While there’s a legion of excellent singers, songwriters, and instrumentalists all over the globe, there’s only a select few that are equally skilled in all three of those departments. With his fourth release, Life’s Parade on Dark Shadow Recording, Rick Faris demonstrates how he is one of these few. All twelve selections on this recording were penned by Faris, many being cowritten with household names in the bluegrass songwriting realm.
The project opens with Bend Don’t Break, cowritten with Rick Lang. With its gentle melody, the lyrics carry a positive message of how to stay strong when facing times of difficulty and misfortune. With excellent harmony vocals, from Dan Tyminski, this track introduces us to the primary backing cast on this recording. Along with Faris on guitar and Tyminski on mandolin, this configuration also consists of Ron Block on banjo, Laura Orshaw on fiddle, and Mark Schatz on bass.
Can’t Sing The Blues No More and The Story of My Life are two selections that showcase the talent featured in Faris’ touring unit, which at the time of the recording sessions consisted of Gibson Davis on banjo, Henry Burgess on mandolin, and Rick’s brother JimBob Faris on bass. The former, also cowritten with Rick Lang is a hard hitting bluegrass song with an uplifting message about one finding the happiness they’ve been seeking. The latter is a true family affair having been cowritten with Rick’s father Bob, and his brother Eddie. With lyrics of nostalgia for carefree childhood, this track features excellent trio harmony from Rick, JimBob, and Gibson. Laura Orshaw also provides fiddle on these tracks, augmenting the Rick Faris Band’s unified sound.
Lonesome Is Your Name is one of three tracks that feature the third supporting cast of instrumentalists, consisting of Harry Clark on mandolin, Russ Carson on banjo, Maddie Denton on fiddle, and Dennis Crouch on bass. Written solely by Faris, this track has an extremely spooky feel, both in its lyrics and performance. It’s especially evident in the harmony vocals provided by Justin Moses, Stephen Mougin, and Jason Carter.
The Sound of Lonely by Lang and Faris is one of the album’s true highlights. With in your face performances from everyone in the core instrumentalist cast, this song features stellar duo vocals from Rick and Shawn Lane. Let’s hope this is a collaboration we hear more of on future releases!
Another Lang/Faris collaboration, Words In This Song, features just Rick and his guitar, allowing us to focus on words that capture the songwriting process in a way that no other piece here fully accomplishes.
Life’s Parade is an album not to be overlooked. With three solid casts of supporting musicians and vocalists, stunning original material, and his abilities as a singer and guitarist, Rick Faris continues to prove that he is indeed a triple threat.
