Quietly strumming into Hall of Fame

Will McFarlane has had a terrific career as a journeyman guitarist over the past 35 years, playing behind Bonnie Raitt, Steve Winwood, Etta James and many other notables. But he got a bit more of the spotlight than usual last month, when he was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville.

McFarlane, who plays tonight at Papa Mojo's Roadhouse in Durham, went in as a member of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section -- a legendary ensemble he played with for 20 years before moving to the Triangle eight years ago. Always the dedicated sideman, however, he deflects credit.

"Honestly, I was there by the kindness of my friends," McFarlane says. "The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section very graciously said they couldn't have done it without their friends, those of us who played with them a lot over the years. So they did it as 'Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and Friends,' with the rest of us, too."

This year's hall-of-fame class included the Memphis Horns, Booker T. & the MGs and Duane Eddy, among others. That made for quite a jam session and after-party.

"There was an amazing sense of camaraderie," McFarlane says. "Just amazing humility, a lot of hugging and good will. I don't know if I'd use the word 'vindication.' I was just honored to be there. If it was any vindication, you know, your family wonders why you didn't get two postgraduate degrees. You drop out, move to the Village and 40 years later, you're inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame. I guess that makes people go, 'Wow, he's a musician after all.'"

Locally, McFarlane wears multiple hats. He's a pastor at Grace Church in Chapel Hill, and it's not unusual to spot him around town in a kilt. He plays with his son Jamie, a solid country songwriter (McFarlane's other son, Rob, plays guitar in the band Boxbomb). He's still a guitarist for hire, staying busy with sessions here and back in Muscle Shoals.

Wes Lachot, proprietor of Durham's Overdub Lane Recording, calls McFarlane "the king of the first take."

"Will is probably the most natural musician I've ever played with, as far as interacting with other people," says Lachot. "It's like he has ESP. He can complete your musical sentence, and it's all unconscious. His playing is so in the pocket, it's almost invisible, which is a good thing. All that studio experience allows him to hear a song once, then play the hell out of it like he's played it all his life."

Like any good studio cat, McFarlane is versatile enough to play any style. But with his own songs (he's made a handful of Christian-rock records over the years), McFarlane shows many of the same stylistic influences and tendencies as Raitt, in whose band he played from 1973 to 1980.

"My stuff is R&B, by which I mean Southern country soul with a little gospel influence," McFarlane says. "More like Bonnie [Raitt] or Delbert [McClinton] than anything that gets called R&B now. What I enjoy most about playing guitar is making a band feel tight; just dropping something in that makes sense. That's the kind of stuff I write, too, where you feel good and say something."

Tonight's show will probably focus on McFarlane's songs, although maybe he can be persuaded to do his cover of James Taylor's "Shower the People" (which he recorded for the 2006 North Carolina compilation "Songs for Sixty Five Roses"). Mostly, though, McFarlane is looking forward to a meal from the kitchen of Papa Mojo's zydeco chef, Roy "Mel" Melton.

"You know, you need to just get out there and jam," McFarlane says. "The last time I played over there, I got a cup of Roy's gumbo to go with the deal. That's almost worth the gig on its own. A good cup of gumbo and a nice R&B jam will keep you fluid."