Provident Label Group / Story House Collective
Release Date: November 3rd 2023
Reviewed by: Jonathan Andre
Matthew West – My Story, Your Glory (Expanded Edition) (Amazon mp3/iTunes)
Track Listing:
- My Story Your Glory (Micah Tyler Collab Version)
- Me On Your Mind (Anne Wilson Collab Version)
- You Changed My Name (Jon Reddick Collab Version)
- What A Day (Cochren & Co. Collab Version)
- I Trust Jesus (Acoustic) (feat. Jenn Johnson)
- Maker (feat. David Leonard)
- Before You Ask Her (Lulu West Collab Version)
- Greatest Hits (feat. Granger Smith)
- My Story Your Glory
- Hard Season
- What A Day
- Wonderful Life
- I Need Jesus
- While I Can
- Before You Ask Her
- Me Of All People
- Imperfections
- Future Looks Good
- The Last Song
- Praise The Lord (To God Be The Glory)
- Me On My Mind
- You Changed My Name
- Jesus Is Better
- Miracle Time
- Kingdom Things
- All I Need
Matthew West has been at it in the music industry for quite some time, and we as a site have been covering all things Matthew here. We even wrote a blog post not too long ago about his impact and influence on the music industry as a whole, along with an album review of his most recent album My Story Your Glory, as well as his current Christmas single Because of Bethlehem. We wrote a review on Brand New, his Christmas album We Need Christmas, as well as his standout singles ‘What If’ and ‘Truth Be Told’, with Lathan Warlick and Carly Pearce respectively. He’s just been a guy that’s been as unassuming as you can get- writing songs about other people’s experiences, all the while, reminding us to find each of our own personal moments in these songs that are just for Matthew as it has been for each of us that have journeyed with him all these years. It is in the process of writing not just for himself, but for others, that has made his decision when he started writing songs based off other people’s experiences from from 2010 onward, one of the most impactful and revolutionary things to happen in CCM, in a long, long time. Now Matthew has given us another reason to be joyous and excited about his music- an expanded version of My Story Your Glory– this expanded edition features a whopping 26 tracks, and features guest vocalists Anne Wilson, Micah Tyler, Cochren & Co., Jon Reddick and Lulu West, to name a few; to add on to guest vocalists on the original 2 disc version of My Story, Your Glory (Jenn Johnson, Granger Smith and David Leonard).
We reviewed the 2 disc original double album My Story, Your Glory here, and this expanded edition (from 22 songs to 26 songs, with a few additions and omissions as well) released on November 3rd 2023. For me, I appreciate a lot of these new, added collaborations- Micah Tyler (famous for songs like ‘Never Been a Moment’, ‘Amen’ and ‘Even Then’) lends his vocals to title track ‘My Story, Your Glory’, while up and coming singer-songwriter/rising country star Anne Wilson powerfully lends her vocals for the duet of ‘Me On Your Mind’, enhancing the original song at least by 10 fold- Anne herself is a co-writer on ‘Me On Your Mind’, and the song itself fits better as a duet, and who better do it, than someone who co-wrote on the song as well. Up and coming Gotee Records artist Jon Reddick powerfully lends his voice to ‘You Changed My Name’ (I myself prefer this duet as Jon adds a gospel sound to a song that is already worshipful, thereby adding another dimension to the track), whilst rising band Cochren and Co. delivers soulful moments on ‘What a Day’ (however, Michael Cochren’s voice is unfortunately a tad similar that of Matthew West’s, therefore their vocals werent’ as distinct, thereby leading to the issue that Cochren & Co’s presence on the track didn’t add much to the track itself. Lulu West (Matthew’s daughter) then lends her vocals on the backing of ‘Before You Ask Her’, a poignant track about treating girls right, and being respectful as a man in dating situations. The rest of the album is pretty much the same as the original (except with the omission of ‘How Good of God’ entirely, and an acoustic version of ‘I Trust Jesus’ instead of the normal rendition on the 2 disc standard edition), but by and large, these were the welcomed additions on an already powerful and compelling album, quite possibly my favourite Matthew West album I’ve heard since 2017’s All In.
This expanded album is a great add-on to the original 22 track version of the album that released in early 2023. Is it really needed though? Not necessarily, but I’m glad they did create new, alternate, duets of already powerful and emotive songs. While there’s no real reason why they omitted ‘How Good Of God’, that is actually a minor quibble- aside from that, My Story, Your Glory (Expanded Edition) is still one of my favourite albums of 2023 (and even 2024). Well done Matthew for these worshipful tunes. Maybe an actual remix album in the future? That’ll be nice!
5 songs to listen to: Me On Your Mind (Anne Wilson Collab Version), Hard Season, Praise the Lord (To God Be The Glory), You Changed My Name (Jon Reddick Collab Version), Miracle Time
Score: 5/5
RIYL: Maddie & Tae, Micah Tyler, Sanctus Real, for KING & COUNTRY, Carly Pearce, Lady A, Florida Georgia Line, Sidewalk Prophets