(May 28, 2021) Human beings are funny specimens. We’re often absolutely sure that we know what is good for us…until we find out that we maybe didn’t know anything at all, especially about love. Garth Brooks had a major hit touching on that topic in 1990 with “Unanswered Prayers,” the song of a man who begged on his knees that a woman would love him, only to realize years later that that unanswered prayer led him to true love with someone else.
(May 28, 2021) Human beings are funny specimens. We’re often absolutely sure that we know what is good for us…until we find out that we maybe didn’t know anything at all, especially about love. Garth Brooks had a major hit touching on that topic in 1990 with “Unanswered Prayers,” the song of a man who begged on his knees that a woman would love him, only to realize years later that that unanswered prayer led him to true love with someone else.
Indie soul star Eric Roberson is known as an artist whose concerts are fun affairs, and he is a natural feel-good showman. But he is also an artist who, throughout his career, has shown a depth of both faith and introspection that have led to a treasure trove of insightful songs that pass through the veneer of everyday encounters and get to the heart of the human condition; from “Couldn’t Hear Her” to “Pen Just Cries Away” to “Hospital.” And he does it again on his brand new single, “Lessons” (due for release on June 4).
Like “Unanswered Prayers,” “Lessons” captures the realization of just how mortal we are, unable to really see what awaits us around the bend. Success is sometimes failure, and perceived failure is sometime the path to something special. As he appropriately opens the song, “God has a funny way of showing you lessons.”
That learning is true in life and it may be truer in romance, where often it is only time and true love that give perspective, taking years to “realize that everyone that let me down led me to you.”
“Lessons” is simply a beautiful ballad, with a terrific vocal arrangement over the understated performance by Roberson’s band. And lyrically it is four minutes of truth around the philosophical strings that have consistently run through more than two decades of Roberson’s work. All these years into his career, he seems to just keep getting better.
By Chris Rizik
Eric Roberson – “Lessons”