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Volz used both hands to gesticulate much throughout his tracks-backed solo set in the sanctuary of the Evangelical Lutheran church that invited him in for a show to benefit a local medical ministry. From playing air guitar to the phantom axe heard backing him when he wasn't plying his four-octave voice to switching his hand on his mic' mid-song, he was, perhaps, more of a showman than he ever might have been while he was singing lead for one of the most successful Christian market rock bands from the late 1970s through the mid-'80s, Petra.

Whether by plugs, Propecia, toupee' or another means, Volz is now sporting more hair atop his head than when I saw him fronting Petra for my first big-time Christianny concert 25 years ago. With more foliage on his noggin and without the beard he sported when he last he graced my ears in a live setting, Volz is now looking like an especially buff Del Shannon-were the late '60s rocker still alive and in as good a shape as Volz's 60 years presently has him-or Spinal Tap front man David St. Hubbins (yes, I know that's really actor Michael McKean) with an especially youthful short 'do.

Both comparisons suit Volz. Shannon could well have figured into his rock'n'roll diet that led to the inception of his pre-Christian teen band, The Wombats. Petra's way with pop-prog bombastic and tours replete with light shows and effects mirrors the visual bent of the woebegone fictional metalheads in 'Tap, albeit with results more aesthetically successful than accidentally miniaturizing the dimensions of a Stonehenge replica to take on the road.

In terms of vocalizing and stage persona, the referee points work as well. In the same way Shannon imbued hits such as "Runaway" and "Little Town Flirt" with drama, so does Volz change his songs of blatant testimony and evangelism with similar intensity. And as St. Hubbins revels in an unprepossessing hamminess, Volz doesn't seem to care about how goofy he acts.

The latter explains the air guitar. And mouthing along to--much less putting on one's song in the first place snippets of singing that sound like The Chipmunks performing background vocals--takes a comfort in one's own skin that rockers with less self-effacing chutzpah likely couldn't. Never mind that the Chipmunkiness really doesn't fit the seriousness of the song in which they're used.

Oh, the music? In the quarter century or so since he led Petra and the 21 years since his solo work had the support of a major Christian label, things haven't changed much. Though he led the nearly full sanctuary in a few of his praise & worship songs toward the end of his 13-tune set, much of what he's doing now hasn't changed much from the "hard enough for 'the kids'/soft enough for inspirational radio" paradigm in which Petra majored. It was from the second part of that template that Volz chose the two Petra songs  he performed, "The Coloring Song" and 'More Power To Ya." His set otherwise represented the breadth of his solo years (12 albums!), with the bluesy "Dead Man's Party" from his latest long-player, God Only Knows, numbering among the songs that would have benefited from a band strong as his voice.

Much as his music may have been a throwback for Christian rock lovers in the days before youth pastors with mandatory goatees and licensing songs for shows on The CW and the kids of those with memories that long, Volz was all the more engaging when he spoke instead of sang. One might wonder as to whether The Wombats really ever "had a record on the charts" (maybe in THEIR hometown of Peoria?...). But when speaking of his and his fellow Wombats' conversion experience and his present life in the Lord, there's no mistaking the brightness in his eyes bespeaking gratitude and love.

That kind of testimony from a guy who's still (fairly) rocking at the same age Larry Norman died makes up for plenty of hamminess, for sure.

Jamie Lee Rake