Category: Music

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

Art, Christianity, Culture, Music1 Comment

Art, Worship and All That Jazz: Inspirations from a Jazz Legend

Gary Furr

I’ve met two people in the past ten years who made me believe the bass was the most wonderful instrument in the world.  Got to know Dave Pomeroy when he played here a several years back with the put together acoustic jazz group with Rob Ickes (of Blue Highway) on dobro and Andy Leftwich, fiddle and mandolin player from Kentucky Thunder (Ricky Skaggs). The other man is a legend I met a few months ago when a member took us to a little jazz dinner theater here.  A group was playing called the Sonny Harris Trio—drums, piano and bass.  The … Continue reading Art, Worship and All That Jazz: Inspirations from a Jazz Legend

Art, Competition, Music, Perfectionism, Writing2 Comments

10 Qualities of a pERFECTionits

Gary Furr

1.  Perfectionists cannot stand it when something is not completed.  For example, when a person… 2.  There is a rigidity about things always having to be a certain way or else they become very upset.  Things cannot be out of order, altered from their usual place, etc. 4.  If you’re going to do your best, you can’t always worry about pleasing everyone else (“You know you shouldn’t be writing this blog.  I told you to major in something else in college.  You’re an idiot.  Nobody cares what you think.)  Pay no attention to that voice in my head… 3.  Practice … Continue reading 10 Qualities of a pERFECTionits