wilkes

Released in September 2014, Mike Farris' "Shine For All The People" pushes beyond "Salvation in Lights" in that it reveals hope not in any glory to come, but in the failures and suffering of the present. “My music has always been first and foremost for the downtrodden, the wayward…people who’ve had to go up the rough side of the mountain. Even when it’s upbeat and inspiring, there’s always been an element of pain, because truth be told, we’re all flawed. Not everybody knows it, but we all are.”

From the opening Cuban/St. Louis blues horns of “River Jordan,” originally written and performed by Blind Willie McTell, to the divine salvation of J.B. Lenoir’s “Jonah & the Whale,” to the determined stance of the Rev. C.J. Johnson’s “Something Keeps on Telling Me,” a chorus/mantra that Mike fleshed out into a song in the months after rehab…one listen, and it’s clear there’s something mystical in the waters here.

“When I first heard the Rev. C.J. Johnson’s version, I could feel the air in that church get still, no music, only the sound of feet on the floor and hands in the air,” Mike says. “I got such strength from it, I knew I wanted to add part of my story. With his words as the chorus, and with Brigitte DeMeyer helping me out, the song serves as a compass for anyone who has lost their way.”

This show is sponsored by Skyline National Bank