Mike Farris

by Steve Leggett
With a gospel-fueled voice that sounds like a cross between the hard rock blast of Bon Scott and the joyful sweetness of Al Green, Mike Farris has taken a long time to balance his life and considerable talent. Devastated when his parents divorced when he was 11 years old, Farris tumbled early into the world of drugs and alcohol, a lifestyle that landed him in reform school. Nearly dying from an accidental overdose, he moved in with his father and began playing guitar and writing songs, gradually pulling himself out of the depths of his addictions. After forming the seminal 1990s blues jam band the Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies, however, the endless touring and bars sent him right back to his old bad habits, and while he put out fine music with SCW, with Peaceful Knievel, and during his stint as the singer for Double Trouble, Stevie Ray Vaughan's old rhythm section, Farris was in deep emotional trouble. Finally, in 2004, while attending the funeral of a friend, he decided he had enough, and embraced both God and sobriety. His two solo albums since, 2002's Goodnight Sun and the subsequent Salvation in Lights, produced in Nashville by Matt Martone and featuring Johnny Cash's longtime bassist Dave Roe, are remarkable musical and spiritual testaments to Farris' commitment to personal redemption.