Gospel Music Public Relations

Music Review

Taylor Valery

A&R, Music Reviewer, Blogger

What You Should Know

James Fairchild wrote ‘Replay’ in 10 days, at the wise age of 55, in response to past actions that have forever changed his life — for the good, of course.

June 19, 2020 Alex VanTrue — leader of Europe’s top tribute band One Vision - Queen Tribute — released ‘Replay’ as a single. Recently, on Victory 100. 9 FM in Little Rock, AR, the song has already claimed a top 40 position, peaking at no. 22. VanTrue couldn’t have been a better choice to take James Fairchild’s reflective composition to the next level.

What It Sounds Like

Press play on ‘Replay,’ and its initial guitar strums sound like a secular country - rock song, but as it continues, the passion and lyrics easily render this a Christian Alt Rock gem. As a matter of fact, the song piques my interest in the continued fusion of Christian and mainstream rock music.

A slow, mellow, meditative open, with light guitar strums that irrevocably illustrate truth, ‘Replay’ grabs my attention with the quickness.

Spiritual Highlights

What makes this song so special is the profound, life-changing story behind its creation. James Fairchild, at the age of 24 in 1982, had a brief relationship with a married woman, and the aftermath was the secret termination of an unborn child. In the dark, and heartbroken, Fairchild was deeply affected by the loss. ‘Replay’ is Fairchild speaking on that experience from a matured state of mind. He now sees how it was designed to bring him closer to God.

As most traumatic experiences often do, Fairchild was inspired to feel better about the situation, and to make some good sense of it. Here’s what he had to say about the circumstance:

“The feeling of guilt from an accidental fall was bad enough but taking a baby's life by choice was heart wrenching beyond comparison.”

This tragedy, though an inevitable effect of an unholy cause, brought Fairchild and his family closer. His stepson fathered a child, and Fairchild found himself wanting to hold the baby a lot, which inspired much of the song’s lyrics.

Leading Lyrics

Near the middle of ‘Replay,’ the lead-in to the chorus, Fairchild writes:



My future was gone, in a few days, oh

I can’t replay, what’s been taken away

With the help of Alex VanTrue’s powerful, enthusiastic vibrato, this shows me how deeply hurt Fairchild was after the finding that his unborn child was taken from him.

At the end of ‘Replay,’ about 20 seconds before close, VanTrue woefully wails on behalf of Fairchild, further emphasizing his pain with the following lyric:

When your judgment is passed upon me

All I ask is

Can I hold my baby?

This pain, this upset, it supports the fact that we all can, and usually do, surmount to more than what we’ve endured. Our trials and tribulations, if assessed and hurdled appropriately, will inspire real change in the self — and, in others.

For Fans Of

Skillet, MercyMe, Jeremy Camp

Final Thought

It’s not uncommon that life and love do challenge us to pay more attention to our bodies, minds, and souls — to what we truly feel, and that often motivates us to effect positive change. In the case of James Fairchild, experiencing the involuntary loss of a child was traumatic, and yet it led to a beautiful piece of art that will forever be in music history.

The same goes for many creatives, such as me. I’ve made incredible mistakes in the past, but thinking retrospectively, those mistakes helped mold me into the spiritual warrior I am. Despite how uncomfortable it was living through it, I morphed into a beautiful being. And, likewise for James Fairchild.

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