SPH Presents: Concerts in the Chapel with Jacob Furr Trio - Gabe Wootton Opening!
Another wonderful evening in store with local treasure Jacob Furr, with his trio, and Gabe Wootton to open the show. This will be a BYOB show, with complimentary beverages available as supplies last. As nearly always, there will be a session after the show so those instruments are welcome!
Jacob Furr is an award-winning songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, collaborator, and genre fluid artist from Fort Worth, Texas. His work blends West Coast folk with the dusty expanses of West Texas, and explores themes and stories of love, loss, grief, and recovery. He has toured the US since 2014. Furr has opened for Peter Case, Dan Bern, Shovels and Rope, Devotchka, and Over The Rhine, among others.
Furr has long been a strong advocate for local DIY music. He won the Bluelight Live Songwriting Competition in 2015, Fort Worth Weekly “Best Songwriter” 2015, and “Best Folk Artist” 2023. He is a founding member of Hear Fort Worth, as well as being a major supporter of music programming and entrepreneur incubator, Amplify817, with The Fort Worth Public Library.
Though Furr’s most significant work is a three album cycle over 10 years about the loss of his wife to brain cancer in 2013, his songwriting paints pictures of thunderstorms on the Llano Estacado, cemeteries of lost life boat sailors in California, and the intimate feelings and details of recovery and healing. All of these stories and themes are blended into songs that range from towering electric anthems of lost stars, to intimate, solo work that recalls Bert Jansch and early John Ritter.
Galveston singer-songwriter, Gabe Wootton, is a natural-born storyteller. Whether it’s in a song, between songs, or in a conversation, Wootton has a rhythmic way of winding through his thoughts with philosophical depth and sincerity, ultimately working his way to levity and humor. He may very well be a personification of the adage, “better to laugh than to cry.” Without judgment on anyone’s moral code, Wootton can find the lighter side of anything, from death-sentence executions to weed-eaters.
While his stories, as heard at his shows or on his 2020 album “Old Quarter Live Sessions Vol. 1” may seem slightly dramatized, Wootton is a character himself with a Mad Hatter-Esque delivery, and eventually, the facts support the fables.
A solo artist performing alone with a guitar and singing his own songs, in the spirit of many before him like Townes Van Zandt, Bob Dylan, and Woody Guthrie, Wootton is bravely carving his own path but doesn’t like to compare or categorize his music. “I get lumped in with Texas Country and Americana. But I think it cheats the consumer and performer to put black & white labels on artists,” Wootton said.
Old Quarter Acoustic Café and Old Quarter Records label owner Joel Mora holds Wootton’s music and humorous tales in high regard. “I see a lot of people come through here and he’s a standout performer. He writes great songs and knows how to command a room with his stories,” Mora said.
