April 6, 2009

Mars Farris at Chris Kew Benefit

MARS FARRIS
Farris plays Strats and a National "Dobro" bottleneck style. Heavily influenced by old scratchy blues records and guys like David Gilmour and Mark Knopfler., Mars has toured the eastern states with various bands and artists such as Acoustic Syndicate, Big Blue, Laura Blackley, Bluestring, Dave Desmelik, Greg Hester and others.

When Acoustic Syndicate stopped touring a few years ago Steve McMurry and Mars put together a new rock band. called Big Blue which garnered a huge following.
More recently, Farris performs as Blues and R&B duo called Junco Partner. Mars on Dobro and Chris Kew on upright bass.

Junco Partner is a Rhythm and Blues band playing play New Orleans, Chicago, and Delta Blues peppered with old school R&B. Their material is our own as well as hand picked dusty old scratchy tunes dug up from the bottom of LP collections. Robert Johnson, Ray Charles, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Professor Longhair to drop a few names.
The duo show is simple and musical, low-key and funky. For some gigs, the duo adds a drummer and the show expands toward an rockin' electric Blues revival 'round midnight.
at

No comments:

Post a Comment


THE CAUSE

THE CAUSE
Chris Kew hails from Newfoundland by way of Boston and toured his way around North America countless times before settling down in Asheville NC.

In past years Chris has performed with a number of bands Hypnotic Clambake, Jiggle the Handle, Steel String Theory, and The Recipe. More recently Chris Kew teamed up with Mars Farris to form Junco Partners. Music is his passion.

But for the past year Chris' ability to pursue his passion and support his family has been severely limited.

Several months ago, Chris Kew was been diagnosed with an arterial veinous malformation in his left temporal lobe. It affected his speech center and language comprehension. The complications from the condition made it very difficult for Chris to pursue his profession as a musician.

His doctors recommended surgery and after several delays, the surgery was completed late in the spring of 209. It's was very delicate surgery with many potential complications and risks but Chris pulled through. He now faces a long and slow recovery.

Chris longs to return to playing music full-time but he's got quite a journey ahead of him. Anyone one who has been through brain surgery is aware that recovery is a slow and painstaking process and things which were once simple tasks, now require significant energy and focus.

Chris continues to take several prescriptions which take a toll on both his physical and emotional status. The prescriptions also take a toll on his wallet and the financial burdens are difficult since Chris is unable to return to work as of yet.