Wellspring in the Wilderness by Victoria Griffith - REVIEWED

My Thoughts:

Spring up oh Living Water

Spring up oh Well of Life
You alone can fill my emptiness
My Wellspring in the Wilderness   (Chorus of Title Track)

My dear readers, if you want to be encouraged, uplifted and blessed, you need a copy of Victoria Griffith's debut CD!!   This precious lady has a story that tells you where the wellspring in the wilderness occurred in her own life, and you will know beyond a doubt that she sings truth from the wellspring of her experience!  

Gifted with a voice that has blessed others throughout her lifetime, she is now following God's direction to embark on a musical career that will bring her voice to a wide audience!  This is indeed exciting, and I can't wait to hear her voice ringing out on Christian radio stations throughout the nation!!

Following is a press release from McCain Public Relations about Victoria:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (January 8, 2013) - The independently produced Wellspring in the Wilderness is set for release on March 5 from Victoria Griffith, a new artist from Alabama who, while recording the 10-song CD, learned she was pregnant with her first child, followed soon after with news of a brain tumor requiring immediate removal. Navigating this circuitous life path, Griffith has emerged successfully on the other side with a riveting testimony and a CD filled with songs that exude hope and grace, and perfectly showcase the singer's stunning, country-inflected vocals.

While working on the project, the singer began to get requests for her testimony. "My story seemed kind of boring," says Griffith, who had grown up in a godly family and asked Jesus to be her savior as a young child. "I teased my husband that I wished I had a testimony as good as his!" Griffith's husband, Ryan, had been diagnosed with and cured of a brain tumor before the couple married.

As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for; you just might get it.

Once, when in the studio laying down vocals for the album, Griffith experienced a strange twitching in her foot, but she dismissed it. A few weeks later, she and Ryan received the joyous news that they were going to be parents. Unfortunately, the twitching in Griffith's foot began again around the same time, and escalated to a seizure that landed her in the hospital.

Brain scans revealed the presence of a tumor - one that would have to be removed, and soon. There were the obvious risks associated with such a delicate procedure, but Griffith was also faced with the possibility of losing her newly conceived baby from the anesthesia.

"My parents and my husband were in the room when I received my diagnosis, and they were obviously distraught," Griffith recalls. "And for a few seconds I was scared, but I can honestly say that I had a real sense of peace that everything was going to be okay."

Thankfully, the surgeons were able to remove the entire tumor, which proved to be benign, and the baby came through the anesthesia just fine. Molly was born right on schedule, weighing in at 9 lbs. 4 oz. and completely healthy.

Because Griffith had finished laying down her vocal tracks prior to her surgery, Dove Award-winning songwriter and producer Michael Puryear, who also wrote eight of the CD's 10 songs, was able to keep progress on the project continuing as Griffith recovered.

"The first time I heard Victoria's voice I remember it being so gentle, and at the same time it had the strength and ability to communicate the depth of a song in a powerful way. She reminded me of Linda Ronstadt, Sheryl Crow, Sarah McLachlan, and a little bit of Carrie Underwood, all great singers," Puryear says. "What was most impressive to me was the kind and sweet way she treated everyone. I thought not only was she beautiful on the outside, but she was more so on the inside. I was so proud of the way she translated the songs I had written on her album. As I writer you want a singer that is as passionate about conveying the message as the writer is. I'm grateful to have been asked to produce her record…it was a labor of love."

Griffith and Puryear joined forces with some of Nashville's finest musicians to create a collection of music that covers a vast expanse of spiritual and emotional territory. While Griffith admits to being influenced by a wide variety of music genres, a cursory listen to Wellspring in the Wilderness will leave no doubt that she has planted herself firmly in the new country format. Fans of Martina McBride, Carrie Underwood, Sara Evans or Faith Hill will find a lot to like in Griffith's debut project.

She celebrates Christ's victory over death in the rollicking country rocker, "The Way of the Cross," and explores the exquisite and inexplicable joy that results from praising God through the dark times in the gentle worship ballad, "Offer My Praise." She's not afraid to acknowledge the reality of living in a world filled with heartbreak on the compelling track, "Don't Waste the Heartache." Musically, the songs range from radio-ready, up-tempo anthems like "Burden of Love" and "Let It Be For Love" to peace-evoking Gospel-tinged hymns such as the project's title cut, "Wellspring in the Wilderness." Griffith's rich southern vocals shine bright when it comes time to cut loose, as on the encouraging country anthem, "Heaven Awaits."

"Especially after what I had just been through, I really wanted this project to offer hope in Christ," Griffith says "That was the filter every song had to pass through. I wanted songs that real people going through life's everyday problems could relate to."

Griffith now knows what it feels like to have a "real testimony." After all, she's had a brain tumor and lived to tell about it. But she also realizes that she had a testimony all along.

"I had lived a really blessed life and God was in my heart, but somehow I didn't think that was enough," she says. "That kind of thinking is such an error. Of course, it is enough. Whatever you are going through, whether big or small, His grace is sufficient. There is hope in knowing that. It is like finding a wellspring in the wilderness."