Justice Like a River

Garth Hewitt's new album, Justice Like a River, is a collection of songs for worship on the theme of justice.

Containing material from different stages in Garth's career, Justice Like a River includes some new and some re-recorded inspirational pieces.

Garth is hoping to see churches picking up on issues of justice and action inspired by the lifestyle of Jesus.

He said, "This album could have a subtitle 'Occupy Worship'. The Occupy movements have reminded us all of the need for fairer communities, where the division between rich and poor is not so great. The way of Jesus is a commitment to loving our neighbours, and doing unto others as we would have them do to us, and this should be part of the worship in our churches to inspire us to live this way."

Worship songwriter Stuart Townend said: "Garth Hewitt was the first Christian artist I ever saw live. In those days he was pretty much a lone voice singing about God's heart for justice. But he didn't just sing about it - he went off and did something about it. Today words like 'justice' and 'compassion' feature a little more often in our worship songs, but Garth still leads by example in putting the rhetoric into action."

Singer, songwriter and author Garth Hewitt has been recording songs for nearly 40 years, and has released around 40 albums. Garth's music and writings reflect a spirituality of hope and a simple way of life which rejects violence and affirms equality and human rights.

The new album reflects songs from the whole of Garth's song-writing career. The album starts with a track that Garth recorded in 1978, "All the Time," with backing vocals from Cliff Richard and the Jessy Dixon Singers.

The title track, "Justice Like a River", was written as a special song for 25 years of the Amos Trust, and Garth sings alongside his daughter-in-law, Eils Hewitt.

This is the first album that Garth has produced with Kevin Mayhew. According to the news release, both the record label and Garth are very excited about this new partnership. Garth will be touring with Justice Like a River through the autumn and spring, with new dates already being added due to popularity.