(Photo :Yancy "Roots for the Journey")

The golden rule for song writing is that it is not enough to just have a theologically erudite idea for a song.  Rather, it is the onus of the scribe to explain such a concept in a way even a child can understand.  If an idea is so abstract that a child cannot understand, it still is not ready to see the light of day.  It needs to go back to the drawing board where its meaning still needs to be teased out.  Crafting such simple tunes is singer-songwriter Yancy's forte.  However, simplicity does not mean a lack of profundity.  Rather, it's taking profundity and making it palpable to ordinary folks like you and me.  "Roots for the Journey" started off as a children's project where Yancy was drafting lullabies for her son.  Nevertheless, the project took on a different tangent when Yancy felt that the album had a loftier purpose.  Instead of just restricting her song's locus to children, she wanted to reach out to entire families.  She wanted families to make God's word the root for their journeys.  Thus, each of these 12 newly recorded songs have Scripture at its germane.

On "Roots for the Journey" Yancy has decided to work with producer Stephen Leiweke (Kelly Minter, Margaret Becker and Sara Groves) to create an organic and understated record that exudes a clemency that snugs at our hearts.  Through her voice and through the easy flowing nature of the songs, Yancy has captured that patented allure of Twila Paris cordially inviting us in to inhabit with her in her songs.  Of the 12 cuts, all of them are written by Yancy saved for two; the hymn "His Eye is on the Sparrow" and Jon Foreman's "White as Snow."  Among Yancy's self-composed paeans, fans of Avalon would have remembered "I Don't Want to Go." "I Don't Want to Go"was a number one song Yancy wrote for the group years ago. The album overtures with "Joy" which expresses a childlike trust in our heavenly Father appropriately enhanced by the puerile sounds of some delightful keyboard riffs.  The Nichole Nordeman balladry of "Safe" pearl strings together scripture passages such as Proverbs 18:10, Isaiah 41:10 and Psalm 121 to assure us that the refuge we find in the Lord does not tumble.

More scriptural moments abound with the Celtic-styled "Trust." Essentially "Trust" is Proverbs 3:5-6 set to music; this time Yancy trades lines with Mikechair's Sam Tinnesz.  Entering into worship territory is the piano-laden "Our God Reigns" which embeds the Lord's Prayer as the song's kernel.  This is the type of worship ballads Kari Jobe or Christy Nockels would love to cover.  Never one to be stifled into a stringent style, Yancy adorns the hymn "His Eye is on the Sparrow" with a bluesy piano makeover that is fetching to the ears.  And having been involved in children's ministry since 2006, "Creator" belies the material instincts of Yancy as only moms are the only ones who can pen a line like: " You know each freckle / and all my silly faces / You know all my pluses / You know my fears and struggles / Still You love me the same."

However, like singer-songwriters who write the lion's share of their album, some of the songs can flow into each other without much distinction.  Perhaps Yancy has tried too hard to make her lyrics flow out of Scripture, she has not spent as much time on some of the melodies.  A few tracks such as "Healer," "Call" and "Hope" are on the non-descript side just like their titles are.  Nevertheless, "Roots for the Journey" is a Godly record; Yancy is to be congratulated for keeping the Bible central in all the songs here.  And if families are to advance in blessing the world its roots need to be healthy; it needs to be constantly nourished by the word of God.