It’s been said that a great book or a great song, a great painting, even a great line of poetry has the ability to look right through you. The title track of Brad Reynold’s most recent recording, The Prodigal, certainly qualifies. From its very first line, “you’re the sweet surrender stirring just beneath my skin,” you get a sense of its deep inward gaze; and you welcome the scrutiny.

For all its power to persuade, all its charm and penetration, and for all Brad himself has invested in it, listening to a Brad Reynolds song is one of the easiest things you will ever do. He fuses triumph and redemption and yet his songs do not preach with a heavy hand. They simply invite, and with an honesty and transparency, with an ease of spirit and voice that is rare even among artists. You may get a sense that Brad has suffered for his music, that he has purchased each song at a cost. Even so, his voice, the production, and the lyric itself are weightless and magnetic like his love of God. This is not an easy thing to achieve. Having spent almost thirty years learning and exercising the craft, his songs reflect this continuing love affair.

Born in Maryland, Brad’s family moved to Greenville, SC when he was four. Three years later he started learning and playing the guitar. Years later, with a deep itch to write and perform music (and recognizing a calling in his heart to do so) he moved to Nashville, TN in 2003. But his ambitions never included notoriety and fortune. He just wanted to write songs. And that’s the essence of Brad Reynolds. He has few pretensions, if any. Like their author, his songs are transparent and honest, redemptive, full of hope, and accessible at all levels of culture. Brad and his wife Kelley live in Spring Hill, Tennessee with their five beautiful children.