Top tracks: "Kingdom Come," "What Love Really Means," "Tell It Again"
When her dream of playing college basketball didn't pan out, JJ Heller picked up a guitar and started writing music. Good thing. I have no clue if she could hit a 15-foot jump shot, but she sure can nail a song or two … or 10, as she has here. Sweet (but not saccharine), folksy pop flows as Heller, often co-writing with husband Dave, sings of faith, hope, and love—including the bond with two-year-old daughter Lucy: "I could never count all the ways that you change me, Baby / Every day the sky is a deeper shade of blue" ("Baby"). On "Kingdom Come," she sings "All sorrows and sighs / Will fade away into the night / And all will be made new."
Each had unique translation philosophies, diction preferences, and intended audiences in mind, frameworks that informed how they approached their all-consuming work.