Mike Farris – The Sound Of Muscle Shoals
11 songs – 52 minutes
The Sound of Muscle Shoals is the first album by singer-songwriter Mike Farris’s since 2018’s Silver & Stone and – spoiler alert – it’s hands down one of the most enjoyable and impressive releases of the year. It’s a wonderful collection of 11 tracks mixing blue-eyed soul, gospel and dirty, low-down blues rock, all inspired by the Muscle Shoals sound made famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s through the likes of Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and Duane Allman.
Indeed, Farris brought in various members of the legendary Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and other session stalwarts of The Shoals’ recording scene for this recording. The core band comprises Clayton Ivey (keys), Will McFarlane, Kelvin Holly, Wes Sheffield (guitars), Jimbo Hart (bass), and Justin Holder (drums), superbly aided and abetted by Philippe Bronchtein on steel guitar, Brad Guin on saxophones and Drew White on trumpet. Special mention should also be given to the otherworldly backing singers, Wendy Moten, Kevin Clayborn, Lashanda Evans, Cindy Walker and Angela Hacker, who together create a glorious gospel-infused background that enhances and charges every song.
And, man, those songs. There are at least four stone cold classics on display here. The opening rocker, “Ease On” mines from the same irresistible groove as The Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” as Farris details his early life growing up in Franklin County, Tennessee. “Heavy On The Humble” is driven by a strummed acoustic guitar during the verse before reaching the anthemic ear-worm of a chorus. The country-inflected ballad, “Swingin'”, manages to be both heart-breaking and uplifting at the same time, while “I’ll Come Running” would have fitted perfectly into John Hiatt’s Bring The Family (yes, it’s that good). In addition, there are no fillers on The Sound Of Muscle Shoals. Every song is a delight.
Farris sings with power, passion and fire as he blazes though great song after great song, which each chorus supercharged by heavenly backing vocals. On a track like “Bright Lights”, he conveys raw vulnerability combined with maturity and perspective.
There are plenty of tasty solos from the band (viz the piano in “Bird In The Rain” or the slide guitar in “Heavy On The Humble”, for example) but this is an album of meticulously crafted songs, played and sung with electric commitment, whilst maintaining a greasy, soul-infused looseness.
Recorded with warmth and clarity at Fame Studios and Studio A in Muscle Shoals, AL, The Sound Of Muscle Shoals was produced by Farris and engineered by Wes Sheffield, Spencer Coats and Jordan Goodman with mixing by Sheffield and mastering by Richard Dodd.
Some rare releases are life-enhancing, enriching and transformative. The Sound Of Muscle Shoals is one of them. An essential purchase.
