Love Remains

Where her Lady Antebellum bandmate Charles Kelley decided to continue their band's pop-oriented country sound on his 2016 solo album, The Driver, Hillary Scott opted for something introspective for her own 2016 project, Love Remains. Teaming up with her family -- mother Linda Davis, father Lang Scott, and sister Rylee -- Scott decided to cut a modern gospel album with Ricky Skaggs acting as producer. Some of Love Remains certainly contains churchy elements -- a gospel choir graces "The River," there's a version of the old hymn "Come Thou Fount" -- but this isn't an album that trades in overt religious tropes. Thanks in part to Skaggs' understated production, Love Remains is a subtle, moving work occupying a common ground between contemporary country, modern worship, and traditional gospel. By emphasizing the quiet moments, it's an album that undersells its big emotional showcases, including "Thy Will," a song Hillary Scott wrote in the wake of a miscarriage in 2015. Such confessionals give the record a rich resonance, painting the personal as a spiritual matter, a trick that's rarely attempted on country gospel albums. Scott pulls this off because Love Remains is indeed a family affair -- she gains sustenance from the very presence of her parents and sister, who provide not only harmonies but a palpable bond of tradition -- and it's also a record that prizes intimacy. Because of this, Love Remains can be appreciated as a soothing bath but also rewards a close listen, a listen that reveals the deep feeling underpinning every track. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine