cover image It's More Than the Music: Life Lessons on Friends, Faith, and What Matters Most

It's More Than the Music: Life Lessons on Friends, Faith, and What Matters Most

Bill Gaither. Faithwords, $19.95 (308pp) ISBN 978-0-446-53041-5

In this enthusiastic narrative, Gaither (ASCAP Christian Songwriter of the Century) tells the story of his life, from his beginnings as a boy obsessed with gospel music to his current success in the Christian music industry. Gaither and his wife, Gloria, have written, published, performed and recorded hundreds of songs together, and here, he relates how their innate gift for turning any idea into a song made them prolific writers, and how their music won them the respect of the record industry and audiences everywhere. Gaither acknowledges his accomplishments while remaining realistic about fame and its fickleness.""I believe that I'm being honest with myself when I say that I have never gotten caught up in my own success, enamored with it, or fooled into thinking that I am somebody special because of it,"" he declares. While making music is one of his greatest loves (he's a self-proclaimed""non-recovering workaholic""), Gaither is also a dedicated family man; he paints a loving portrait of his family as genuine, devoted and dedicated servants of God. But he is also quite candid about the difficult times he and his loved ones have gone through, admitting to harboring doubt and having struggled to learn to trust God in the face of hopeless situations (like his brother's death from cancer). Gaither can switch abruptly back and forth between different decades, and this switching can occasionally make his story disjointed and needlessly repetitious. However, this is a small flaw in a warm and enjoyable autobiography, which also provides an educational overview of the intricacies of the music business.