I Saw the Light (Hal Ketchum album)


I Saw the Light is a 1998 album by American country music singer Hal Ketchum. It was released on May 19, 1998 by Curb Records. The album charted one single, a cover of Todd Rundgren's "I Saw the Light".

Content

The title track and lead single to the album is a cover of Todd Rundgren's 1972 single "I Saw the Light". Ketchum's version charted at number 36 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and number 21 on Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles. "When Love Looks Back at You" was also issued as a single, but it did not chart.

Critical reception

Thom Owens of AllMusic called the album "drastically uneven", noticing a difference in style between the two recording sessions on the album.
James N. Thurman of The Christian Science Monitor writes that the album, "marks the return of an artist who continues to push the edges of country music at a time when it's hard to put most music in any sort of box."
The Weekly Wires Michael McCall reviews the album and says, "Over the course of his career, Ketchum has made some strong records, but I Saw the Light is his best album yet."
Susan Campbell of The Hartford Courant concludes her review with, "We're glad Hal Ketchum is happy. And we are, selfishly, immensely glad he's out there, making music."
Jack Hurst of the Chicago Tribune writes, "The songs on "I Saw the Light" reflect both the hopelessness of Ketchum's recent past and the brightness of his future."
CNNs review says of I Saw the Light, "It's a comeback of sorts for Ketchum, who says he went through some dark days following the release of his last record in 1991."
The Washington Post's Bill Friskics-Warren writes of the album that it's, "a far more personal record than many made by his multi-platinum-selling country counterparts."

Track listing