It’s good to see a “return,” even though he really hasn’t gone anywhere, of the the very talented and thought-provoking Warren Barfield.
The North Carolina-born singer/songwriter/guitarist, who was very impressive back when he opened for FFH in Lancaster as a newcomer in late 2003, is back on the Christian music charts with his newly-released “Worth Fighting For.”
It includes the song “Love is Not a Fight,” which is new this week to WJTL-FM’s top-40 charts and is getting what they call “serious airplay” elsewhere.
The new record is Barfield’s third, and anyone who remembers the great song “My Heart Goes Out” from his 2003, self-titled debut album knows this is a performer who deserves a wider audience.
Barfield says on his Web page how “true Christianity is about being Christ to others. If we really believe in the whole thing, if we really believe He came all that distance and gave His life because He loved us, it’d change the way we love each other.”
And that was the theme of the catchy, haunting “My Heart Goes Out,” a should-I-stay-or-should-I-go internal debate over sharing Christ with a visibly upset young lady just a table away.
Now, “Love is Not a Fight” is about the lengths all of us should go for those we love.
And like all of Barfield’s songs, it’s performed with a voice that’s at once distinctively his but also in the tradition of great folk-rock sensibility.
Here’s a man who has obviously thought about some things, and has the proper delivery system — i.e., his voice and guitar skills — to bring it home.
It’s produced by no less than Christian music hero Charlie Peacock, among others.
In the sometimes-crowded field of contemporary Christian music, where some talented people aren’t able to continue as full-time performers, it’s awfully good to see that Barfield is not only not getting lost in the pack, he also looks like he’ll be winning bunches of new fans in 2008.