Author: Gary Furr

I am a musician, writer and Christian minister living in Alabama. I am founder and President of the Alabama Coalition for Healthy Mothers and Children.
Art, Christianity, Country Music, Jesus, Music, Spirituality, Theology and Life4 Comments

Lessons from JC (Johnny Cash)

Gary Furr

A new friend from New York reminded me of the Cash bio I read a few years back.  Like everyone, I loved  “Walk the Line,” the bio-pic of the life and love of Johnny Cash and his wife June Carter Cash that came out years ago.  It is not a true biography, really.  Robert Streissguth’s JOHNNY CASH: THE BIOGRAPHY is where you get more than the Reader’s Digest Condensed Version. Johnny’s story was, of course, about a many coming out of hard times, his well-known descent into drugs and alcohol that ruined his first marriage and nearly destroyed his career … Continue reading Lessons from JC (Johnny Cash)

Christianity, Christmas, Jesus, Music1 Comment

“One Night, One Life, One Song: The Peculiar History of ‘O Holy Night’”

Gary Furr

History is an odd and wondrous field in which to run and play.  It’s quite serious but also is filled with miracles, surprises and the never-to-be fully resolved or explained.  Discoveries change the course of things.  Extraordinary lives, moments of courage, unanticipated choices and consequences.  It’s a messy, beautiful truth. I have been dabbling a bit in my own genealogy.  I’ve been finding websites and people who share my name—Furr actors, writers, scientists, musicians, war veterans, and, yes, a whole list of Furr criminals.  Pictures of the existence, for a while, of a carbonated drink in New Mexico (not sure … Continue reading “One Night, One Life, One Song: The Peculiar History of ‘O Holy Night’”

Art, Music, Pilgrimage, Rock and Roll, Theology and Life2 Comments

Elvis–tragic hero, addict, mystic

Gary Furr

Just finished a bio of Elvis Presley I picked up a few years back and had sitting on my shelf by novelist Bobbie Ann Mason.  Elvis is one of those figures whose presence is culturally ubiquitous, so the danger is greater that we think we “know” him, only to discover that we do not know this person at all. I felt the sadness that so many musical biographies have evoked in me in recent years—bios of Johnny Cash, Bill Monroe, the Carter family, Eric Clapton, the great blues singers and Hank Williams.  One common thread in this tapestry is the … Continue reading Elvis–tragic hero, addict, mystic

Uncategorized3 Comments

Dog Shoots Man–and so it begins

Gary Furr

Without the internet, there would be no Justin Bieber, no way to spread our urban legends so quickly, and no way to keep up with the Kardashian-ization of civilization.  Wednesday Yahoo news had among its usual stories a new turn on the “Man bites dog” archetype.  “Man is accidentally shot by his own dog.” Apparently, a 46 year old man in Brigham City, Utah “got a behind-full of birdshot courtesy of his loyal canine companion when he was out duck hunting over the weekend.”  He and the dog were traveling in a boat and the man stepped into a marsh … Continue reading Dog Shoots Man–and so it begins

Christianity, Ethics, Suffering8 Comments

Do Dogs Go to Heaven?

Gary Furr

While we were away for Thanksgiving with our two daughters who live in New York, our middle daughter, Erin, called with the drastic news that her 13 1/2 year old white lab, whom she named Hannah Marie Furr-Yeager (any other dogs with hyphenated names?), passed away from kidney failure.  Her husband just called her, , “Good Girl”.   She got Hannah as a pup when Erin was 19 years old.  Erin wrote on facebook, “She was the “mascot” of our entire group of friends in our 20’s. She has been with me through college, roommates, first job, first love, heart break, … Continue reading Do Dogs Go to Heaven?