JAY ALLEN

                                                                "No Prayer Like Mama's"

                                                                ONErpm

There are many ways that an artist can stand out from the pack and create a substantial amount of buzz, but the purest way to truly make your mark is to embed your songs with transparent honesty so that they resonate with listeners in such a way that you make a lasting impact by allowing them to peak into who you are as a person.

Jay Allen, who many will recognize from his run on The Voice and his turn as a Sirius XM Highway Find with his song “Sounds Good to Me,” has certainly found raw honesty to be his healing method as he’s opened his heart to expose the tough feelings that came with losing his mother to Alzheimer’s.  

2018’s “Blank Stares” powerfully paid tribute to his her, and he now returns with the equally as powerful, “No Prayer Like Mama’s.”

The softly tempo driven, toe tapping beat surrounds Allen and allows him to wear his heart on his sleeve as he wraps his naturally gravel tilt around lyrics that vividly paint the moments when mothers pray during their son’s life, revealing that it’s never ending! I.E. when you come up to bat in little league, when you’re a teenager staying out a little too late and she’s wanting you to get home safe, when she wants you to meet the right girl and start a family together, etc.

Allen also opens his family’s photo album to present a glimpse into who his own mom was when he praises her in the chorus as being the one saying grace at dinner and telling God her dreams, while sharing that the best ways to describe her are as an angel and a saint.

But it’s when he slides into the bridge that the full spectrum heart-tug arrives. He moves away from reminiscing about how it used to be and places us back in the here and now when he sings of her prayers still being second to none even though she’s now in heaven kneeling beside the throne; a comforting vision that he reiterates when he sings in the final moments of the song, “she’s watching over us.”

Having lost my own mother, I can attest that songs like this strike the right chords in the listener heart and deliver a misty feel to their eyes as it resonates deeply within them as they begin to look back over their own moments when mama was right there by there side praying for the best outcomes. 

Jay Allen is certainly one of country music’s most buzzed about artists and it’s easy to see why with songs like this. However, his admirable dedication to raising awareness of Alzheimer's is what cuts through all the hoopla’s fan fair and noise and connects us straight with the heart of who Jay Allen is.

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)

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