Muncie Three Trails Presents Mike Farris & the Fortunate Few

GRAMMY award winning musician Mike Farris, along with his band The Fortunate Few, will be performing a FREE outdoor concert as part of the 2026 Muncie Three Trails Music Series on Saturday, September 19th at 7 PM at the Brown Family Amphitheater on the campus of Ball State University. Locals Mike Martin & the Beautiful Mess will open the show.
Farris is a GRAMMY, Americana Association, and Dove Music award winner, with six solo albums since 2001. He is also a founding member of 90’s mainstream rock group, The Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies.
With a gospel-fueled voice that sounds like a cross between the hard rock blast of Bon Scott and the joyful sweetness of Al Green, Mike has taken a long time to balance his life and considerable talent. Farris tumbled early into the world of drugs and alcohol. After nearly dying from an accidental overdose, he moved in with his father and began playing guitar and writing songs. After forming Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies, however, the endless touring and bars sent him right back to his old bad habits. Finally, in 2004, while attending the funeral of a friend, he decided he had enough, and embraced both God and sobriety. Since that time, Mike has put out four studio releases, two live records, and one charity EP. His music is diverse but tends to be rooted in early American gospel and blues. In 2008, Farris won the Americana Music Award for New and Emerging Artist, in 2010, SHOUT!! Live won the Dove Award for Traditional Gospel Album of the Year, and his 2014 release, Shine For All The People, won the GRAMMY for Best Roots Gospel Album. For 2025’s The Sound of Muscle Shoals, Farris’s first album since 2018’s Silver & Stone, Farris made the pilgrimage to the doors of the legendary Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL. The resulting album is a culmination of all of Farris’s musical influences and life lessons learned, captured in a location that holds deep meaning for him.