Artist: Mike Farris
Album: Silver & Stone
Label: Compass Records
Release Date: 9.7.2018
On first listen to this latest offering from Mike Farris, I must admit to being maybe just a bit too near-dismissive, with my mind too firmly fixed on his last album, 2014’s Shine for All the People, a 2015 Grammy-winner that tends to make for a more critical approach than is surely necessary. However, after a few runs, Silver & Stone makes an impression, turns you around and genuinely delights. This is Farris very much doing what he does at his best, taking a shot at deeply rooted R&B music, with a full-on, high-energy Stax/Memphis horn sound blasting out with its inimical strength and glory.
This should come as no great surprise given Farris’s personal history as a Tennessee-born roots musician. From his days as a picker with Stevie Ray Vaughn’s backing outfit, Double Trouble, to his work with Nashville’s Cumberland Saints featuring top sidemen like Sam Bush, Byron House, the McCrary Sisters and Gill Landry, Farris has always remained totally anchored to a roots tradition that leans heavily towards the spiritual and spirited at every opportunity.
With Silver & Stone, Farris has again delivered a simply superb album that shimmers and glistens with nuggets of genius and brilliance, a release that just might see him once again in the Grammy-Award contender’s ring.
—Iain Patience
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