Cover photo © 2025 Stuart MacDonald
There are a few voices that are so beautiful and stunningly unique they compel people to drop whatever they are doing to listen. Bobby “Blue” Bland stands out as perhaps the best example of such a voice. However, Mike Farris also likely falls in that same elite group. Many enjoyed Mike’s performances when he was with the blues-rock band, The Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies. But it is later, with the combination of maturity and the abstinence from mood-altering substances, that the full impact of his vocals can be heard. And, while he tends to transcend genre, (merging Memphis Soul, Rock and Gospel), a foundation of blues can almost always be heard in his songs. Blues Blast Magazine had the opportunity to catch up with Mike recently through a zoom call.
Mike was not born into a family of musicians and never had any kind of music lesson. Luckily his vocal ability came naturally to him, and he was able to teach himself guitar.
“Nobody in my family were musicians, but my dad loved music and had a little record collection. He had two Jimmie Rodgers records, two Hank Williams records and a Johnny Cash album. My brother started collecting records through Columbia House and I loved music, even as a little, bitty kid. I remember being in the second grade and we lived down at the end of a long country road on the edge of a swamp. We were the only ones who lived back there. I remember waiting for his Black Sabbath album to arrive and when the package came there was no Black Sabbath album, but instead there was a Simon and Garfunkel album. We didn’t know who they were, and we were so upset that we threw their album on the ground and stomped on it. It’s funny now to realize what we did. But I never had a voice lesson, and I really wish that I had. I wish there had been someone back then who recognized that there was potential there when I was a kid. Since I never had any formal training before we formed the Wheelies and got signed to Atlantic, I was just learning as I went. I was kind of left to my own devices. It wasn’t until I left the Wheelies that I started to discover and work on my craft, that I truly learned how to sing.”
Mike had a troubled adolescence and had already become addicted to drugs at the early age of fifteen, almost dying at one point from a drug overdose. Now fourteen years clean and sober, he was asked what prompted the reunion of the Wheelies for a series of shows in 2023.
“In 2018 I fired my booking agent, who had done a horrible job, and in order to save my year I started a series of house concerts called “Rock the House”. For the first time I was able to get to know a lot of people that I had only known as faces in the crowds. I was getting to know them and their families, and these were people who had been with me for my whole career. It was one of those cases where you start out thinking you are doing them a service, but it turned out that I got more out of it than anybody. It was good to connect with them, and then there were a few of those guys who shortly after that passed away. Then COVID came and we lost a few others from that very tight community of Wheelies fans. It made me realize that we needed to do it it—to get back together before we were all too old or dead.”
Substance abuse counselors often use a term called “euphoric recall” to describe the bias that can happen when addicts look back on their drug-using experiences more favorably than they actually were in reality. They can sometimes filter out the many negative consequences of their use and, for a moment, relive the excitement and pleasure they used to get from using drugs. Mike was asked if reforming the Wheelies risked the possibility of triggering “euphoric recall” for him.
“No, actually the opposite occurred. I was just caught up in how much better it was not to be drugged out—to be performing sober and applying my new life to this catalog of songs.”
During his shows, Mike frequently speaks about his love and appreciation for his wife, Julie, who has stayed by his side throughout those years of his addiction. He has also written several songs for her that are fan favorites, including “Tennessee Girl”, “Heavy on the Humble” and “Before There was You and I”. He was asked how they met.
“Julie and I met in New York, right after I signed to Atlantic. We had just recorded the album, and our management was located in New York and Atlantic Records was in New York, so I was in New York all the time, at least once a month. Julie had moved to New York with her friend Holly, who was one of my manager’s assistants. One day I was up there doing a press meeting, and I was just burnt out. So, I had called Holly and told her that I needed her to come rescue me at about 8 pm because I was so burnt. I’ll never forget the moment. I was sitting against the wall looking straight at the door and Holly walked in with this unbelievably beautiful curly black-haired girl in a leather jacket. I couldn’t stop looking at her, she was so beautiful. We skipped out and I was like, ‘oh man—this is amazing’. So, I asked what she wanted to do, and she said that Les Paul was playing at Fat Tuesday that night. I was like, ‘oh my God—not only does she know who Les Paul is, but she knows where he is playing’. I spent the entire night just staring at her, haha. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I was head over heels in love.”
Mike’s music, at times, has leaned heavily toward the gospel sound. In 2010, he won the Dove Award for best traditional gospel album for Shout! Live. And, in 2014 he took home a Grammy for Best Roots Gospel Album for Shine for all the People. While some addicts don’t find spirituality until they become sober, Mike had always been a very spiritual person.
“I think actually sobriety came because I was a spiritual person. I have been connected to the great spirit, God, The Universe, whatever you want to call it. I have always felt the connection, but I never really tapped into it at first. I didn’t have anybody to lead me with that vision when I was growing up.”
Frequently, when performing with his band, especially with the soul or gospel-influenced songs, there is a point where Mike has to put down his guitar to free himself up to throw his body into the performance. This is always a powerful moment which is cathartic even to the audience.
“Being a live musician, I want to hear and I want to feel the music. That’s why it is so important for me to have the right guys playing in the back. Everything they are doing is driving me. I am hearing every single note of everything on that stage. So, I go and gather that up and spit that through the mic. It’s a full body, full spirit thing. When I first got back into music after getting sober, I initially couldn’t reach that point of euphoria where I was immersed in the music enough to leave everything behind. I was just terrified on stage because I had never been sober on stage before, and I almost had a nervous breakdown. I was so distraught over this. I was asking why I would come this far in my life and get everything this put together, and then why would God remove that beautiful part of the music for me. I started praying for it to come back and meditating on it, and one night, six months later, it happened and was there from that point on.”
Mike’s latest release is The Sound of Muscle Shoals, which was recorded at the FAME studio. Produced by Rodney Hall, Mike collaborated with the legendary Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, which includes Clayton Ivey on keys, Will McFarlane, Kelvin Holly & Wes Sheffield on guitars, Jimbo Hart on bass, and Justin Holder on drums. Many artists dream of being able to record at the FAME studio, as it is commonly believed that something magical happens in Muscle Shoals.
“I really think they benefited from the spiritual realm that is in that area. I believe that place is a vortex. I think there are certain special sacred places on the planet and for me, that area has a very sacred vibe to it. It’s not just me. It started with the Native Americans. I didn’t fully realize it until I was playing golf one day and suddenly, I felt that this place is different. There is a vibe that permeates everything. So, what makes it special is its location, and all those incredibly gifted musicians tapped into that as well, just by living there. For example, Clayton Ivy played keys and is absolutely a musical genius. He can play anything. He could play Oscar Peterson, country, songs from the American songbook era. Those guys can play with Linda Ronstadt, and then Leon Russell, and then Paul Simon—you name it! They could sit and record with anybody. I think The Sound of Muscle Shoals is capturing all of that. It has the swampy vibe, the gospel, the rock and roll and the soul. That record couldn’t have been performed with anybody else but those guys.”
Mike had been involved in a battle with his record label, so had not released an album in eight years. Therefore, he had a lot of songs written and ready to go. But, as he has been noted to say in the past, “the most essential, yet most difficult part of faith is remembering to open up and allow the universe to have its way with you and your gifts”. And, he had to let go of some preconceived ideas regarding how certain songs would sound. For example, a country-sounding song on the album, “Bright Lights”, started out in his head as a rock song.
“I had this chorus that had been written around a heavy rock thing, but all these years I never could get that song to reveal itself. I thought I would pull it out and try to make it work finally. At that point I opened up to all of the possibilities of what the song might want to be, instead of what I was expecting it to be. The next thing you know, this whole folk-country thing happened, and all of the rest of the lyrics just flowed. It took me no time at all once I changed my approach and changed my thoughts on that song. It’s like life. In life we have these goals and these plans, but you have to leave room for the great spirit, God, on a daily basis. Because that’s where all the good stuff is going to happen. We have all got our plans, and I think God laughs at our plans, saying ‘just give it over to me—what I have in mind is so much better’. Sometimes he has to hit me over the head though.”
The album contains many original songs that relate the stories of life’s lessons learned. One example, “Heavy on the Humble,” seemed like such a beautiful description of a way to live that Mike was asked how he arrived at that phrase.
“There were two brothers who had this band called “The Deltaz”, and we were backstage at this little festival, and one was asking me about my 68 Silvertone and I was talking about how much I love the sound of this guitar. Well, he then starts taking stock of what he owned, and he stated ‘everything I have is old—my jeans are old, my records are old, my truck is old. I’m just heavy on the humble, I guess.’ I didn’t say a word, but it shocked me. I thought, ‘what a phrase!’. After a few minutes I went back and asked him what he meant by that. I asked if it was something they say where he was from and he said, ‘not really, I never used it before in my life.’ I said, ‘well I have the chorus for it already. I’m going to write it!’ and we were off and running with that.”
There is one cover on the album, which is a powerful and highly emotional interpretation of Tom Petty’s song, “Swingin’”.
“It’s very seldom that I can re-imagine a Tom Petty song, but that one allowed me to do that. The first time I did it, I was playing at a wedding for a good friend in Spain, and he requested it. I would never have thought about playing that song, but the very first time I did it, I sang it that way I did on the record. For me that song is the best example of Southern Gothic writing that I can imagine. The whole vibe of it. There is danger involved, resilience and determination and that old Southern spirit. It fits the landscape of the body of work so well.”
The final song, “Sunset Road” is a beautiful song that reminds the listener of the futility of worry. Mike was asked how it is possible not to worry, given the current troubling times.
“Sometimes songs come to me, and they are really just a message to me. To remind me that I don’t have to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders and it’s going to be OK. It will always work out. It might not work out the way I want it to work out. But it will work out. God tells us we’re not supposed to worry about things. Sometimes these songs come as a message just to me, but maybe when I put it out there it becomes an encouraging message to someone else too. I think it was really the best way to end the record.
Mike noted that he already has his sights on his next project.
“It’s too early to say exactly how that will turn out, because you know you always start with an idea, a vision of how things are going to be, and then it changes. But I think my musical journey is heading back leaning toward a heavier rock-blues thing, which is where I started. I’m definitely recording it at FAME. We’re just getting started down there. This album was the best sounding record I’ve ever made in my life, and I want more of that. I want to get those guys back in the room and create more music. I ain’t going nowhere else.!
If you have never experienced a Mike Farris show, do yourself a favor and go. You will not regret it, and you’ll realize why he has a fan base that is willing to travel many miles to see him. You can find out more about Mike Farris’ music and tour dates at www.mikefarrismusic.com
