Earlier this month, I was invited to hop on the tour bus with the production crew for a band called Skillet. The weekend included a 15-hour drive to Midland, TX, a six-hour load-in/setup, a three-hour load out, and another 15-hour drive back to Nashville. This is only a portion of what goes into the band’s hour set filled with lights, pyro, cryo, mechanical stage pieces, and a drum riser that lifts 20 feet in the air and spins 360 degrees. It all makes for a pretty awesome concert experience. That’s almost a given when a band invests their money in production, but most bands don’t have the money to afford even a basic lighting rig. Well, how are independent bands supposed to compete with thousands of dollars of production gear? Easy answer. They don’t have to!
This is where Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue come into play as a prime example. They pre-headlined before this set filled with monster production. He didn’t have fire, or strobe lights, or a crazy drum riser, but he didn’t need it. The energy, positivity, and musicianship that he brought to the stage with his band was enough to get everyone’s attention. The band members, including Mike Farris, are pros and touring veterans with many years of experience. For example, most touring bands encourage their drummer to play with a click and a lot of bands have backing tracks that make this necessary. Mike’s band and drummer was so tight and so raw that they didn’t have to use either. With horns, organ, electric guitar, bass, drums, and the McCrary Sisters, their music was driving, pure, organic, and fun. Unfortunately, the band doesn’t have any live videos from their recent tour, but check out this video of Mike Farris playing “The Night the Cumberland Came Alive.”
Mike Farris was the founder and lead singer of a blues-rock band from Nashville, TN called Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies, but has continued his career as a solo act since 2001. He won an Americana Music Award for New/Emerging Artist Of The Year in 2008 and a GMA Dove Award for Traditional Gospel Album of the Year for SHOUT! Live in 2010. Today, he tours and makes music as a gospel music artist with his band called the Roseland Rhythm Revue. His music focuses on early American gospel and blues, distinguishable from today’s contemporary gospel artists. The Roseland Rhythm Revue has some of the great touring musicians of today including the McCrary Sisters (Bob Dylan’s backup singers). Mike’s latest project is a six song EP released last year called The Night the Cumberland Came Alive, which was created to support the victims of the Middle Tennessee floods that occurred nearly two years ago.
All facts aside, Mike Farris is a truly incredible live performer. If you ever get a chance to see him play, don’t let the opportunity pass you by!
By Steve Harpine | Nashville Ambassador | @Steve_MWL | Beat-Play & Music Without Labels, LLC
The congregation slowly begins to fill the seats while a soft Gospel melody is being played on the piano. Neatly dressed in a blue suit, Johnnie Williams starts singing, “This is the best place… Being in the house of God.” Hitting every rift and run, people wave their hands in the air feeling good and praising God. His voice soothed the listening ears with his words, that even with your eyes closed you envisioned serenity from his tone. The Preacher’s grandson voice is truly a gift that has enhanced since he began playing when he was sixteen, every Friday and Sunday in church, but no one had a clue that his passion outside church was R&B.
Some may argue that R&B music could be losing it’s touch to Pop music since current artist such as Rihanna, Beyonce, and Usher have had transitional success. Then there is autotune, which has been silenced and shunned by Jay- Z, but it hasn’t stopped artists who look for a more unique sound without belting out every song like Whitney Houstson, Jazmine Sulilivan, and Jeniffer Hudson. In some cases singers don’t feel the need to sing in key or at all, however, Johnnie Williams is the complete opposite.
Johnnie has been singing since the tender age of 8 in a church choir, “I like singing but I didn’t start until I was in he 10th grade. I went to my friend Kelly’s house and heard a group called HCL (High Class Lovers.) I went home and did my own demo and came back the next week and let them hear it, and they let me join. I listened to the demo recently, and that thing is the worst, I definitely gotten better.” Shortly after, HCL had changed their name to Prospect and won a talent show at Abington Senior high school. After their triumph the group parted ways, but Johnnie strived became great and he continued pursuing his music and began writing and producing with his band mate, Kelly. Johnnie’s hard work hadn’t gone unseen. Fortunately, he had the opportunity to meet Damon from the famous R&B group No Question, who discussed the possibilities of a comeback after the group’s hiatus, but this time with Johnnie as a member. After auditioning for it he became a member and they started working and completed 4 songs, but soon after differences erupted among the members about unmade promises that weren’t kept, “Deals with money were on the table and when it came down to it everything kept falling through, so I separated ties.”
Once the group fell through, that situation had not discouraged him, yet motivated him to focus on his own music. Johnnie went back on his grind at his in home studio where he produces 10-20 beats per week and writes all his material from his inspirations,“My inspiration comes from people around me, people I know, and people that touch me emotionally and personally.” Almost immediately, Johnnie had heard that MTV was having auditions for Diddy’s Making the Band, Season 4 in search for the next boy group, “I auditioned on Myspace and they gave me the VIP ristband so I din’t have to wait in line.” He went to a New York club where the auditions were held and sung Usher’s, “Let it Burn” for Michael Bivins, Slam, and Ankhra and was passed to the 2nd round. The next day Johnnie had to prepare for the combination of dancing and singing portion, “I got past the dance round but didn’t pass the singing round because I lost my voice after standing outside in the winter cold waiting for my auditions.”
Since his MTV auditions, he became good friends with Dyshon, who was a finalist on Making the Band and helped him with background vocals for Dayshon’s solo project as well as his own project. Currently, he’s constantly posting music on Youtube, and plans on taking Neyo’s place in the music industry as a writer, proudcer, and singer and doesn’t mind just writing for other artist, “I do music just to do it, I want a deal, but I do music for people and do songs to sell them.” His new single is called Confession (I Love You), which is a slow ballad written and produced by him that is receiving a lot of positive feedback, “It’s my favorite song I’ve ever recorded, because out of all the songs I’ve done, I let my all out on this one.”
By: Mereb Gebremariam | Beat-Play Ambassador Philadelphia | @MerebwithMWL | Music Without Labels & Beat-Play, LLC
Our blog is dedicated to providing the public with quality music from the independent music community, and to inform people of the broad majority of musicians world-wide with amazing sound, style, inspiration, and overall message. If you would like to have any track removed please email us – info@musicwithoutlabels.com
The Beat-Play Experiment 
