Mike Farris

Mike Farris. . During his solo career, Mike Farris has crossed between rock, blues, soul and gospel to bring a current sensibility to traditional Southern music. He was honored at the 2008 Americana Music Awards as New/Emerging Artist of the Year Award, and, in 2010, he won the Gospel Music Association Dove Award for Traditional Gospel Album of the Year. In 2015, he won the first-ever Grammy for Best Roots Gospel Album. , Born in Winchester on Nov. 30. 1968, Farris grew up in several Franklin County communities. Early on, he acquired a love of music from his father's record collection and from the eclectic music mix on a local AM radio station, WCDT. After his parents' divorce, he moved to Decherd where his stepfather had a horse breeding and training facility. Farris attended several local schools and became a standout baseball and football player. During school vacations, he worked on walking horse farms. The principal of Broadview Elementary School in Winchester, Tennessee, Mike Foreman, instilled a love of performance in him. , Farris was living in Nashville when, in April 1991, he started a band with guitarist Rick White. Their name, Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies, was adapted from a Gary Larson cartoon. Signed by Atlantic Records, their first, self-titled album was released in 1994. The band toured consistently, starring alongside the Allman Brothers Band, the Dave Matthews Band, Meat Loaf and Sheryl Crow. Two albums on Capricorn Records followed in 1996 and 1998, supported by arena tours with Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top. , Farris left to explore different genres of music and released his first solo album, Goodnight Sun, in 2003. Returning from New York to Nashville in 2007, he took the advice of his manager, Rose McGathy, to base his career around his love of traditional Southern music. After McGathy's death in 2007, Farris named his band the Roseland Rhythm Revue. , Overcoming addiction issues led Farris to embrace Christianity. His second solo album, Salvation in Lights, released in 2007 on the Christian music label INO, was rooted in African American gospel supported by Memphis-style soul horn voicings. A "live" album, SHOUT! Live, followed in 2009, and won a Dove award for Traditional Gospel Album of the Year in 2010. , An EP, The Night the Cumberland Came Alive, was organized by Farris to benefit victims of the 2010 Nashville flood. Farris then signed with Compass Records for two highly acclaimed albums. Shine for All the People in 2014 (winner of the Best Roots Gospel Album Grammy), and Silver and Stone in 2017. , As a solo artist, Farris has performed at major festivals including Bonnaroo, MerleFest, South by Southwest and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. He also performed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's American Music Masters concert honoring Aretha Franklin. His career remains firmly rooted in the core styles of Southern music. "The true essence and foundation of what we know as modern music,” he says. "is black gospel and Appalachian music. That's the common thread. It all comes from the sacred South.", Farris has also drawn on his personal narrative to work with addiction recovery programs, helping at-risk kids and young adults. His focus is to encourage kids to discover their personal direction and build their lives around it., Photo caption: , Mike Farris with his Best Roots Gospel Album Grammy for Shine for All the People in 2015. Photo: Sebastian Smith