With references to Fruitridge Road, Gunther’s Ice Cream and Cache Creek, anyone residing in or familiar with Sacramento can relate to Justin Farren’s music with a smile.

Catch a live performance with Justin Farren noon today in the University Union’s Redwood Room instead of at the usual local downtown cafe. Alongside Farren, playing the hand drums, will be his best friend since age 16, Brian Rodgers.

Farren has been writing music since age 12, putting a story into each song. Every song embraces truth and tells the tale of his everyday life.

“If I am writing, I do it in my car, during my free time or whenever thoughts go through my head,” Farren said. His musical inspirations are Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, Ben Folds and the Violent Femmes. With a polished strum to the acoustic guitar and a soulful and expressive voice, Farren can be easily compared to Jack Johnson or Jason Mraz.

Over the past two years, Farren has performed to the younger crowd. Farren said he has grown as a person, so his topics of interest and ideas about life have changed as well. This has, in turn, changed his music.

His audience now ranges from the ages of 16 to 50 with a flow of diversity within. He said the best thing about music is “going out and playing at a show and people are there for me, they’re attentive, and enjoyably taking in a byproduct produced by me.” Farren said independently creating music is the path forhis musical talent, and that it’s important for his music be real and not rushed, when song lyrics are produced by naturally coming to mind, the finished product can never be rushed.

A native of Sacramento, Farren has been performing locally and has also had the opportunity to play shows around neighboring states such as Oregon and Washington.

Bredan O’Brien remembers when he first saw Justin perform sometime in 2003. The 20-year-old Naked Lounge Coffee House employee recalls going to high school with Justin. “In high school, there didn’t seem like any real chances for music. When I saw him live, I thought, good set, good stage presence, and I was surprised that he was so good for just starting out,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien remembers Farren coming into the coffee shop for an occasional “cup of joe.” He said, “Justin is definitely worth checking out. Good talent and potential, he could really be the next Jackie Greene.”

Watching this city grow culturally has been great for Farren and he feels being a part of that culture and music scene has been extraordinary.

This pleasant lyrical “folk-pop” can be found on either of Justin’s albums, “The Smog Check Blues,” or”The Sounds of Flight.”

The most recent album release, “The Sounds of Flight,” is somewhat of a tribute to Luna’s Cafe.All song tracks are written in Spanish and the color scheme of the album reflects that of the cafe. Cafeand juice bar owner Art Luna said that Justin has been doing gigs at the coffee house for the past three tofour years playing, about 20 to 30 shows.

When describing Farren, Luna said, “He is definitely a crowd pleaser. People love him, his attitude andlyrics are off center, a little quirky. He is truly a loving, caring human being.”

When Farren is not gigging at local venues like Luna’s Cafe or Old Ironsides, he is probably out buildinghis house. His house, which has been under construction for nine months, will soon be the home of this marvelous musician.

If you can’t check out the moving lyrical voice and divine acoustic sounds of Justin Farren at the Union,be sure to catch him at 9 p.m. on February 3 at Luna’s Cafe. His songs can be purchased on iTunes and www.justinfarren.com. His albums are available at The Beat record store in downtown Sacramento. Mindy Yuen can be reached at [email protected]