Smokie Norful is an incomparable balladeer and Nothing Without You is a magnificent reaffirmation of that truth.  EMI recording artist Smokie Norful has done it again with his sophomore recording, an optimistic production written and co-written by Smokie and produced by some big named talent including jazz great, George Duke, and gospel producers Percy Bady, Tommy Sims, and Victor & Cedric Caldwell

The album is an uplifting continuation to I Need You Now, his debut album which has spent an impressive two years on the magazine’s Gospel Top 40 chart, the title track of which is still perched in the Top 10 of the recurrent mainstream R&B chart!  One has the impression that God answered Smokie’s call in I Need You Now and that Nothing Without You is Smokie’s thanks in song to God for the answer to his prayers.

The title track is a reverent tribute to God’s presence in his life as Smokie proclaims “I have nothing if I don’t have you.”  This love song was originally composed by Smokie for his wife and translates so well into his divine love for God.

God Is Able is Smokie Norful at his best, just him and the piano in a naked, stirring continuation of I Need You Now.  If I Need You Now was a plea, then God Is Able is the affirmation that God was faithful and answered the call.  With the simple words “God is able and he won’t fail”, Smokie’s talent for poignant expressiveness makes us close our eyes and believe in the Father’s ability.  In a quote he says “That is literally the continuation of the testimony of `I Need You Now,’…My wife Carla and I had been told by the doctor that medical complications would prevent us from ever having children, and yet our son, Tré, was born during the sessions for the first album, and was the inspiration for `I Need You Now.’ He was our miracle child. Then a little over a year later, Carla found out she was expecting again, and we had our son Ashton in early 2004, who inspired `God Is Able.’ He was another miracle in our lives.”

There seems to be no musical stone left unturned in Smokie Norful’s latest project, from the funky melodies of Power and Can’t Nobody Do Me Like Jesus to more traditional tracks like Worthy and I Know The Lord Will Make a Way, to the more R&B inspired I Understand and In The Middle, the listener is treated to Smokie at his musical best.  A special treat is the duet with his avowed inspiration, songstress Vanessa Bell Armstrong on the song Continuous Grace.  Especially touching is the last song on the album produced by Myron Butler and Smokie Norful, Healing in His Tears, which blends classical and gospel together for a rousing refrain.

There is something so sincere about Smokie’s lyrics that touch the heart of anyone who listens.  In his own words, “I want to try to give something good and of God that crosses lines of race, and age, churched and un-churched, that lots of people can relate to, as well as be empowered and inspired by.”  Smokie Norful should not be underestimated for his talent nor for his potential for longevity, He is a true artist, a diamond in the rough, a legend in the making…