Warner Bros.

Spiritual music isn’t just for churches. The most powerful sort sometimes occurs on long marches toward freedom or defending those in need. Robert Randolph’s third studio effort is a pro-love, anti-war, unabashedly God-centric, street ready hymnal that pulls from a century of African-American music and social discourse to produce one of the finest Christian rock-soul albums in decades. Cleanly captured by producer T-Bone Burnett, this draws from sources as diverse as Rev. Gary Davis, Barry White and R. Kelly; a deeply rooted, thoroughly contemporary sound that nails the modern Sly & The Family Stone vibe that Randolph has been chasing for years. Guest turns from Leon Russell and Ben Harper invigorate this album, which includes primo covers of Prince, John Lennon and Bob Dylan gems.