Category: Art

Art, Bluegrass, Country Music, Folk, Music, Old-time music

Wade Mainer, Uncle Vance and This Old Guitar

Gary Furr

Wade Mainer died this week at the age of 104.  A mountain banjo player who came out of the mountains of Weaverville, NC, Wade and his brother J. E. were part of my life even though I never met either one of them.  They split up and had separate careers after 1936, and were a big part of the foundation of what Bill Monroe fused into “bluegrass” music.  Wade became the more famous of the two, playing the White House for President Franklin Roosevelt. Uncle Vance Furr, my Daddy’s oldest brother, died at the age of 74.  He lived, all … Continue reading Wade Mainer, Uncle Vance and This Old Guitar

Art, Blues, Music, Suffering4 Comments

Irene, Goodnight…

Gary Furr

For a change, Alabamians were watching anxiously for everyone else’s safety as Irene ripped up the Eastern seaboard.  Alabamians are used to hunkering down in our safe places with flashlights and batteries, bottled water and a weather radio, waiting for the all clear.  So we waited this time, but the memories of April were still with us.  I have a daughter in New York, so I appreciated Mayor Bloomberg’s caution. There is a delicious sweetness in hunkering in the dark during a storm.  Routine stops, you call and gather everyone who matters most to you and let go of a … Continue reading Irene, Goodnight…

Art, Economics, Stewardship, Writing

Stewards on a Sinking Ship?

Gary Furr

I have committed, as a writer, to undertake the serious discipline of writing during the month of July each year.  This is a little confusing, because I write all the time in my work, as a songwriter, just about everyday as a facebook citizen (won’t find me with those loathsome mundanities like how much mustard was on my sandwich or my farmville situation.  I try to write something short and worthwhile, except when i don’t, of course.  Which is why I like “like.”  Cuts to the chase, and you can “unlike.”).  I mean, though, that I have committed to myself … Continue reading Stewards on a Sinking Ship?