While Tasha Layton might be best known for pop-centric hits like “Look What You’ve Done,” “How Far” and “Never,” the songstress got her start leading worship in the local church she grew up attending in South Carolina. Later, as an adult, Layton returned to her worship leading roots while living in California; and today, she’s frequently on stage with the worship team at her home church, Church of the City in Franklin, Tenn. Thus, a lifetime of experience backs her first-ever live worship project, aptly titled “Worship Through It (Live).”
Captured with an in-person audience at Hope UC in Thompson’s Station, Tenn., right outside of Nashville, “Worship Through It (Live)” showcases the former Katy Perry background singer as both a gifted vocalist and a dynamic leader. While artists like Meredith Andrews and Josh Baldwin, among others, have recorded memorable live albums at Hope UC, Layton’s session equally utilizes the beauty and intimacy of the space to guide listeners toward an encounter with Jesus.
Featuring a few originals, alongside handpicked modern worship favorites, the nine-track project proves Layton is just as adept at leading songs written by others as she is performing her own.
The vertically focused offering kicks off with “God of Deliverance,” a declaration Layton crafted with her husband, Keith Everette Smith, Jonathan Smith and David Cook. The bold anthem sets the tone for the mostly upbeat setlist to follow. Her latest No. 1 and the title cut, “Worship Through It,” comes next. Although the chart-topping radio edit includes Elevation Worship’s Chris Brown, those in attendance for the recording lift their voices to offer a choir in Brown’s absence as Layton speaks to steadfast faith in the midst of difficult circumstances.
For the remaining seven selections, the mother of two stays true to the initial arrangements as she puts her indelible stamp on familiar Sunday morning staples fans will immediately recognize. Her voice feels especially at home on Red Rocks Worship’s popular “Good Plans” and KingsPorch’s arresting “Faithful Still.” On the former, Layton affirms God’s goodness will follow us all the days of our life (Psalm 23:6). Meanwhile, the bridge on the latter is especially poignant as she leads those gathered in a refrain of, “I have a hope, I have a future. I’m a child of the Mountain Mover.”
Elsewhere, Layton lends her warm, inviting touch to Jon Reddick’s “Joy Comes In the Morning” and Baldwin’s “Stand In Your Love.” She also adds her name to the list of artists who have long admired and now covered Elevation Worship’s GRAMMY® nominated smash, “Praise,” penned by an all-star cast of lyricists that includes Brandon Lake, Cody Carnes, Chandler Moore, Chris Brown and Steven Furtick. Layton’s four-minute rendition of the high-energy selection is followed by a fist-pumping reprise full of fervor as she steers a chant of, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”
Closing the set, the rising artist gives her best to Phil Wickham’s “Living Hope,” offering a faith-filled end to nearly 40 minutes of worship that finds the powerhouse vocalist in her element.
“Worship Through It” is actually Layton’s second live offering. In 2023, she served up a live remix of her acclaimed holiday LP, “This Is Christmas,” recorded at Nashville’s Fisher Center during an accompanying Christmas special. “How Far,” her debut — and only full-length, non-seasonal studio effort to date — arrived in 2022. The “Boundless” host is overdue for a follow-up, but this surprisingly satisfying worship project will nevertheless tide fans over in the meantime.
She’ll bring her radio hits and her worship faire to cities across the country on “The Sound of Heaven Tour” with Danny Gokey this spring.
