John Fullbright, one of Oklahoma’s brightest new rising stars (even though he may shy away from that thought- ‘ridiculous’ is how he would answer it) began warming up for the evening in Downtown Cushing on the Buckhorn’s patio on a piano borrowed from Holly Tichenor. Slated to play from 9-11 Fullbright began tickling the electric ivories an hour early getting accustomed to the keyboard. He ran through classical pieces like Beethoven’s Fifth, the Peer Gynt Suite and Flight of the Bumblebee before moving on to pieces by John Hartford, Tom Waits, Leon Russell, Billy Joel and others. After performing on the piano he moved onto the guitar interspersing original tunes with those by Townes Van Zandt, John Prine and Hoyt Axton. The Buckhorn patio was filled to capacity for the duration of his two hour plus performance.
Fullbright is easily at home among folks old enough to be his grandparents and performs a repertoire that belies his age. (Barely 21). Hailing from Bearden, Oklahoma (a suburb of Okemah, home of Woody Guthrie) Fullbright plies his craft across three states, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma. Formerly with the Mike McClure Band (McClure was instrumental in forming the group ‘The Great Divide’) he now finds himself being hired as a multi-instrumentalist in various venues across the southwest. Proficient on piano, accordion, guitar, harmonica and other instruments he finds himself increasingly in demand.
When singing stories of his own invention he is arguably at his unqualified best. Ageless wisdom and sly humor comes plowing through verse after verse with a voice having the quality of ‘molasses, nails, sawdust and smoke’, as one attendee noted.
Fullbright is also well versed with farm duties and raising cattle. Once during a previous engagement he is reported to have said , ‘I can hook up a three point plow in 30 seconds and plow the back 40 before sundown. But that’s an art that doesn’t speak to me. Neither does hay haulin’.’
It’s very plain, even to the casual listener that wherever the future leads John Fullbright, the world of music is calling his name loud and clear.
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