Mike Farris – The Sounds of Muscle Shoals
Mike Farris has a new album out this week, The Sounds of Muscle Shoals. To make this album Mike left Nashville and made his way south across the border to Muscle Shoals, Alabama to record and craft the songs at FAME studios. Musicians from the Muscle Shoals scene are Farris’ band on this: Clayton Ivey, Will McFarlane, Kelvin Holly, Wes Sheffield, Jimbo Hart, and Justin Holder, with a slew of vocalists and Phillippe Bronchtein on steel guitar, and Rodney Hall (who needs no introduction) is credited with executive production. Overall the lyrical messages on The Sounds of Muscle Shoals are of home, a rural Tennessee home, but a home anywhere, with mud in the springtime and a family trying to hold things together, and the album is aptly dedicated to his mom. The combination of the soulful gospel-tinged signature Muscle Shoals Southern rock grooves and the nostalgic lyric lines expand and vibrate together in a distinctly soul-opening sound.
A cool Southern bluesy rock groove opens the album and it climbs on up into gospel heights with electric guitar solos: “Ease On.” This is an autobiographical recounting of Mike’s childhood in Franklin County, Tennessee and sets the tone for the album’s optimistic energy: “mama never told us we were poor / ease on your way, come back home sometime.” The Muscle Shoals grooves are fully in the driver’s seat here. “Heavy on the Humble” is a chronicling of Southern advice: “take the sunshine from the rain / the laughter from the pain / watch the flowers grow and our love will too if we both share a little blame,” as the band brings things down a notch just for a moment.
“Bird in the Rain” paints beautiful imagery with a soul rhythm and a lament on what happens when you’re a troubadour by trade: “I should just ease on / give up on this game / how can you love me baby when you don’t even know my name / the bad weather rollin in trying to drown poor me.” The electric grooves are nice and easy on this one, with Wurlitzer solos hot in the mix too.
“Bright Lights” resets back to the Southern rock rhythm with pedal steel and more observations on life on the road: “headed for the bright lights /big city dreams /sometimes the light ain’t always what it seems / took blood, sweat and a whole lotta tears /it took everything I had just to get here,” and Mike sings up to a fluid high note. Later, “Sunset Road” coils itself around peace and gratitude for the larger forces at work that are going to make everything all right, with a nod to the greater meaning behind gospel roots.
Farris won a Grammy for Best Roots Gospel Album for his 2014 Shine For All The People, and his sound is right on track again for this album. Turn it on and turn it up! No joke. Find more details here: http ://mikefarrismusic.com/about/
Enjoy our previous coverage here: Show Review: Mike Farris Gets Silly at Thrasher Opera House
Check out our interview of Rodney Hall here: Interview: Rodney Hall of FAME Studios on New Release: Muscle Shoals: Small Town Big Sound, His Father’s Legacy
Musicians on the album are Mike Farris on lead vocals and acoustic guitar; Clayton Ivey on piano, Hammond organ and Wurlitzer; Will McFarlane on guitar; Kelvin Holly on guitar; Jimbo Hart on bass; Justin Holder on drums and percussion; Wes Sheffield on guitar; Wendy Moten on vocals; Kevin Clayborn on vocals; Lashanda Evans on vocals; Cindy Walker on vocals; Angela Hacker on vocals; Philippe Bronchtein on steel guitar; Brad Guin on saxophones; and Drew White on trumpet.
The album was produced by Mike Farris with executive producer Rodney Hall. It was engineered by Wes Sheffield and Spencer Coats with assistant engineer Jordan Goodman, mixed by Wes Sheffield, and mastered by Richard Dodd. It was recorded at Fame Studios, Studio A, in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.