Sara Groves - Tell Me What You Know

Producer:  Brown Bannister
Record Label:  INO Records
Website:  http://www.saragroves.com

Sara Groves is really one of the few critically acclaimed artists that has amassed a fairly decent fanbase.  She debuted in 2000 with Conversations, and she went on to release five more critically acclaimed releases.  2005’s Add to the Beauty saw Groves partner with producer-extraordinaire Brown Bannister to create a bit more of a pop based record which would hopefully help her find a nice place at Christian radio.  While that album, like all of Groves’ albums, was claimed as one of the year’s best - one couldn’t help but notice that Groves was trying a bit too hard to earn that mass following that the likes of Natalie Grant or Amy Grant have attained.  For Tell Me What You Know, Sara has again teamed up with Brown Bannister.  However, this time it really feels like she’s found a great bond between the radio-friendly and the artistic heart-felt songs.  In fact, unlike past Groves releases, Tell Me What You Know has very few ballads, and her upbeat numbers really are fantastically crafted pop songs.  Many of these songs are just strong from start to finish, such as the debut single and one of the strongest cuts on the album “When the Saints”, as well as other cuts like “In the Girl There’s a Room”, “Songs For My Sons”, and “It Might Be Hope”.  Lyrically, the album centers around the theme of hope - most notably in extremely hopeless situations.  These songs were birthed out of reflections of harsh and sad times evoked by Hurricane Katrina, human trafficking, genocide, and more.  These themes are most notably found in key songs like “Honesty”, “Say a Prayer”, “I Saw What I Saw”, and “When the Saints”.  Tell Me What You Know is Sara Groves at her best.  The songs are charming, music is catchy, and Groves’ vocals are spot on.  This isn’t just one of the best recordings to release this year, this is a benchmark recording for Groves as an artist.

Purchase Tell Me What You Know.