BRATTLEBORO — “I just like playing my songs, which are written to tell stories, no matter if it be the Christian or secular music I play,” Will McFarlane says.
Former lead guitarist for Bonnie Raitt, McFarlane also was a member of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, also known as The Swampers.
This acclaimed group of session musicians crafted the “Muscle Shoals sound,” with such hits as Aretha Franklin's “Respect” and Bob Seger's “Night Moves.” Although he wasn't with The Swampers from its beginning, McFarlane was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tenn., as a “friend” of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.
In addition to his work as a musician, McFarlane leads worship at a black church in Muscle Shoals, Ala.
On Saturday, Aug. 9, at 4:15 p.m., the Latchis Theatre will screen “Muscle Shoals: the Movie,” an award-winning documentary that tells the story of how such incredible music came out of a small town in Alabama.
Following the film, McFarlane will give a free gig at the Robert H. Gibson River Garden on Main Street in Brattleboro.
On Aug. 10 at 7 p.m., the Latchis presents McFarlane for an evening of Christian music and more. Joining him are Canadian duo The Royal Royal and singer/songwriter Joe Frey.
The concert is produced by Jim Strysko, pastor of the Whetstone Church in Brattleboro, and McFarlane's brother-in-law. Tickets are $5 ($3 for students), available at www.brattleborotix.com and at the door.
The Royal Royal are brothers Gabriel and Nathan Finochio from Ontario, playing a distinctive acoustic pop-rock sound.
“We grew up listening to Keith Green,” explains Nathan. “The raw passion and production and fun he communicated made it all seem so simple and straightforward. Jesus inspires our songwriting most, and our love for His bride, the Church.”
Nathan also credits the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, and Neil Young as influences, adding, “Our favorite thing to do as artists is create.”
The band recently released its first studio album, The Royalty, on Essential Records.
Vermont native Joe Frey also has been inspired with a love for music by the Gospel-driven songs of Keith Green, as well as by classic hymns. Frey's single “Lead Me” is enjoying heavy rotation on Christian radio.
As well, Frey leads worship alongside Dawn Caudell in Wilmington at Valley Town Church.
Like The Royal Royal, and perhaps like a lot of American kids in the 1960s, McFarlane found musical inspiration in the Beatles.
“On Feb. 9, 1964, I watched the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show,” says McFarlane. “I usually wasn't allowed to stay up that late, but after my brother brought home a 45 of 'I Want to Hold Your Hand,' I told myself I've got to see these guys. They changed everything for me. In my soul, I knew what I wanted to be.”
McFarlane studied piano as a child. He was 12 when inspired by the Beatles to take up guitar. He acquired a taste for R&B in high school, and focused on Motown material while developing as a rhythm guitarist. He grew up in a family that believed in education. Music was part of that.
“But it definitely was not [understood as] a way one should make his living,” McFarlane says.
But music could never to be just a sideline for McFarlane.
“Something inside [me] told me that I had to dedicate my life to it,” he says. With that, he formed a rock band, The Gladiators.
“The reason for the name was all of us in the group were in a Latin class together. As a lark, we hit on the idea of doing “The House of the Rising Sun” [popularized in 1964 by The Animals] in Latin for our first public appearance, at a school concert.”
Ergo, they thought it appropriate to name themselves after the great Roman warriors.
It helped that in the audience was a television producer - one of the students' fathers - and he liked what he saw. He invited The Gladiators to perform on his kiddie show.
“After we finished, the host said, 'Boys and girls, wasn't that great? I didn't understand a word of it,'” McFarlane recalls.
McFarlane was in a series of rock 'n' roll bands throughout high school. In 1969, he moved to New York City, and then the Boston area, to try his luck as a big-time musician. In Cambridge, Mass., Bonnie Raitt discovered him performing in the area's small clubs.
McFarlane would play lead guitar for Raitt for six years.
“I had a great time working with Bonnie,” says McFarlane. “We toured everywhere, and I got to perform with such greats as Jackson Browne, Little Feat, and John Lee Hooker.”
McFarlane and Raitt parted company amicably in 1980 as McFarlane and his wife, Janet, didn't want to raise two kids in Los Angeles.
Jimmy Johnson, the guitarist and producer who performed with the likes of Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin and engineered the Rolling Stones' 1971 album Sticky Fingers, heard McFarlane play at a L.A. studio session. He said to him, “We could use you down in Muscle Shoals. I'll take you there.”
“This was a dream come true and I never hesitated,” says McFarlane. He began a new career as a studio musician with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, playing on records for the likes of Bobby “Blue” Bland, Little Milton, and Etta James.
“And that's how this white guy ended up playing rhythm and blues in the Deep South,” he says.
Soon after relocating to Muscle Shoals, McFarlane had a spiritual awakening. He writes on his website that his younger brother had been murdered while McFarlane was still with Raitt. He says he reeled for three years afterward.
McFarlane then became a Christian and began traveling in ministry. At the same time, he continued earning his living playing secular music at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.
McFarlane finds no problem with mixing a career with religious and secular music, although some of his listeners think differently.
“I don't want separate things, because it is all music to me,” says McFarlane. “Some believers think you should play for other Christians and no one else. Too many Christians divide things into believers and the rest of world.
“I think there is too much division in this country. I believe in the philosophy of live and let live. People today are always drawing lines, like that of secular versus Christian. My granddad was a congressman and he understood the importance of what he called the art of compromise. Now things are too polarized.”
McFarlane says that after years of writing and performing many kinds of songs, whether Christian or secular, all he demands of his music is that it be honest. He has no desire to cram any kind of message down his audience's throat.
But he is pleased when people can take something away when they hear his songs.
He explains, “I think my music is provocative; it should be not just entertaining but also a means to encourage a nice space to find its way into your heart.”