My Savior

Songs of faith have long been part of Carrie Underwood’s live repertoire, frequently making their way into the country superstar’s touring sets and special appearances. With *My Savior*, Underwood releases her first studio gospel album, pulling together 13 of her favorite hymns and faith-based songs and reimagining them as her own. Tracks include spiritual staples like “Amazing Grace” and “How Great Thou Art,” as well as reprisals of some of Underwood’s best-loved live performances, like a studio version of “Softly and Tenderly,” which she famously performed at the 2017 CMA Awards following the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting. Underwood co-produced *My Savior* with David Garcia, a Dove Award-winning songwriter and producer who also co-produced Underwood’s 2018 LP *Cry Pretty*. Gospel legend CeCe Winans joins Underwood on \"Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” lending her widely beloved voice to the hymn’s second verse. Across *My Savior*, Underwood, who also arranged each song, explores a number of musical styles, showing that her reach extends far beyond country music. Below, Underwood walks Apple Music through several of the album’s key tracks. **Jesus Loves Me; Nothing but the Blood of Jesus** “‘Jesus Loves Me’ is one of the first songs I remember singing as a little girl, and now my own kids love to sing it. It’s just pure and simple and sweet, and felt like the perfect way to introduce this album, with the legendary Buddy Greene on harmonica. ‘Nothing but the Blood of Jesus’ is another song that is really special to me. It’s traditionally a bit slow, but my co-producer David Garcia and I wanted to give it some tempo and movement. From the moment we decided to record it for the album, we heard Bear \[Rinehart\]’s voice on it. The fact that we actually got to have his voice on harmonies is a thrill for me.” **Great Is Thy Faithfulness (feat. CeCe Winans)** “CeCe is simply gospel royalty. Her voice is a gift from God and she is like a ray of sunshine when she walks into the room. The message of ‘Great Is Thy Faithfulness’ is so powerful, and you can tell CeCe means every word when she sings it. Getting to have her on this album and getting to spend time with her is just magical.” **How Great Thou Art** “This was an easy choice for me; I knew it had to be included on this album. It’s one of my favorite hymns and has so much personal history for me, getting to perform it with Vince \[Gill\] years ago and then to revisit it now.” **The Old Rugged Cross** “When I think of ‘The Old Rugged Cross,’ I can hear certain people that I can remember singing with in church when I was young. It’s another beautiful traditional song that I sing to my boys.” **Softly and Tenderly** “I sang ‘Softly and Tenderly’ on the \[2017\] CMA Awards for the ‘In Memoriam’ segment, and it was a very emotional moment in the show. I think it brought a lot of healing into the room that night, and I hope it will continue to bring peace to people who need it.” **Amazing Grace** “I almost didn’t include ‘Amazing Grace,’ because it’s a song that so many people have recorded. When we were picking the final songs, my co-producer David Garcia asked me if there was anything I thought people would be disappointed by or miss if I didn’t do it, and there was my answer. It’s special. There’s a reason people continue to record it after all these years.”

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Carrie Underwood, despite her pop leanings, fits as a traditionalist, and her own faith has been visible from the beginning of her career; “Jesus, Take the Wheel” more properly announced her arrival than did the “American Idol”-driven “Inside Your Heaven”.