Okay, I admit it. Contemporary Christian is a genre I’m not especially familiar with. However, having said that, it seems to me that putting this CD in a niche and leaving it there is missing the point.

First, this is good music, beautifully produced. Second, Toni Becker can sing! Third, all the songs on this CD are original and have been written by a spiritual seeker. The images Toni uses to tell her stories aren’t self-limiting. To her credit as a writer, they remain open to interpretation, allowing the listener to go from the concrete, to a world of spiritual metaphor and larger meaning.

Toni’s voice is warm and gentle as she sings a sad, joyous, loving tribute to a dying friend in Mary's Gone To Heaven Rainbow. The yearning words and melody of Pursue the Search, conjure images that can lead the listener to think of the questing of the Grail knights, or to a modern searcher, looking for meaning beyond the self.

Crossroads is the story of Toni’s own search. Tie Us To Your Heart is a song about her marriage, yet the words are transparent enough that the song takes on an almost mythical, larger than life quality. In Any Road Will Do, Toni talks about drifting through life, aimless, without purpose and asks, “Don’t you have anywhere to go on purpose? What makes you so certain all roads just lead to roads and any road will do?”

Try this one out. This is good work, on many levels.