Mike Farris Honored As 2008's Emerging Artist Of The Year At AMA Awards

NASHVILLE, TN. (Top40 Charts/ By Kissy Black/ Lotos Nile) - Mike Farris has traveled far in his journey from wild front man of the hard-rockin' Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies to being honored as 2008's Emerging Artist during Thursday night's Americana Music Awards and Honors at the legendary Ryman Auditorium. He chronicles the heart of that journey in his "Salvation in Lights" album, a weathered rocker's retelling of old-time hymns and his own equally soul-filled compositions.

It is that same heart that is featured in his Sunday Night Shouts, a series of raucous "must-see" experiences set to restart in October at Nashville's iconic Station Inn. It's somehow fitting that this club, mostly known for old-time music, is turned over on Sundays for a dose of old-time religion... Mike Farris style.

During these Sunday Night Shouts, the singer-songwriter delivers weekly installments of rafter-raisin' boogie stew, equal parts honky-tonk spirit and Christian revival. Farris says he's been told that if Sunday morning services were as spirited and spiritual as his evening shows, more folks would go to worship services.

These Shouts and much of the music he's fashioning or performing these days are the result of Farris' journey down life's road, a sometimes rutted highway that connects his rural Tennessee upbringing with his wasted days and raging nights as Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies front man. After detours into addictions and despair, the rock'n'roller decided it was time to find refuge in the church-reinforced truths of his youth.

And that's where he found a new use for his fiery front man's voice and persona. The result is the stunning "Salvation in Lights" album, with its critical raves that helped raise the front man's profile enough so that he was firmly in position to be heralded as this year's Emerging Artist in the rootsy truths of the Americana music format.

An old pro in show business, Farris is far from a wet-behind-the-ears newcomer. Yet he rightly has earned acclaim as the year's Emerging Artist, as he approaches his music and his life with renewed vigor and joy. Look for his sets at the upcoming Austin City Limits Music Festival and San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival to turn the buzz on Mike Farris into a deafening roar!