at The Altamont Theatre
Fresh off his triumphant Grammy win for Best Roots Gospel album, awarded to him for his release Shine For All The People, Americana soul rocker Mike Farris will be playing the Altamont Theater downtown.
It’s an ideal venue for an artist whose voice, while powerful enough to fill a larger venue – as he did three years ago while playing The Orange Peel in support of the legendary Allen Toussaint – deserves to be heard in a setting acoustically sensitive enough to fully showcase his range and control.
Farris’ legendary, electrifying live performances have made him a favored son and standard bearer of the gospel tradition for the Americana music genre. His sound reinterprets traditional black spiritual music with a fusion of rock, blues, funk, and soul.
His 2010 live release The Night The Cumberland Came Alive is an album worth revisiting time and again, and the promise of a new studio effort (to be reviewed in next month’s Rapid River) makes his reappearance in Asheville even more tantalizing.
Country music icon Marty Stuart calls Farris, “A secret weapon… He’s loaded with soul, singing notes that would make Patsy Cline and Mavis Staples cry and shout. He’s got it and that’s all there is to it.” After a successful 1990s run with the much loved and sorely missed Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies, Farris embarked on a solo career by intertwining rock, blues and gospel. In 2008, he won the coveted Americana Music Award for “Best New & Emerging Artist” and later a Dove Award in 2010 for “Best Traditional Gospel Album of the Year” with SHOUT! Live.
Farris has appeared at multiple festivals including Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Telluride Bluegrass, Strawberry Music Festival, The ACL Festival and Bonnaroo, wowing audiences with the impact of his live performances with his nine-piece band, The Roseland Rhythm Revue. The opportunity to see him again, in an intimate setting built to showcase his stunning stage presence, is one this music lover will certainly not miss.
If You Go: Mike Farris, Saturday, June 6, 2015 at 8 p.m. at the Altamont Theatre, 18 Church Street in Asheville. Tickets are $22 in advance and $25 at the door. They are available through the Altamont’s website, www.thealtamont.com, or by visiting the venue’s box office from 3-6 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.