When someone has been playing music as long as Rick Faris has, it’s natural to want to push the limits and try something new. At seven, he began playing with his family band. Rick went on to join Special Consensus, nominated for Best Bluegrass Album Grammy in 2013 and 2019 and regularly racking up IBMA awards, most recently for Album of the Year and Instrumental Recorded Performance in 2018.
On November 15, at The Local in Nashville, Faris launched his first solo project Breaking in Lonesome, produced by Stephen Mougin on his Dark Shadow Recording label. All the songs on the album remain true to Faris’ bluegrass roots, most of which he wrote or co-wrote himself.
The album opens with “If the Kansas River Can,” an upbeat heartbreak song about “kissing [the] blues goodbye.” Staying with the river motif, he also includes a nostalgic “Mississippi Steamboat Blues.” Another gem is his driving instrumental, “Stoneman’s Raid,” with the feel of a classic bluegrass tune.
Becky Buller, a powerful force getting the recognition she deserves in bluegrass these days, joins Faris for a duet on “The Wedding Couple,” a bluegrass song in the tradition of the old Brooklyn Bridge 1968 hit “It’s the Worst That Could Happen.”
The title track ”Breaking in Lonesome,” as well as “Wrong Done Right” (which proclaims, “You can’t do no more wrong when you’ve done wrong so right.”) weighs in heavier, while Faris lightens the mood with “Honeybabe.”
Several of the songs reflect Faris’s faith, including “Matthew and Mark’s Wisdom” and “Faith in Man,” with lyrics from the perspective of the Apostle Peter, “just a humble fisherman,” after his failed attempt to walk on water.
Faris, also known for his luthier skills, plays guitar on the recording, as he has with Special Consensus since moving from the mandolin, and his clear tenor voice carries the lead throughout the recording. He’s backed up with a talented line-up: Justin Moses on banjo and vocals, his brother Eddie Faris on bass and vocals, Laura Orshaw on fiddle, and Harry Clark on mandolin. Members of Special Consensus join him on two of the tracks, “Never Is a Long Time” and “Honeybabe.”
While Faris’s website hints at a future Faris Family reunion, fans can still hear him perform with his bluegrass brothers Special Consensus.