THE UNION OF SINNERS & SAINTS – One More Shot (2022)

Few artists have been more influential in defining CCM than Petra and Whiteheart. With over 16 million in album sales, 27 #1 Songs, and fifteen Grammy nominations between them, John Schlitt (lead singer of Petra) and Billy Smiley, guitarist, singer, and founding member of WhiteHeart, joined forces some years ago in THE UNION OF SINNERS & SAINTS for fans of these bands rejoice.
They are releasing a new full album 2022 titled “One More Shot” featuring brand new songs ranging from melodic rockers to smooth ballads, there’s a completely re-imagined medley of Petra & WhiteHeart songs, plus covers from others like the awesome AORish ‘I Still Believe’ (a The Call original, also done in the past by Russ Taff), ‘God of Wonders’ (The Choir), and more.
Schlitt sounds amazing as always, Smiley provides a pristine guitar / keyboard work, and production is crystal clear.

The cool thing about THE UNION OF SINNERS & SAINTS is that despite coming from two musicians with a vast career they don’t do that ‘we need to explore a much needed new musical territory’ thing… Schlitt & Billy Smiley delivers here the music the fans expect from them; a straight on rock album.
By ‘straight on rock’, I am referencing the foundation of classic rock and melodic rock interwoven with aspects of blues based rock and hard rock, that defines The Union Of Sinners & Saints overall sound. Of course there’s ballads and am acoustic filled track, but the core of “One More Shot” is Rock.

The album delivers some top-notch material accordingly – not a skip button among its ten tracks. Ultimately, “One More Shot” owes its success to the veteran partnership between Schlitt and Smiley, whom successfully steer it away from sounding too much like Petra / WhiteHeart and sounding like, well, The Union Of Sinners & Saints instead.
By giving the album the time and attention it deserves I am sure you will agree with me that these ‘old guys rule’.
Highly recommended

01 – 10,000 Strong
02 – Mountaintop
03 – Everybody Knows
04 – Saving Grace
05 – I Still Believe
06 – Group of Songs (Petra & WhiteHeart medley)
07 – One More Shot
08 – Reckless Love
09 – God of Wonders
10 – We Are the Broken

Lead & backing vocals – John Schlitt (Petra)
Guitar, keyboards, vocals – Billy Smiley (WhiteHeart)
Drums – Jon Knox
Bass – Anthony Sallee
Guitars – Jonathan Crone
Guitars, Vocals – Jason Fowler

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www.amazon.com/dp/B0BBQHNL96