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Label: Ino/Columbia
Sound/Style: Soulful gospel-rock that nods to the history of southern music
By Steve Morley
Rock and roll is a musical mutt that taps heavily into the bloodline of African-American music. This is especially evident with gospel-rock, which – when it’s done correctly – owes a major debt to soul, blues and music of the black church. Rarely, however, does music deeply rooted in classic spirituals come from an artist planted firmly in rock and roll soil. On the album Salvation in Lights, Mike Farris conveys the message of redemption without ever diluting his rich and rocking compost of southern musical touchstones.
The collection ranges from revamped spirituals and classic soul remakes to new material that demonstrates Farris’s ability to co-opt his roots into a personal style. The album is anchored stylistically upon aggressive re-workings of "Precious Lord Take My Hand" and "Can’t No Grave Hold My Body Down," both of which marry Farris’s rock credibility with an obvious love of the gospel genre.
He uncovers the links between gospel music and secular soul that perches on the sacred borderline, covering soul innovator Sam Cooke’s haunting "A Change Is Gonna Come." Farris comes surprisingly close to touching the greatness of the original, making a small but pivotal change in the lyric. Cooke, a gospel singer-turned-pop star in the late ‘50s, revealed his doubts about the afterlife in the highly personal song, stating that he was afraid to die and unsure of his destination. Farris, having found peace in his faith, is likely the first interpreter to turn Cooke’s anxious and weary sentiments into something more hopeful: "It’s been too hard livin’/ But I’m not afraid to die/ ‘Cause now I know what’s up there/ Beyond that blue sky."
His versions of gospel chestnuts evoke the pre-rock era, dominated by horns and a small but spirited vocal ensemble. These tracks carry the same conviction present in his rockier offerings, thanks to the vigor he invests in his own vocals throughout. His performance of "Oh Mary Don’t You Weep" is instructive alongside Bruce Springsteen’s recent remake, which merely dabbles with the novelty of the old spiritual in a barroom sing-along style. Farris, meanwhile, captures heartfelt reverence without sacrificing any of the joy of Resurrection Sunday.
The singer, who formerly fronted southern rock band the Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies, had been obstructed on his chosen Christian path by the drugs and alcohol that his career made all too available. His renewed spiritual fervor comes in tandem with a promising stretch of sobriety. The grooving, Memphis soul-inspired originals that close the album are tantamount to testimony, affirming that Farris is too far along on the good foot to resume self-abuse: "All my strength and all my will is a helpless and scary place/ But now that you are here with me in the palm of your unfailing grace/ I ain’t never goin’ back to where I was before/ I ain’t never goin’ back to that lonely road/ The lonely road can’t lead me anymore."
Farris’s use of Negro spirituals as a foundation isn’t just musically inspired; his new disc carries the same sense of struggle and ultimate victory as the age-old music he effectively weaves together with modern forms on his equally earthly and transcendent Salvation In Lights.
Audio Clips
"Oh Mary Don't You Weep"
"Precious Lord, Take My Hand"
"Sit Down Servant"
"Streets of Galilee"
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