Mike Farris & the Cumberland Saints – The Night the Cumberland Came Alive

Mike Farris & the Cumberland Saints
The Night the Cumberland Came Alive
Entertainment One Music (release date: October 26, 2010)
www.mikefarrismusic.net

On May 1, 2010, Nashville – better known as “Music City” – experienced a “thousand year” flood. The rising waters of the Cumberland River ravaged homes, businesses, swept away personal possessions and swamped the good people of Nashville. To help relieve the suffering and revive hometown pride, Dove Award-winner Mike Farris assembled an all-star group of singers and musicians to record a six-track EP, The Night the Cumberland Came Alive.

The EP was recorded live at the Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville on May 27, 2010, less than a month after the waters rose. Blending folk, blues, country and gospel, Farris and the Cumberland Saints revive the raw vibrancy of pre-war American roots music.

Among the project participants are Ann, Regina and Alfreda McCrary. Their father Sam was an iconic quartet singer and leader of Nashville’s famous Fairfield Four, but the McCrary Sisters are gospel stars in their own right. As background vocalists, the ladies are most prominent on “Mother Earth,” a song that warns that no matter how rich and influential one may be in life, “when it all ends up, you got to go back to Mother Earth.”

Similarly, the title track uses a detailed chronicle of the May flood as a stern reminder that when all is said and done, we “are born to die.” Truth be told, the “by this time another year, I may be gone to some lonesome graveyard” philosophy is prominent throughout the EP, but in an instructive, not a macabre, way.

Farris and company perform the classic testimonial song “Wrapped Up, Tangled Up,” in Rev. Charlie Jackson style, with preaching and stinging guitar licks. A fitting conclusion is the New Orleans-flavored “Down Let the Sun Go Down,” which in its hopeful and optimistic lyric and rhythm suggests that the best recovery of all is to be fully present in the here and now.

An enthusiast of American grassroots music, Farris commented, “Playing these songs—sight unseen, without so much as a lead sheet—and with such a dream team of musicians was the thrill of a lifetime. You can hear the passion. You can feel the love in the room. And I’m thrilled to release it to help this community get back on its feet.”

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the EP will benefit flood relief efforts in Nashville via the Rose Memorial Fund.

Four of Five Stars

gPod Picks: “The Night the Cumberland Came Alive,” “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down.”

Reviewed by Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.