Mike Farris- Shout! Live
A careful look at Mike Farris paints images of a young upcoming Johnny Cash with a cool rock edge. Hearing him sing anything conjures the great legends of soul and gospel with a grain of country-rooted rock like American Idol finalist Bo Bice. Last year, he proved to be a strong contender in the underground gospel community with his highly-praised gospel debut Salvation in Lights project, after jumping the broom from performing bluesy rock for the Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies in the 1990s. The shift to gospel came after attending a funeral of his best friend and a near-death experience from an accidental drug overdose. With just little experience, he sings the gospel like an Old Testament prophet like he’s been singing it all his life. And the musical experience feels just like that when he takes on a parade of hymns or Rosetta Tharpe selections using his old-school style of arranging obscure oldies. And while it was a studio effort, Farris sung with such an intensity and conviction that amazingly gave the production a raw, live concert. On Shout! Live, Farris capitalizes on the strengths of his debut by putting them into an intimate lounge setting at the Station Inn without losing the savor of his accompanying horn section or the explosiveness of his revival-anchored music.
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Ann Nesby- The Lula Lee Project
Whether she’s doing mainstream or gospel, Ann Nesby is a force to be reckoned with. Her voice, bubbling with the soulful connections of Aretha Franklin, is highly distinguishable and remains synonymous with the Sounds of Blackness’ glory years. Her tenure with the group, although quite short in the eye of mainstream pop music, is extremely relevant for her career; breaking her into big R&B hits and even placing her in the company of super tag-team producers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. After her two-album deal with Jam & Lewis’s Perspective label, she hit the independent scene and even made her mark on the dance world with blazing recordings with house mixer DJ Spen (Jasper Street Company) and her #1 club hit “Lovin’ Is Really My Game.” The tedious journey led her to a cameo appearance in the motion picture The Fighting Temptations, a successful gastric bypass surgery, a GRAMMY-nominated album (This Is Love) and a most-recent label signing with Tyscot Records. On her first Tyscot album, The Lula Lee Project, Nesby takes the high road into superfluous alter-egos learning from the likes of Beyonce’ (Sasha), Mariah Carey (Mimi) and Tonex’ (too many names to print) by introducing us to Lula Lee. But thankfully for a 54-year old grandmother and an established veteran singer in the gospel world, the backdrop of the story isn’t as shallow as it may appear. Lula is the first word of her birth name and Lee is the last name of her husband and manager, Timothy Lee. Still, the super move along with the glossy photos and the recent music video seems to stir up the idea that Nesby may be playing with the familiar tactics of most sophisticated and established diva personas.
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Holy Boy- Out Of Time
At first glance, one might think Holy Boy was just a gospel experiment that surely had R&B superstar Usher in mind. He sure has the looks, the charming smile and the baby-face. But while gospel has always been one step behind the latest craze in pop culture, it’s still never too late to try something refreshing using kiddie-bop sensations and a smidgen of personality. The Mobile, Ala native, born Herbert Woods, is the latest in the gospel-meets-urban saga stepping into the familiar avenues of R&B heartthrobs Usher and Chris Brown hoping to make urban gospel sound more sensational than being an underground movement. And with a name that sounds as if it had leaped out of the pages of Marvel Comics, Holy Boy is sure to rally up a rousing set of kids interested in his urban-pop infused gospel message on his Fontana/Universal debut Out Of Time.
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