Edge Of The World

After 30-plus years in Christian music, Randy Stonehill took a loving look backwards on 2002’s *Edge of the World*. In the early ‘70s, Stonehill and mentor Larry Norman pioneered what was then called Jesus Music. He explicitly evokes those exciting days in “We Were All So Young,” a nostalgic singalong featuring guest vocals by Norman, Phil Keaggy, Barry McGuire and other old-timers. But this album is as much about contemporary struggles as cherished memories. Stonehill’s persona as a fallible but always-striving believer is expressed with poignancy and humor in “That’s the Way It Goes” and the album’s stirring closer, “Prisoner of Hope.” “Jayney” offers consolation in times of need, while “Take Me Back” (a duet with Christian thrush Sara Groves) describes a family reconciliation. The sweetness of tunes like “Last Song for Michael” gets some balance from the title track, a brooding Delta blues-style number. The album is mostly acoustic-based, with Randy’s folk-rooted guitar and Baron Miller’s tangy drum work defining the sound.