#76 BENNY HESTER by Benny Hester (1978)

BENNY HESTER by Benny Hester (1978)
Spirit Records (NDR-3001)

When God Ran.

It's a song that is known and loved by Christians worldwide. It's the longest-running #1 song in CCM history. It's been covered by many artists in many languages and is said to be the #3 song in the storied history of Word Records. It is the song Benny Hester is known for. And yet, there's so much more to this Texas-born singer, songwriter, musician, and television producer. Long before When God Ran, Benny Hester was making music that deserved a hearing.

Benny Hester was born on May 3, 1948 in Waco, Texas. He studied classical music as a young child, eventually landing a spot with the Texas Boys Choir. While still in high school, Benny played with groups like Sam Weaver & The Texas Playboys, and The Morticians. He eventually formed a duo with Steve Hilton, known as (what else?) Hester & Hilton.

A recent photo of old friends Benny Hester (L) and Brent Maher

After attending Texas Tech University, Hester relocated to Las Vegas where he met a recording engineer named Brent Maher. At the time, Maher was engineering hit albums for Ike and Tina Turner, The 5th Dimension, Duke Ellington, The Jackson 5, Chuck Berry, Sammy Davis Jr., Gladys Knight, and Sly & the Family Stone. Hester shared some of his songs with Maher and the two struck up a friendship. Maher then took Hester to many of those memorable recording sessions. Years later, Hester disclosed that those up-close-and-personal studio experiences with legendary musicians had a lasting impact on him (as you would imagine). He gained a greater understanding of how and why artists choose their material and record their music. Hester and Maher formed a successful jingle advertising company, MusAd, and ended up dominating the Vegas radio and television airwaves, writing and recording commercial jingles for Hickory Farms, The Las Vegas Review Journal, and many top banks, hotels, and home builders. Hester's friendship with Maher survives to this day. And Brent Maher would have an important part to play in shaping the sound of our featured album.

But that's getting ahead of the story. After all, Benny Hester wasn't even a Christian yet!

But that was about to change.

Benny Hester attended an evangelical rally at a traveling tent crusade sponsored by a ministry called "Christ is the Answer." It was there that he surrendered his life to Jesus Christ. He started attending a local church called The Neighborhood Church. And his songwriting began to reflect the spiritual awakening that had taken place in his heart.

"Benny" on VMI Records (1972)

Most people would agree that Las Vegas would be a difficult place for a new believer to keep his focus on Christ! But for an aspiring musician and songwriter, it did have some advantages. At the time, a guy named Elvis Presley played live on the Vegas strip every night of the week. Hester logged many hours sitting behind the console, watching sound engineer Bill Porter mix live concerts each night for Elvis in the main showroom of the International Hotel (later the Las Vegas Hilton). Hester was said to be fascinated with Presley's performances and quite taken with his band as well. When Benny Hester was ready to record his first album of Christian-themed material, Brent Maher brought Elvis’s band, the TCB Band, in to record with him. The result was 1972's Benny on VMI Records. Looking back, that album placed Benny Hester, chronologically, squarely among the originators of Jesus Music (although he is generally perceived to be an Adult Contemporary artist who came along much, much later). By the way, the finished masters and packaged albums, ready for record company distribution, were lost in a studio and warehouse fire, making Benny an extremely rare and sought-after collector's item. Only a few albums survived the fire.

After recording a string of singles, Hester took a handful of songs and drove from Las Vegas to Canoga Park, CA (the home office of Billy Ray Hearn's Sparrow Records). Hearn agreed to meet with the persistent young man. After hearing Hester's songs, Hearn immediately signed him to Spirit Records (a short-lived subset of Sparrow). Benny Hester was released in 1978.

Finally, here was an album that properly showcased Hester's radio-ready pop/rock vocals and songwriting style, and his, by now, finely tuned, unapologetically Christian lyrical themes. Again teaming with producer and friend Brent Maher, the self-titled Benny Hester set the course for the next decade of music ministry for this talented young man from the streets of Las Vegas.

For the first time ever, Christian radio stations began to take the "contemporary sound" seriously (the singles Jesus Came Into My Life and Be A Receiver were joyously embraced by Christian radio). Stan Evanson's design and Gary Heery's photography combined to create a very cool, inviting album cover. The whole band was pictured on the back cover, looking like a rag-tag bunch of rock musicians from the 70s (which is exactly what they were). But there was also a sense of joy and happiness conveyed by the cover photos. You got the feeling that these boys had ahold of something good...something uplifting and positive to share.

So let's dig in, shall we?

Side One opens with the radio-friendly strains of Be A Receiver. The listener is immediately struck by Hester's high-pitched vocals; as I listen to the album again, his voice sounds even higher now than it did back then! Benny wastes no time hitting his audience with a highly-evangelistic message:

People are talkin' to you all your life
You hear them but you don't really listen
You think in your head you know wrong from right
But deep inside you know something is missin'

You think you've got His number
But He's got yours
He knows that game that you're playin'
And He wants to touch you deeply
And that's for sure
But you're not listenin' to what He is sayin'

Be a receiver of God's Word
Open your heart and let it come on in
Be a receiver then share what you've learned
He wants to fill you
He won't until you
Let his Spirit in
Yeah, let Him come on in

The song had a memorable chorus and a nice groove that was very current and consistent with what was happening in pop music at the time. There's a very cool, dual-lead guitar solo during the instrumental break. And it's a great example of Hester's ability to successfully blur the lines between pop, rock and inspirational music. Quite tame by today's standards, Be A Receiver was "rocky" enough to be embraced by pop fans and vice versa. And the message was appreciated by Christians of all stripes. This tune was definitely one of the record's highlights.

On the next song, Squeeze You, Benny cleverly applies a double meaning to the word 'squeeze.' Musically, the song is 4 minutes of pop perfection.

The lyrics of the bluesy Sure of Your Call feature a maturity rarely evidenced by such a young artist:

Lord, I wanna be in Your will
But I never was one for standing still
So every time You hear me pray
Please understand me when I say

I've gotta be sure of Your call
I wanna be yielded, that's all
I've gotta be sure of Your call

I've gotta be sure of Your call
When my back's against the wall
I've gotta be sure of Your call

In my life I've made mistakes
All because I wouldn't wait
So now in everything I do
Lord, I'm not movin' without You

You lead the way and I'm right behind You
My life is Yours, no need to remind You
I just want to get into Your plan
So here I am

Just one thing before I go
Let Your love within me grow
And touch my eyes that I might see
Into someone else's needs

This is yet another gorgeous song from a sonic standpoint. The arrangements, the songwriting, and musicianship on this album simply sparkled.

Jesus Came Into My Life is a good, old-fashioned testimony song. It tells the “this is how I got saved and here’s why it matters” story in a clear and direct way. And on top of that, it’s a really fun, old-school rocker. I guess my only complaint is that it’s only three minutes long. Seems it just gets going good, and then it starts to fade out. A well-played twin guitar intro (with a high degree of difficulty) gives way to Benny’s salvation story:

The road I was walkin’ down was hard and cold
And I didn’t know where to go
But then He reached and took my hand
Jesus, now I know

Jesus came into my life
Jesus came into my life
Whoa, I knew there was no other
When Jesus came into my life

I found something I thought I could never find
Joy in my heart, peace in my life
Now it’s mine, all mine

The burden I carry is so much lighter
Gone is the heartache and fear
Every day is getting brighter
‘Cause now His voice I hear

This is one of those songs that just makes you feel good when you hear it. It has the potential to turn a bad mood around, and cause you to sing it in your head (if not out loud) for the rest of the day. And that’s the kind of songwriter that Benny Hester was right from the start.

The Door closes out Side One, with a chorus that’s based on Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Musically, it’s got a quintessential 70s pop sound. Two-thirds of the way through the song, the music fades and Benny sings in plaintive tones, “I want to thank You, Jesus / I want to thank You, Jesus / Cause I know that I can’t make it by myself…”

Gonna Happen Here opens Side Two. Sounds like it was written with live concerts in mind, declaring that “something good will surely happen here tonight” and “better hold on to your chairs tonight.” This one has a country-rock feel.

Only You is a ballad that proclaims allegiance to the Lord and expresses gratitude for His love and blessings.

Next up is Such a Relief. This is yet another hook-laden tune that gets in your head and just stays there for a while. Like several other songs on the album, this one is yet another way of explaining Benny’s joy upon finding the Lord. And, also like several other songs on the album, it is heavily evangelistic. But the descriptions of Benny’s new life in Christ and his outreach to unsaved friends never come across as intrusive or heavy-handed; instead, these songs exhibit the honesty, openness, and innocence of a new believer who is simply amazed that the Maker of heaven and earth has flooded his heart and turned his life around. It really is a beautiful thing!

Day after day I was going my way
Thinkin' now and then
That I might find something I could call mine
With the chances growin’ dim
It was getting’ where I couldn’t even talk to my friends
Where’s it gonna end?

It was such a relief to find Jesus
Such a relief to find Jesus
Such a relief to find Jesus
And in the middle of this crowded room
I’m prayin’ you’re gonna find Him too real soon

The words came slow in a voice soft and low
As I turned to God and pleaded
Cause just like you, deep inside I knew
It was the Lord I really needed
When He came into my heart He forgave every sin
And let my new life begin

Whoa, I want you to meet Jesus (yes I do)
You could reach out tonight
He could change your whole life

Now each day is a day is a new chance to say
Lord, I really thank You
For Your healing touch, for loving me so much
And showing me Your Word is true
Now it’s getting’ where I talk about You to my friends
Oh, I hope this never ends

All You Can Do was an interesting song. Clocking in at 2:15, it’s almost like a set of parting instructions, imploring the listener to “give Him your life, and don’t be afraid, that’s all that you can do.” It reminds me (in purpose and tone) of Petra’s Parting Thought from their debut album. Except that this is not the album’s final song! The synthesizer part is a nice addition. And that brings us to the album’s closer…

The final song, We All Know He's Comin,' is actually a remake of a tune that Hester first recorded on his debut album Benny (the one that burned in the fire, remember?). The title leaves no doubt as to the subject matter here – the second coming of Jesus. Add this one to a long list of well-written, beautifully recorded “end times” anthems from 70s artists.

The album Benny Hester came along at a time when the Jesus Movement was now in the rear view mirror and "Contemporary Christian Music" was just coming into its own. From start to finish, it's a quality recording of memorable songs. Producer/engineer Brent Maher had a lot to do with that, as did Benny's band for this project -- his "live Las Vegas band," as he called them. The band consisted of bassist Ed Arnold, drummer John Parenti, guitarist Dan Flannery, and keyboardist Jeff Lams. The chemistry between these guys was evident and gave Benny Hester a consistent sound.



Benny Hester (L), posing
with a Cable Ace Award

Hester would go on to write and record many chart-topping, radio-friendly singles and best-selling albums. Two albums, in particular, are must-haves: 1981's Nobody Knows Me Like You and 1985's Benny From Here. The former was a collaboration with the great Michael Omartian, and yielded some stunning songs and brilliant production; the latter caught Benny flexing his rock and roll muscles and gave us that monster single that everybody knows by heart - When God Ran. In fact, Hester became known as a great pop songwriter. "When I write songs, I write with every bit of my skill," Benny told CCM Magazine in 1983. "But I write because I want to communicate with the greatest amount of people I can. That’s why I write. I wouldn’t write music if people didn’t want to listen to it. It’s a neat way to express how I feel and what the Lord’s doing in my life, but the main reason I write is to communicate something to people. I want them to enjoy it first so they might hear what it has to say."

He shifted gears in the 1990s and became an award-winning Producer/Musical Director/Songwriter for a Nickelodeon TV series called Roundhouse.

A recent photo of Benny Hester (L) with Tommy Coomes of Love Song

Overall, Benny has performed more than 2,000 concerts, recorded four top ten albums, and had ten number one singles. CCM Magazine asked him about "life on the road" back in the early 80s. Here's what he said: "Well, I wouldn’t say it’s because of the music. Although I love it and it’s challenging, it doesn’t motivate me to go tramping all around this country and other countries. I’m not a weird rock ‘n’ roll crazy, dark, weird person. The style of music that I do just pours out of me and it’s the best way for me to communicate. I have fun, and I want to present it well, but what motivates me is to see God take things out of the natural and put them into the supernatural. He changes people’s lives, and that’s what makes me go."