Doug Burr

Friday night, there was a party for my friend, Adam. He's graduating with his PhD from seminary and his wife wanted to throw him quite the shindig. Well, the shindig was Saturday night, but Friday night, the family and a few friends were invited to a coffee shop in Fort Worth for some music and coffee.

Blake Hicks, a friend of Adam's and a budding musician, opened for Doug Burr. We had gone with Adam and Holly to see Doug Burr about a year and a half ago at the Modern in Fort Worth. It was a great evening. The Ron Mueck exhibit was closing and the museum was open until midnight. There was live music outside and inside. It was a cool October evening. Good times.

The Mueck exhibit was great. I'm not one to easily recognize the virtues of modern art, but Mueck is more than squares painted on canvas or pieces of wood glued in random sequences. At the time, Adam had already been a fan of Doug Burr for a bit. Doug was there with his band and they played a set of decent length. His CD, On Promenade, was new at the time and he performed a good bit of it that night.

Fast forward to present:  Seeing Doug in the intimate climes of a small town coffee shop was great. He, nor his music, were in any way constrained by the tight corner of the shop where he was perched. In fact, he seemed in his element, needing neither bass, drums nor keys to make his music sound as it should sound.

I must admit to being mesmerized at times with how natural it seemed for him to be doing what he was doing. I've never been a big fan of folk-type acoustic music. This is one place where Adam's musical tastes and mine have tended to differ, but I'm easily warming up to it, especially as it concerns Mr. Burr.

There are a number of songs from On Promenade that I just love. Slow Southern Home, Come to My Senses, Graniteville, Whiporwhill and How Can the Lark are the first five tracks from this CD, and they are just simply great. I've listened to his new disc, The Shawl, and find it great as well. The Shawl is nine songs that are basically Psalms set to music. It has a wonderful, ambient sound, probably the product of a little post-production reverb, but also due to the locus in which it was recorded. Production notes tell that it was recorded in Texas Hall in Tehuacana, Texas "in twenty-seven hours." Now that's an austere production schedule. I bought these two CDs from him that night, plus his first: The Sickle & the Sheaves. I have yet to delve into it, but I expect nothing less than I've discovered in the latter two.

Doug is a great guy as well. Very approachable, he was more than willing to talk about his music with us, yea, even eager.

Mr. Burr has a lot going for him that causes me to be envious. He's not a widely known musician, yet that doesn't bother him. He is completely content where he is, while at the same time he would gladly welcome being able to do what he loves--his music--full time. However, the part that always has escaped me as a musician (as well as many others) is genuineness. As a musician, I have always been grossly self-conscious. I have always over-worried about how I sound or how I look (cringe), and this has crippled me to the point that I do nothing. I don't think I'll ever grow beyond my self-consciousness enough to be a good musician. I'll keep trying though. Who knows; now that I'm old and not so much a looker, I may get over that crippling shallowness.

I've always liked the idea of local music and local musicians and wanting to support them. I'll be glad to support Doug Burr in whatever way I can. Keep up the good work, sir.