INXS founding member Andrew Farriss’ self-titled debut solo album ventures into a rootsy groove.
And now for something completely different: Andrew Farriss, a founding member of the multi-platinum-selling Australian rock band INXS, has switched gears to deliver Americana-rooted music with a country flavor in his self-titled debut solo album.
Andrew Farriss originally was slated for release last year, and Farriss was prepared to support it with a national concert tour. But the COVID-19 pandemic scotched those plans — although Farriss did release a well-received solo EP, Love Makes the World, in October.
“The five-song concept of Love Makes the World was born by accident,” Farriss says, “as the world was and still is struggling with the pandemic and trying to contain it.” Among the highlights on the EP: The rousing celebration of love, “All the Stars Are Mine.”
“The first time I played Bluebird,” Farriss said, “to be honest with you, I was really challenged with that. I wasn’t so much worried about sharing my music, but I was more challenged that the other writers in the room I was playing for were damn good. And they’re really, in their field, hardcore country music writer guys, and I’m sitting in there — and that hasn’t been my full background as a songwriter. So I got a little nervous.
“But then I started playing some of the hits that I’d written with INXS, and some of the more recent stuff I've done. And everyone relaxed in the room, and I got through it.”
Here is one of the tastiest cuts on Andrew Farriss — “Good Mama Bad.”
