Trust, Love, Pray

Background

Trust, Love, Pray became Martin's first released studio album since 1988's This Is Serious, as her country album Through His Eyes was never released by her label Atlantic Records. After this Martin was dropped from the label, and she withdrew from a solo career. In a 2013 interview with Martin by the All The Goods blog, she recalled the events after her country album was not released. "Eventually, my crazy, circuitous path brought me to a place where I just had to stop. I was tired of exploring different musical directions that never felt true to me... until I wrote my first inspirational song."

In a February 2013 interview with Martin for the blog Old School: Back to the 80s, Martin stated "After my two solo albums, I needed to do a bit of soul searching, so I turned down the option Atlantic had given me to do a third album. I was so proud of "Separate Lives", but it seemed like I wasn't capturing that kind of honesty in my music anymore. "Trust, Love, Pray" I finally started writing and singing again and what evolved was spiritual music. My proudest accomplishment so far is my new project, "Trust, Love, Pray", because the songs were written purely from my heart. I had no agendas, no thoughts of whether or not what I was writing would be marketable... just finally singing and writing for the sheer love of it. Nowadays mostly I'm trying to figure out how to market my new album. I have eight songs partially finished for the next one that I'm anxious to get back to, but I really want to focus on getting "Trust, Love, Pray" off the ground." In an exclusive interview with Martin by Breathe Cast writer Timothy Yap, Martin also remembered "After the traumatic end to my affiliation with Atlantic Nashville I desperately needed to stop. It was the first time I felt confused about what I was supposed to be doing. The worst part was that I felt like I had meandered outside of God's will. For several years I just didn't have the heart to try to write or sing. Then a few years ago my husband decided to teach me how to navigate Garageband on my Mac. It's a program that enables people to create tracks and record vocals. I'm pretty technically challenged but this was like manna from heaven. I started creating tracks and when it came time to think about lyrics all that came to me were expressions of praise and thanksgiving. I was free to express what mattered most to me since I didn't have a label to dictate anything, and I really didn't have a plan to release a record. I was finally just writing and singing for the love of it. I'm halfway finished with songs for my next Christian album. I can't imagine ever singing about anything else!"

For the All The Goods blog interview, the writer/interviewer noted that upon listening to the album, Martin's voice was "as warm and passionate as ever" whilst the album was "faith-based in style". When asked what guided her to follow this direction, she stated "When I started writing again I had no intention of actually making a record. I just missed singing. Out of the blue one day, my husband Greg began to teach me how to navigate Garageband on my computer, which put a world of instruments right at my fingertips. This was a miracle to me! Since I had never learned how to play an instrument I couldn't write a song on my own. I had so much fun creating my first track! Usually as I work on the music, I kind of hum and mumble melodic ideas that eventually lead to lyrics. Well, I was so grateful to be singing and writing again that the words that came to me were expressions of love and thankfulness. I had always known that God had a plan but my inner fear had become... had I been willful for so long that I'd missed it completely?"

When asked in the Breathe Cast interview about the album, Martin revealed "I was having so much fun writing that I just couldn't stop, hours would fly by, and since I really had no intention of releasing an album it never occurred to me to sing someone else's song. These songs were my walk, my testimony, but guided by God. Lyrics and musical parts would come to me so "out of the blue" that sometimes I felt I had no hand in it. So many times I would stop and thank God for the privilege of being His instrument. The perfect example of that is "Amen". That song flowed from my heart and seemed to write itself."

In late 2012, Martin used Kickstarter, in an attempt to gain funding of $10,000, to market and promote the album. This included retail and digital distribution, internet promotion, radio airplay, and the possibility of Martin touring again. However by mid-January 2013, the 45-day funding period only gained $1,230 via 12 backers. When asked about the goals Martin had in mind for the album, and the possibility of a solo tour, she stated "I would love to tour, but the problem is I'm seriously flying by the seat of my pants! The upside of not having a label or management is you have no one else calling the shots; the down is that you have no one to do the things you don't know how to do, like put a tour together. At this point, my goal is to nudge "Trust, Love, Pray" into peoples' awareness every way I can via social media. It would be a huge help to reach my Kickstarter goal. That would enable me to hire a marketing professional." She also noted in the Breathe Cast interview, "Advent of programs like Kickstarter to help raise funds to record, ReverbNation to help with promotion, and CD Baby for distribution make it easy to be independent. From my own experience I know Christians can have a career in secular music."

Release

The album was released independently by Martin, and therefore not on any label. It was issued digitally as a download and on digipack CD. The CD edition was released in America only, via outlets online such as CDBaby and Amazon. It was also released digitally on such platforms as iTunes.

Critical reception

Timothy Yap of Breathe Cast reviewed the album on February 28, 2013. He stated "Trust, Love, Pray" as the title suggests is a Christian record that goes back to Martin's roots. This time around instead of being surrounded by a legion of songwriters and producers, this record is very much in house. Helmed by her hubby and guitarist Greg Droman, Martin herself penned 9 of the 10 cuts. A buffet of styles, there is much to enjoy here: from string-laden big balladry to jaunty soul-filled funk to straight ahead vintage pop. As far as single potential goes "More than a Dream" is the prime candidate. With its Britt Nicole-like dance loops over a persistent percussion line, "More than a Dream" is a contemporary hook laden pop piece finding Martin rejoicing in the ever present love of God. Martin indulges in some Gospel funk ala Salvador in "Stop and Listen;" while she has never sounded more relaxed in the bluesy title cut "Trust, Love, Pray" that boasts a twangy Americana underlining. If you are into cinematic big dramatic productions, "The Arms of God" (co-written by Eric Kaz) with its sweeping strings is a Psalm-like praise to God that is lyrically poetic yet sincerely delivered. Don't let the busy twirl of electric guitars or the layered sounds of the keyboard scaffold you from the confessional honesty of Martin as she echoes many of our struggles with temptations before God. And just when you think Martin has run out of styles, she goes into Gospel with a slight R&B polish on the rowdy "Every Way and Always." Though the songs are deftly written but some of them lack defining hooks that could grab the listener with greater immediacy. If only Martin could polish up the hooks and make them more prominent, the album would be even greater. Also, the central ideas of some of the songs are not strong enough; for example, "In My Father's House" utilizes a rich Biblical imagery, it would be greater served if the imagery could be expounded more in the song. Other than these quibbles, it is such a joy to have Marilyn Martin back. Though she was great singing about heartbreak with Phil Collins in "Separate Lives," when she sings for the Lord, she sounds even better."

Personnel