Customer Reviews

I Am Sure

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For those who are familiar with popular music, Richie Furay hardly needs an introduction. He was a founding member of Buffalo Springfield, Poco and the Souther Hillman Furay Band, and as a member of Buffalo Springfield, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

As significant as all that may be, since the early 80's he has devoted himself to being the Pastor of a Calvary Chapel church in Boulder, Colorado. Fortunately, for fans of his music, and music lovers in general, he still finds the time to record music.

Almost thirty years ago you could hear Richie Furay singing praises to God on some of the early Maranatha music recordings. In his latest recording, I Am Sure, he still sings like someone who is passionate about his relationship with Jesus Christ. These uplifting, Scripture-inspired songs of praise and worship are done in Richie's signature style.

The songs are guitar-driven and somewhat reminiscent of the light country rock and folk that Furay helped pioneer with Poco. There is the trademark Lap Steel guitar sound of former Poco-mate Rusty Young. Instruments like dobro, banjo, mandolin, and fiddle are more prominent on the more acoustic, Americana-sounding songs like the delightful "So Far To Go" and "City of God." "Father Of Glory" is more of a rock song that has some great guitar work.

Lyrically, many of the songs are Psalm-like declaring the character and glory of God, confessing need and inviting the listener to enter into praise. "Overflow" is a beautiful song of thanksgiving: "You are so strong, though I am weak / You know my heart, every beat / So when I say, I love You so / With thanksgiving let my life Overflow." "Precious Blood" could be sung in a congregational setting. "Father we gather before you today / Humbly we come to worship and pray / Your word is piercing, convicting the soul / Your Precious Blood makes us whole." Each song is filled with Scriptural truth that can be a source for meditation and reflection.

All the songs are written my Richie Furay and writing-partner and Calvary Chapel worship leader Scott Sellen. Richie has assembled an outstanding supporting cast, which includes contributions from former band-mates Jim Messina, Chris Hillman, Paul Cotton and Tom Stipe.

I Am Sure is a fine example of songwriting that incorporates Scriptural truths with expressions of praise and worship. It has an organic, almost classic-rock feel that is a great alternative to the many similar-sounding praise and worship recordings that are so popular today. It would be wonderful if more Christian artists followed the originality found here.

In My Father's House, Richie's previous recording, which is similar in sound and style, is also available from FridayMusic.

This Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame star from

Buffalo Springfield has a voice that just

gets stronger and purer. Richie is just

awesome on every song.

After listening to "I Am Sure" over and over,

I can't settle on just one or two favorites, all

the songs are great. Each one is written with

love and praise to our Lord and Savior, but

with banjo's, steel guitars, mandolin and

friends like Chris Hillman, Jim Messina

joining in on some songs, it's anything but

typical gospel music.

I thought Richie's last CD "In My Father's House"

was great and couldn't wait for his next CD - well

Richie has come up with another winner. As a

matter of fact I recommend this CD highly and if

you don't have "In My Father's House" add

that CD to your list of must haves....

You can't go wrong with "I Am Sure" and

"In My Father's House" both are great CD's.

I highly recommend both of them.

Jan Woodyard

I've been following Richie's music and songwriting for years since the days of Buffalo Springfield, Poco, Souther-Hillman-Furay and all those solo efforts. He hasn't lost his beauty or grace in tone or texture, the country roots are visible on this new Gospel Album.

Some truly beautiful tracks like the melodic "Overflow"- have all the hallmarks of a great Furay song alongside the more uptempo title track- "I Am Sure".

I am sure that God has truly blessed this man's wonderful talent and beautiful country voice.Great to see ya back Richie.

"I will sing unto the LORD,because he hath dealt bountifully with me." - Psalm 13:6

I am very lucky. Calvary Chapel Broomfield is my home church and Pastor Ritchie is our Pastor. I don't get to attend much, as I am out of town alot. This is my lifeline to my church. You may have seen me rockin' down the road to this CD. It is a "Must Have"! Ritchie and Scott have outdone themselves on this one, and their faith shines through. If you can attend our church, this is how our music praise and worship sounds - and you can sing with the artist and writers weekly - if you cannot attend, this CD is a chance to share our worship to Our Father God and Jesus Christ. You WILL be moved and won't be sorry!

This album has been a breath of fresh air for me. I took a chance on it, and it has proven to be a real winner; a great album full of songs that are a pleasure to hear again and again. I think the reviewer Michael Dalton has done a fine job of describing the music, so I would like to focus in this review on the production values.

For me `I Am Sure' goes a long way to restoring my faith in Contemporary Christian Music; or at least restore significant hope. With undoubted exceptions CCM has, I believe, been weighed down by all manner of things, of which I find three main areas: 1) commercialization, 2) artificiality and a lack of roots, and 3) all kinds of phobias about music itself.

None of these problems apply to our man Richie Furay, who delivers some pure gold here. This music rings true as authentic, is spiritually focused and genuine, and is without the labouring self-consciousness I have often heard in CCM.

1) Richie may have had issues with commercial success in his years in the music industry, but seems now content to just play and sing with that wonderful voice for no other reasons than the pure pleasure of doing what one is called and gifted to do. "Success" would appear to be a slippery slope for those running hard after it, and even though Richie richly deserves commercial success I don't think he's worrying about it anymore.

2) This is the real deal. This is not someone trying to sound Country-Rock, or jumping on a bandwagon of convenience. Richie Furay is someone who helped DEFINE Country-Rock! He has a perspective and a musical history in this music like few others, and when he's playing and singing this music he's doing it from the roots upward.

3) I really appreciate the musical elements unashamedly on display on this recording. Richie is a Pastor, yet thankfully is not afraid to let the instruments and the players shine. We can hear great guitar sounds throughout, and Rusty Young's tasty slide licks all over the place. They were undoubtedly having a great time doing this record, and it has a genuine warmth. The whole thing is fused together with an infectious joyful vibe. There's no self-conscious, apologetic, half-hearted music to be found here!

Nor is this music a cheap religious/political tract; there are no agendas, and it's baggage-free. This album really IS what it appears to be: the natural overflow of a spiritual man endowed with genuine musical gifts.

Thanks Richie for the memorable songs, and for doing it from the heart; unashamed of your musical gift. I hope the CCM community will take a good look at everything on display here and do some heartsearching - maybe even learn some lessons.

Great disc overall. First couple of songs are ok, but then the music is great. Much better than last solo attempt. Musically great, spiritually on target.