Concert and CD Review: The Akins – Eyes On the Road (Fayetteville, GA)

by | Aug 31, 2017 | CD Reviews, Concert Review

During their yearly homecoming concert at Harp’s Crossing Baptist, the Akins celebrated a huge milestone – 30 years of ministry. The ministry started with father, David Akin, and grew to include all three of his sons, Dave, Nick, and Eli, until last year when Dave left to pursue training at New Orleans Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Part of this celebration included the release of a new project entitled Eyes On The Road.

I’ll start with the CD. With ten original songs written by the members of the group and Eli’s wife Whitney, this project continues to provide songs that come from the family’s own experiences which are deeply relevant to our own everyday lives and faith. There is a wide variety of themes, from a song written from Jesus’ perspective (Dying To Be With You), to marriage and the family (I Need Your Love to Love Her, The Lullaby), to the daily walk of faith (Eyes On the Road, Seek First, God Revive Us, As For Me and My House), to God’s promises and provision (You’ll Never Break a Promise, Down to Nothing, It All Comes Back).

All of the vocals and instrumentation come from the three talented men: David – Vocals, Piano, Bass, Strings, Organ; Nick – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Drums, Percussion; Eli – Vocals, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Mandolin, Piano, Strings. The only extra musical contributor was pastor Dennis Watson, the whistler on “Seek First!” While the musicianship and production work are outstanding on the project, the real value is the content of the songs. The full lyrics are included in a booklet inside one of the pockets of the album’s cover.

Producers: Nick Akin and The Akins
Song Titles(Writers): Eyes On The Road (David, Nick, Eli, Whitney); Seek First (Nick, Eli); I Need your Love to Love Her (David, Nick, Eli, Whitney), You’ll Never Break a Promise (Nick); Dying to Be With You (Nick); Down to Nothing (Nick); The Lullaby (Eli, Whitney); God Revive Us (Nick); It All Comes Back (David, Nick, Eli, Whitney); As For Me and My House (David, Nick)
Release Date: August 27, 2017 – Available from the Artist and on iTunes
Rating: 5 stars

The concert featured nine of the songs from the new album (all except The Lullaby) and ten more, including I Want My Stage To Be An Altar, Great Is Thy Faithfulness, Victory In Jesus, The Star Spangled Banner (a capella), and more.  Other special moments included songs from two of Eli and Nick’s daughters, a segment that featured a video that was made of David’s father who passed away recently, and two songs that were sung with the church’s choir. It was a long concert – sung without a break for the guys – with an altar call at the end where at least 6 people raised their hands that they had accepted Jesus as their Savior.

Here are some of the videos I was able to capture:

Jesus Fills My Need – What better way to start the service than with a song that David used when he launched his ministry thirty years ago. He used the original track and the song is beautiful in its simplcity.

Seek First – This is one of the songs from the new album. Be sure to watch for the whistling pastor!!   

Great Is Thy Faithfulness – This is a wonderful rendition of the classic hymn. I’ve left some introductory comments in at the beginning of the video because they are so pertinent to this ministry!

The Star Spangled Banner – I’m going to include this video because the song is so beautifully done! I don’t do a good job of holding the camera still as I am in the process of standing up or while I am standing when it’s still attached to the monopod but maybe you can overlook that while you listen!

I Need Your Love to Love HerThis is actually my favorite song from the new album. I’m sure these lyrics will speak to many, many marriages!  At the beginning of the video, Nick is speaking about Whitney for her help on this and other songs on the album. Although Nick is an awesome drummer he isn’t drumming during their concerts now. He did play a cajon on this song.

Good to Know It’s Not the End/I’ve Come Too Far to Look Back –   Good to Know was a song from one of their earliest albums and is the perfect song to lead in to the tribute to David’s father, Kelly. Several months ago they had recorded I’ve Come Too Far with him, which is one of the songs he has typically sung at Akins homecoming concerts in the past. It was so touching that they were able to use the video to include him in this year’s concert after his passing.

Edit:   CD Baby has put “videos” on YouTube of the songs from this album.   If you’ll search YouTube using Akins and the song name or even the name of the album, Eyes On the Road, you should be able to find each of them and play them to hear the songs.   This is the link for The Lullaby.

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Diana Brantley

Diana Brantley

Diana is from the Atlanta, Georgia area and is a relatively recent southern gospel fan, having started listening avidly about 15 years ago. With easy access to eastern Alabama, southeastern Tennessee and north and central Georgia, Diana attends as many concerts as her schedule allows to see a wide variety of artists.

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