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Release Date: June 26, 2006 Label: INO Records Grade: A+
Former frontman for the Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies, Mike Farris delivers an old sound in a brand new way with his solo gospel album, Salvation in Lights. But be warned: This isn't "church music", so pull dear sweet Sister Agnes away from the pipe organ. This is chu'ch music -- gospel, child of the spirituals, born of the blues, put your hands together and can I get an "Amen" music.
Farris opens this set with the appropriate "Sit Down Servant", with it's adamant chorus, "I can't sit down, I can't sit down! I just got to Heaven and I can't sit down!" I say it's an appropriate opening because, as the chorus insists, sitting down is simply not an option when listening to this New Orleans Creole-infused album. The tempo and emotion don't let up as Farris enters the next two songs, "Streets of Galilee" and "Mary Don't You Weep".
"When I'm playing music, it's like prayer to me. I'm closer to God than I ever am, outside of my prayer. That's the best way I can portray what I'm feeling in my heart."
Mike Farris
Probably the most meaningful song on the album as it relates to Farris's personal life is "Precious Lord, Take My Hand." When Farris nearly died from an overdose of pills and alcohol at the age of 20, Farris says he cried out to God, and God responded.
"I moved in with my father," Farris recalls. "He had a guitar. I taught myself how to play the guitar, and I started writing songs, songs that were healing me. But as soon as God gave me the gift, I went about destroying it."
Shortly after, Farris formed the Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies, touring and playing in the very places Farris knew someone with his addictions should have avoided.
"I talked myself into it," Farris says. "I told myself, 'I can go in there and sing songs and help people, just like Jesus did.' But I wasn't strong enough to do that. It ate me alive."
The addictions returned when Farris played with the Cheetah Wheelies' and afterward as Farris fronted Double Trouble, the rhythm section for Stevie Ray Vaughn. Finally, in 2004, Farris came to a realization while at a relative's funeral. "I realized how tired I'd become from running all those years, and I just wanted to go back home. Just like the prodigal son," Farris says, "I'd had enough of it all and decided I was not going to be that man ever again."
With the help of his family and church, Farris became sober, and soon after he began writing in order to heal again. He quickly realized the new songs he was writing dovetailed nicely with those old familiar songs that had been with him all along.
"Something about that music, it moves me like nothing else. Hearing somebody like Skip James or Mavis Staples sing, it's painful to me, it's spiritual, it's deep and it's enlightening. It's like somebody shedding a little bit of light on the soul, on what makes people really tick."
Mike Farris
As the lyrics say, "It's been a long time comin'," but for Farris, change came, and you can hear it in his soulful rendition of "Change is Gonna Come." And the way he takes ownership of "I'll Take You There" is a clear example of the musicianship qualities of Farris and the crew he surrounded himself with to create this album -- including singer Ann McCrary and bassist Dave Roe. Farris does another phenomenal reenvisioning of the classic spiritual "Can't No Grave Hold My Body Down," which will have listeners out of their seats and into the aisles.
Mike Farris - Salvation in Lights Track Listing
Sit Down Servant
Streets of Galilee
Oh Mary Don't You Weep
Precious Lord Take My Hand
Change is Gonna Come
Devil Don't Sleep
Can't No Grave Hold My Body Down
Selah! Selah!
I'll Take You There
The Lonely Road
I'm Gonna Get There
Salvation in Lights also includes a handful of original songs. "Devil Don't Sleep" has that kind of audio patina that would make them quite at home in a bayou church in the 1930s, while "The Lonely Road" has more of a Memphis sound with a sound that's only slightly more modern with a trumpet section backing him up all the way as Farris declares, "I ain't never going back to that lonely road; that lonely road can't lead me any more."
The horn section is also prominent in the closing song, "I'm Gonna Get There," which is surely an allegory for Farris's personal journey of salvation, as he works it out through his music. "I'm getting closer by the day; I can hear the angel's pray," the first verse declares. "I just want to see His face, and thank Him for the love and grace; I'll probably break down and cry when I get home by and by."
Salvation in Lights is one of those rare albums of Christian music where you can feel the spirit embued in the sound, taking it to a place beyond mere music and lyrics. Farris's album should find a home with fans of Todd Agnew and other artists who deliver Christian music in a straightforward, gutsy manner, and gets my highest recommendation.
