Category: Old-time music

Bluegrass, Country Music, Death, Environment, Ethics, Music, Old-time music, Technology

Weather or Not

Gary Furr

Weather.  Someone said to me not long ago, “It is humbling to consider that when you come to die, the crowd that day will be determined by the weather and they’ll sum your life up in twenty minutes or less.”  Humbling. “Shelter” is such a “taken for granted” in America that we live more disconnected from the fragility of life as it is exposed to the elements.  It breaks in on us now and then—in California, by earthquake, in other places, snow or tsunami.  Here in the South, we live chronically subject to the tornado and hurricanes. Hurricanes are different … Continue reading Weather or Not

Art, Bluegrass, Christianity, Gospel music, Jesus, Music, Old-time music, Poverty, Prayer, Race, Suffering, Theology and Life2 Comments

“Just a Little Talk With Jesus”

Gary Furr

“Just a Little Talk With Jesus” is a famous old gospel song.  Last night, our band, Shades Mountain Air, had a grand time at the American Gospel Quartet Convention in Birmingham and sang this crowd favorite.  I knew that it was a song that black and white audiences in the South had shared since it was written.  It’s been covered by just about everybody—Bill Gaither, Elvis Presley, the Stanley Brothers, and innumerable mass choirs, quartets and Sunday night gatherings around the piano in little country churches.   (click this link to listen to the song by Shades Mountain Air) It’s so … Continue reading “Just a Little Talk With Jesus”

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