporary feel. The thick guitar riffs, provided by Phil Keaggy and Wes King, on the opener "One Faith," propel that track forward, accentuated by a brisk string arrangement. "Healer of My Soul" has the soothing effect of a monastic chant. A Celtic influence is heard on Talbot's "Glory to Thee (O God of Life)," and Talbot added Appalachian fiddle to Card's "The Word" to convey its purity.
These cultural influences are explored on other tracks as well, providing some of the record's most beautifully realized moments. Of "The Word," Talbot says the duo's vocals lie somewhere between a Russian orthodox choir and the Beach Boys. Another pop artist one might recall while listening to the album is Dan Fogelberg.
Closing out the disc is a fully orchestrated version of Card's "Come to the Table" with sweeping instrumentation that builds to an exhilarating crescendo and brings this collaboration to a thoroughly satisfying conclusion. Clearly these two are true "brothers" with an abundantly spiritual and musical connection.
Stephen L. Betts is a Nashville-based music journalist and songwriter.
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