Category: Folk

America, Art, Culture, Dr. Gary Furr & Friends, fear, Folk, folk music, Forgiveness, Gary Furr music, history, Hope, humanity, Justice, Martin Luther King, Memory, Music, Politics, Politics, Race, spirituality, Story, Theology and Life, Tragedy, violence1 Comment

Remembering Martin Luther King

Gary Furr

Fifty years ago this week, Martin Luther King’s life was frozen in time for the whole world. His words keep living, his story keeps being told, and the events of his life are examined again and again.  It is not that time any more. The pain is more diffuse, spread into new struggles for equality and justice. It is worth marking the remarkable changes that have happened in that fifty years. We can go to any restaurant and drink from the same fountains. A lot of things are better, much better. But the pain he saw is still in the … Continue reading Remembering Martin Luther King

Americana, Art, Bill Monroe, Bluegrass, Country Music, Culture, Earl Scruggs, Folk, folk music, Gary Furr music, Hope, Music, Old-time music3 Comments

Start Young

Gary Furr

If you don’t know who Ricky Skaggs is, then you really don’t know anything about bluegrass and old-time music. It’s important to distinguish those two terms. “Bluegrass” technically didn’t exist before the 1940s. It was literally invented as a form by Bill Monroe, recasting the traditional old time music of his Kentucky and Appalachian roots with a new sound built around his unique mandolin playing. The mandolin took a new role as a centerpiece performing lead instrument inMonroe’s vision. He was truly a unique American music phenomenon. Monroe inspired an entire generation of musicians and his influence lives on in … Continue reading Start Young

Blues, Country Music, Creativity, Culture, Folk, Jazz, Literature, Modern Life, Music, Rock and Roll, Songwriting, Songwriting, texas, Texas music, Writing2 Comments

Everything’s Bigger in Texas: the Oxford American 2014 Music Issue

Gary Furr
The Oxford American Music Issue

For many years, a member of my church who knows my weird tastes in music (if most people have never heard about it, I might have; if mass media doesn’t write about, I will) gives me the annual Oxford American Southern Music Issue.  Given my roots and rootlessness around and on the edges of this bizarre and wonderful region (politics=absolutely bizarre; unelected people generally fascinating and gracious; land, music and layer of cultue—wonderful), he knows it lines up with my interests.

The OA is a journal with as colorful and eccentric history to match the region it writes about, but plenty has been written about it elsewhere.  Just a few lines to mention the music issue, which isn’t cheap ($12.95) but well worth it.  Every year, a particular state’s rich heritage of famous and not-so-well-known songwriters and performers are showcased.  Continue reading “Everything’s Bigger in Texas: the Oxford American 2014 Music Issue”