IT'S ONLY YOU!

Karyn Williams is the oldest daughter of Orlando Magic Senior Vice President and founder Pat Williams. Karyn’s folks had five kids of their own and adopted fourteen from countries such as Brazil and the Philippines. Karyn relocated from Orlando to Nashville in 2007. She prayed: “Lord I promise to walk through every door that You open no matter what.” Her 2012 label debut for Inpop Records is ONLY YOU. In the liner notes she writes: “First and foremost, I want to give every bit of honor and praise to You Jesus for paving the way to make this record. My passion and goal in life is very simple-to point people to You. Thank You for allowing me to do that through these songs. I pray that every lyric I write, every song that I sing and every move that I make is acceptable in your sight.” Karyn was featured in Billboard magazine as one of the ‘Best Bets’ of 2012.


A nice pop song, ‘Call’, starts things off. The writers are her now husband Brian White, and CCM artist Ben Glover, who is best known to many for his song ’26 Letters’. ‘Call’ tells of God’s faithfulness: “To your lowest lows, to your highest highs/There’s nowhere you can go that He won’t find you/So just lay yourself down at His feet/Just open up your heart and let Him save you/Call, call, just call on Him (2X)/When your faith is broken and you’re on your knees again/When your hope is stolen and you just can’t find a friend/Call, call and He’ll come runnin’ (2X).” ‘Every Good Thing’ has a bit of a groove to it and has a similarity when it comes to vocal delivery, to Tammy Trent. It is a song of testimony: “You’re every bit of hope in the middle of a desperate prayer/When what I need is sweet release Lord, You take me there/And when the world is pressing down on me/You shake the ground and move my feet to a new place/And I feel so free.” ‘Rest in the Hope’ is the beautiful lead single inspired by her Dad’s fight with cancer: “You are the truth that never changes/You are the love that came to save us, I am Yours/Even through all my fear and sorrow/Facing a new unknown tomorrow I am sure/That I’m gonna rest in the hope that I’m Yours.” Her Dad is now in remission.

‘Just May Be’ finds Tim Lauer on piano and Matt Pierson on bass. I could hear Point of Grace or Avalon performing it. It is about adoption and is a call to action: “You just may be/The answer to a prayer, the one to meet a need/And you just may be the only heaven some will ever see/Oh the one who leads them to believe/The only heaven some will see, you just may be.” ‘Banner’ is a bouncy pop number, that is one of three on this project penned by Sarah Hart and Karyn Williams. The song speaks of how evil calls our name, trying to destroy us, but God relentlessly pursues us: “I wander all the time, I lose my place in line/Do You look down and wonder how I get so lost?/All the world’s a feast, yeah it’s so tempting/Maybe so but that’s what Your light is for/It’s finding me, I love the way it’s finding me.” One of the writers on ‘Waiting in the Rain’ is veteran CCM artist Chris Eaton. The song finds Blair Masters on piano and also uses strings, violins, viola, and cello. This ballad contains lyrics all of us can relate to at some point in our lives: “It’s all that I can do to get through one more night/If only I could feel Your arms holding me so tight/I’d be alright/You know I’m only human, made of flesh and bone/My heart is so afraid, have I been left here all alone?”

‘Hey There’ paints a picture of a person in a very vulnerable state: “Everyday it seems you’re lost in the mirror/There’s no reflection anymore, it’s disappeared/Does anybody ever think about who you are or what you’ve done?/Does the sun seem to fade as it’s going/Another day is gone without ever knowing/That the life you live means anything/To anyone?” Matthew 19:26 says: “But Jesus looked at them and said to them, ‘With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” ‘Possible’ is a danceable, techno type song that offers hope to us all: “Every dream, every plan is possible, possible/When it’s in bigger hands it’s unstoppable, stoppable/I’m living with a confidence/No matter what I’m up against/There is One who makes it all make sense/And with Him everything is possible.” ‘Enough for Me’ is a prayer for single-minded spiritual devotion: “You, all I need is You, Jesus/Let it be just You/Be enough for me/Take my heart Lord make it Yours/Know my thoughts, steal away my soul/Take my heart like only You could/Oh Lord.”

‘This is Freedom’ is one of the strongest tracks and is poetic praise for what Christ accomplished for us at Calvary: “Now these shackles that have held me down/Are unleashed by thorn and crown/Sweet forgiveness pouring from Your brow/Your life for mine, no greater love/And this is freedom, this is freedom/This is freedom, nailed to a tree/And this is freedom, oh blessed freedom/This is freedom, You died for me.” Jason Webb plays piano. Interestingly, the title track is last. ‘Only You’ conveys a desire to see the Lord clearly: “Standing at a crossroad in the dead of night/Waiting for the dark to fade into the light/Until there’s only You/’Til there’s only You.”

Karyn Williams’ musical influences growing up included Sandi Patty, Steven Curtis Chapman, the Judds, and Faith Hill. Karyn has a beautiful voice rich in tone, and she has a lot of good things to say. ONLY YOU is a promising label debut! She should have a promising career and ministry in Contemporary Christian Music. This album will leave you feeling ministered to and encouraged. She writes in the liner notes: “In the end there’s only one thing that matters-whether or not we knew and served Jesus Christ. I pray that we never lose sight of that. Dare to live!!!” I recommend ONLY YOU to fans of Kari Jobe, Cindy Morgan, and Carrie Underwood. I’m rating it 85%. For more info visit www.karynwilliams.com and www.inpop.com.