Performing Arts Studio

You would think that after multiple albums and seventeen years of touring coast-to-coast and across the pond, the Gourds would have it all down. Well, they do: they project the alt/indie/roots sensibilities of their hometown, Austin, Texas, better than any music group going. The Gourds mix of Americana/blue grass/rock/bayou among other music influences makes them impossible to fit into a neat classification. Their high-energy live performances and constant touring have earned them the reputation of a band that must be seen to be appreciated.

Two time Oklahoma Book Award Winner Carl Sennhenn will read from his work at the Second Sunday Poetry Reading in the Norman Depot, 200 S. Jones, on June 9. Light refreshments will be served at the free reading which begins at 2:00 pm.

Sennhenn was given the 2013 award for his fourth book of poetry, Nocturnes and Sometimes, Even I, at the 24th Annual Oklahoma Book Awards program held on Saturday, April 13. His Travels Through Enchanted Woods received the 2007 Oklahoma Book Award. Sennhenn was Oklahoma Poet Laureate for 2001 and 2002.

John Fullbright is a young man who finds love, beauty, and pain in the here and now, and skepticism and disdain for those who would take advantage of the dreams of those hoping for a better world. He is a gifted songwriter, a brilliant vocalist, and an exciting multi-instrumentalist,traversing an emotional and musical terrain that is extremely broad, showing equal acuity with tender ballads and songs that make you want to drive faster with the windows rolled down.Firmly rooted in a variety of musical styles, he draws on what has come before, but without imitation. Forget labels when you listen to John Fullbright. He is not folk, not Americana and not pop, but possibly the best fusion of them all.

Boots tap, hands clap, and grins grow like new spring grass when Cowboy Jim Garling begins to play. Join the fun at the Performing Arts Studio on 2nd Friday, June 14, with cowboy music, camp ground cooking, dutch oven demos and delicious free samples on the lawn. It’s all free from 6 to 9 pm at the Norman Depot, 200 S. Jones. Geatches Studio Artists exhibit continues inside the Depot through June 28.

Parker Millsap writes songs and then he sings them. Also, he sings other songs that he wishes he wrote.The Oklahoma singer/songwriter writes bluesy, folksy melodies, with lyrics that
have pleasantly surprising turns of phrase while simultaneously recalling gut-bucket blues from a bygone age.To really get to know the man, you must listen to his music. And frankly, his music really does all the talking. Millsap is a poet: at times his work can be dark and brooding, at other times hopeful, but most of all he has something to say, something to tell you that will grab you and attach itself to you and remain a part of you forever.