Rarely has an album been more appropriately titled than David Phelps’ new collection “The Voice.” Not that it’s a title the Texas born singer wears comfortably. In fact, he humbly deflects the praise routinely heaped on him by people who are in awe of his amazing instrument, but never has that glorious tenor been captured more effectively than on “The Voice.”
In addition to several compelling new songs,” Phelps interprets some of pop music’s most beloved classics, breathing new life into such favorites as “Unchained Melody” and “I Want to Know What Love Is” with that inimitable voice. He also serves up an impressive rendition of opera legend Luciano Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma” and a soul-stirring version of the hymn “Angel Band.”
Phelps says he had two different reasons for deciding to record this type of record. “On a spiritual level, I feel like God has been growing me and my eyes have been opened too how big God is and the different ways that he works,” says Phelps of his decision to record a project with more expansive themes. “He’s in every part of our lives, in the love we have for each other and our wives and kids and everything. Coming to those realizations as an artist, I want to sing about all those kind of things. That’s the place that I’ve been led to on this record.”
On an artistic level, Phelps felt challenged to record songs of the utmost quality, whether he wrote them or revived a standard. “I had someone say to me one at the listening party for one of my previous records ‘You know what? You haven’t found the song that’s as good as the voice,’” Phelps recalls of the conversation that was both flattering and frustrating at the same time. “So we went into this project determined to find the best songs. Whether they had been written 100 years ago or a brand new song, we just wanted to record the best songs and create a platform that I can sing on. I think we did that.”
For more than a decade, Phelps has honed that ability to identify and deliver great songs, and it has earned him a reputation as one of the Christian industry’s most versatile voices. Phelps says he can recall the specific moment he knew he wanted to be a singer. “It was ninth grade. I remember the night,” he says. “It was a single moment in time. I was singing in Tomball, Texas where I grew up at a city-wide concert. I sang and when I finished, they immediately burst into a standing ovation. I walked off the stage and my choir director said, ‘You know you’re getting a standing ovation.’ I stuck my head in the slit of the curtain in the middle of the stage, just so I could see it and it was a great feeling. Afterwards it was just me and my dad in the car and I said ‘Dad, this is what I’m going to do the rest of my life.’”
A graduate of Baylor University with a degree in vocal performance, Phelps gained acclaim during his eight years with the Gaither Vocal Band, before leaving to resume his solo career with a deal on Word Records. Noted as a lyric tenor for his ability to sing in a high tessitura for sustained periods, Phelps has consistently garnered rave reviews for his three octave range. Beyond his obvious technical skill, what sets Phelps apart is the heart and emotional weight he brings to each performance. More than just a great singer, he has the ability to really connect with a lyric and convey every nuance of feeling in a great song.
“Musically we decided to go for a cinematic approach,” he says of working with award-winning producer Monroe Jones who, along with David and keyboardist Jeff Roach, wrote all the orchestrations on “The Voice.” “I think we were really successful in doing that in the new and the old songs. It really feels very epic in the approach.”
Phelps tackles the Italian language in covering Puccini’s “Nessum Dorma” and reinvents Foreigner’s 80s rock classic “I Want to Know What Love Is.” He also delivers a beautiful rendition of the oft-recorded Righteous Brothers’ hit “Unchained Melody,” which sets a new standard for the classic ballad. His young son, Grant, joins his dad on the timeless hymn “Angel Band,” one of the album’s most poignant moments.
One of Phelps favorites on the new disc is “I Just Call You Mine,” a gorgeous tune, penned by Dennis Matkosky. “I am so honored to have this song,” enthuses Phelps. “It’s a mid tempo love song. It’s about talking to someone you love and the chorus says ‘Everyone who sees you, wants to get to know you. Everyone who knows you always has a smile. You’re a standing ovation, after years of waiting for you to shine. Everyone calls you amazing, but I just call you mine.’ It is a wonderful song!”
An accomplished songwriter in his own right, Phelps wrote three new songs for “The Voice”—“Higher,” “End of the Line” and “Fly to You.” He also penned the lyrics to an arrangement of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” to create the hauntingly beautiful ballad “Moonlight.” “I took that song, which is a piano song and rearranged it and added lyrics to it,” says Phelps. “That lyric is really about loss, about a man waking up in the middle of the night and realizing that the one he was dreaming about isn’t there with him anymore. It turned out very cool.”
Among the other new songs is “End of the Line,” which Phelps says he wrote after going to the movies with his wife Lori to see the James Bond flick “Casino Royale.” “I’m a huge James Bond fan. My dad and I used to watch Bond movies together,” he says. “When ‘Casino Royale’ came out I went to see it and I fell in love with it. As my wife and I were walking out of the theater, I heard the closing song to the movie and about half way through it I said, ‘This is my new record! This is the sound I want right here. I’ve got to do something as cinematic as this song.’ So I actually went home and wrote ‘End Of The Line.’”
Guitar legend Duane Eddy, a big fan of Phelps’ music, contributes his talents to “End of the Line” and “Higher.” “I cannot wait to get on stage and sing that song,” he says of “Higher.” “It just absolutely rocks. It almost sounds like a dance track. It has tons of energy.”
The final track on the album, “Your Love,” is a dream come true for a fledgling songwriter. “About seven years ago, this guy came up to my wife in a grocery store parking lot here in the Nashville area and handed her a cassette of this song and said, ‘I wrote this song a while ago and I think your husband would sound great on it,’” recalls Phelps. “So she took the cassette and brought it home, and I have hung onto this song for seven years. It has come up at every project that we have done in the past seven years as a possibility but has never fit. Once again I brought it up and everybody just fell in love with it, so I finally get to record this song. It’s an amazing prayer, really a classic kind of song.”
In a career filled with great music and memorable performances, “The Voice” stands out as a project that will not only appeal to David Phelps’ longtime fans in the Christian marketplace, but as an amazing body of work sure to earn him new fans as well. “I feel like that it is a natural step artistically,” he says. “We started down this road on ‘Life is a Church’ and the title of that record says it all. I want to sing about my experiences in life, and they cover more than what goes on on Sunday mornings. Artistically and as a human being, I want to expand my reach and I want to make good art. That is my desire as an artist---to leave the world with something better than what I came into the world with.”
With “The Voice,” David Phelps does just that----yet again.
