Gritty Mississippi Bluesman Robert Connely Farr Drops New Single ‘Going Down South’

For a seasoned bluesman, travel is essential. It’s the dream of taking your music and sharing it with all of America- or other neighboring countries.

Few other modern blues musicians have taken this more to heart than Robert Connely Farr, who’s love of the delta blues has taken him from the hottest parts of the south to the coolest parts of the north.

Originally from Bolton, Mississippi, Farr has been studying the rich history of the blues for years, and even was fortunate enough to have legendary Mississippi bluesman Jimmy “Duck” Holmes mentor him in the Bentonia style of delta blues. After gaining that valuable knowledge from Holmes, Farr went on to make his own waves in the modern blues scene.

His 2019 release, Dirty South Blues, gained him critical acclaim from multiple outlets, including landing on KEXP’s Top Albums of 2019. Now, Farr is a proud resident of Vancouver, BC, where he’s since been nominated for Canada’s prestigious Maple Blues Awards for Songwriter of the Year & New Artist of the Year. 

Since his breakthrough album in 2019 with The Rebeltone Boys, Farr has released five more singles, two albums, and a live album. Always eager to spread his rootsy blues music far and wide, he’s since released his latest single on March 13th titled “Going Down South.”

The song starts with a dark, swampy drum beat that leads into Farr’s screeching fuzzed out electric guitar, and everything in the song feels steeped in smoke, as if you were watching a road-worn blues legend play at your favorite deep south dive bar. When Farr starts singing, his gravelly voice pushes the song forward as it shuffles along the lumbering groove.

The touches of keys, rhythm guitar, harmony vocals, and growling bass add a lot of meat to the track. The song ends with Farr and the rhythm player dueling out solos, with Farr’s more dirty blues guitar playing contrasting perfectly with the rhythm player’s more melodic style of improvising. The song ends on a cliff hanging note, making the listener want more.

On this single, Farr balances modern rock aesthetics with the classic delta blues sound he’s so familiar with. It helps create a track that sounds as if it can’t decide which decade it wants to step foot in, which is brilliant.

“Going Down South” is the title track of Farr’s album of the same name, which is set for a June 1st release. There may not be a wealth of authentic modern blues artists these days, but chalk Robert Connely Farr up to one of the few.