Employee Spotlight: Ray Farnell - Joyful Noise Found on Called Album

Friday, Nov 21, 2003

Mobile Register
Entertainment Columnist Lawrence Specker
Originally Published: 11/21/03


I might already have found my favorite Christmas album of the year, and this is pretty surprising given two facts:

1) I haven't even started my annual survey of holiday albums yet. They're piling up under my desk like a big stocking full of coal, waiting for the Thanksgiving drive home to north Alabama.

2) The album in question doesn't have a single song on it with an overt Christmas theme.

What it does have is an abundance of the spirit that the Christmas season is supposed to have: It's spiritual, traditional and fun all at the same time.

I'm talking about "Rearranged," the debut CD from Called, a local group you might have caught at BayFest 2003 or at GRACE 2003 in Pensacola. Or at Daphne United Methodist Church, where they perform on the first and third Sundays of every month.

The members of the group are guitarist Dru Kraus, guitarist and dobro player Danny McCann, drummer Mark Moran, bassist Chuck Perelli and guitarist Ray Farnell. (Keyboardist Scott Spradlin also is credited on the disc.)

Farnell describes the group as five "ordinary average guys ... a computer guy, a surveyor, two plant managers and myself."

Farnell himself is pretty well known on the local community theater and music scene, as an award-winning songwriter and as an audio engineer at Dogwood Productions, where studio manager Ray Norman recorded and engineered the project. The result has a rich, warm sound.

And McCann also has his share of credits. For example, he was a member of the band featured in the Mobile Theatre Guild's production of "Henry the 8th at the Grand Ole Opry."

But Farnell's point stands: This project was put together by guys who all have serious day jobs.

What the group members did, more or less, is to bring all their love for classic American rock to bear on a number of traditional hymns: "I'll Fly Away," "Nothing but the Blood" and "Rock of Ages," for example.

You'll hear hints of everything from Pink Floyd to Creedence Clearwater Revival to Roy Orbison. But thanks to the maturity of the musicians, Called's influences have been woven into the group's own distinct sound.

It's a mix that features plenty of guitar -- acoustic, electric, slide and dobro. At root it's midtempo classic rock, but the dobro and acoustic guitar let it keep one foot in country music territory at times. "My Hope is Built (On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand)" gets a hint of reggae.

The song that keeps coming to mind as I listen to "Rearranged" is "Turn, Turn, Turn (To Everything There is a Season)," adapted from the Book of Ecclesiastes by Pete Seeger and turned into a folk-rock standard by the Byrds.

Which is not to say that you'll hear any imitations of the Byrds' shimmering 12-string guitar and distinctive harmonies on "Rearranged." The similarity comes in the open feeling of music made with a glad heart, of a traditional message being invigorated by a thoroughly modern, yet thoroughly respectful treatment.

"It was a neat project," said Farnell. "The message (in the old songs) is still relevant. We wanted to give it a new vehicle."

"It makes you go back and revisit the hymns and see how well written they were," he said. "We like the fact that we can take a style of music and put that message to it and make it palatable to people."

Kraus said it was basically "pure desperation" that led the band to rearrange its first tune -- they were short a piece of music for the weekend's service at Daphne United Methodist Church.

That was "Nothing but the Blood." When it was done, Kraus said, the group found itself thinking, "Well, that was fun, let's do it again."

The services at which Called regularly played were geared toward contemporary praise and worship music, meaning those in attendance were receptive to what Called was doing, Kraus said.

"They've allowed us a lot of freedom," he said.

"We're all fathers and working guys who get together at night," he said. "It was a long project. It took some vacation time. We're at the point now where we're ready to share it."

Farnell said the group also owes thanks to Daphne United Methodist Church for providing the financial support necessary to make the album a reality. Sales of the disc help pay the church back for its investment, he said.

"Rearranged" can be purchased for $15 plus $3 shipping and handling through Called's Web site, www.forcalled.com. Samples of the music can also be heard for free at the site.

The album also can be obtained directly through Daphne United Methodist Church; visit www.dumc.org or call 251-626-2287.