OLD-SCHOOL FIRE AND BRIMSTONE IGNITE THIS MAJOR LABEL DEBUT
Nashville’s Station Inn has hosted scores of legendary musicians over the years. Alison Krauss first visited the club as a teen. The late Bill Monroe sat in from time to time, and Vince Gill stops by on occasion. Even Dolly Parton has loaned her famous soprano to a set list or two at the historic club.
And though Mike Farris’ name is not as recognizable as these Music City luminaries, a player is a player, especially if he has a story to tell. And gauging by Shout! LIVE! Farris has volumes to share during his weekly gigs at the Inn.
“Oh, Mary Don’t You Weep,” summons the southern soul of Sam Cooke in a century-old spiritual. Vintage gospel/R&B hit “I’ll Take You There” delivers the fiery conviction of Pop and Mavis Staples, thanks in part to The McCrary Sisters filling every nuance with their soul-injected vibratos. And “Precious Lord Take My Hand” conjures up memories of the Dixie Hummingbirds, the good kind of old-time gospel that was common in the ’20s and ’30s, incorporating organs, horns, tambourines and lots and lots of “sangin.’”
Most music fans would agree an artist’s best work is performed live in front of an audience, not documented in the studio. And so it is with Farris. Pouring sweat and tears into each performance, Shout! is brimming with raw soul, relating the sounds of an earlier era when smoke-filled clubs and bars weren’t all that disconnected from a patron’s spirituality. A time when God was not a genre used by kitschy marketing ploys, and when sinners and saints mingled so intimately it was difficult to distinguish between the two.
Only an old-school talent like Farris could tread the tricky line between sin and salvation so effortlessly. Shout! is a wonderfully authentic contribution to today’s Christian music scene. —Andrew Greer
