While the 2020 pandemic brought a lot of things to a halt, Brandon Hixson's music release schedule only sped up, with at least one full-length each year since then. His latest offering (and third official release in 2023 alone) is a CCM/pop album called Take Me to the River. As no surprise to anyone who's listened to any of his past material, the album shows that Hixson is quite clearly a competent singer and songwriter, with a solid grasp of melody and a passion for giving God the glory. "Crown Him (Lord of All)," for instance, is a near-epic worship song that shines light entirely on Christ's lordship and His gift of everlasting life. Our victory through Jesus also permeates the album, such as in songs like "When I Finally Make It Home" and "My Only Hope." Each song is solid - even the weaker tracks at least have some merit, causing next to no complaints about any individual song. However, the album does suffer as a whole from too much diversity. There were multiple times where I thought I had somehow started listening to a completely different album once a new song started. "Walking On Water" starts things off with a very synthy pop rock sound that is almost never revisited again, "The Good Old Days" is an upbeat country/bluegrass tune (with plenty of banjo and fiddle), "Saving Grace" is a '90s-inspired CCM ballad, and "Failure to a Dream" ends the record with disco and funk music. In all fairness, more than half of the record coheres quite nicely as a CCM/pop album, but several of the songs really stick out and feel completely out of place. But again, at the end of the day, if each song is taken individually for what it is, there's not really a bad one in the bunch. Brandon Hixson is a very talented singer/songwriter, and fans of artists such as Chris Tomlin and Lincoln Brewster should find a lot to like about Take Me to the River.

- Review date: 6/5/23, written by Scott Fryberger of Jesusfreakhideout.com