When I was in the fifth grade, I discovered Rock & Roll. My first records were 45 RPM albums by Bill Haley and His Comets and Elvis Presley. The music hit me like a bolt of lightning. I was one of those kids who could not get enough of the music, and I could “bop ‘til I dropped”.
I began playing guitar in about the 9th grade. I had taken piano lessons for four years when I was in elementary school, but little of it affected me emotionally. No so with the guitar. After all, Bill Haley played guitar. Elvis Presley played guitar. My father played guitar, and he guided me when I needed some good coaching. He would give me a song and encourage me play it in every key.
I knew of a boy who had an older brother in a country band. When the older brother moved out to go elsewhere, the younger brother started selling everything in his older brother’s room. I bought a jumbo model Kay guitar from that boy. I also bought a stack of 45 RPM records by Hank Williams, who had been dead for several years, but whose music was still well known.
Hour after hour, I would strum a guitar to those Hank Williams records. I wrote my first song, Sittin’ and Starin’ in high school.
In 1971, while teaching at Washington State University in Pullman, WA, I wrote my first song with Doug Sharp, a mathematician I met at Texas A&M when we were both in graduate school. Doug shared by love of music, and we admired the work of Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, and Ian & Sylvia, among others. Late night music listening seemed to lend itself to songs with poetic lyrics. Doug is a natural poet, and we began writing songs with a poetic aspect to them.
The result:
By the mid-1980’s Doug and I wrote more than 50 songs. I built a recording studio in my garage in Houston and some friend musicians helped me demo these songs.
The musical friendships led to my forming Dr. Fry’s Texas Medicine Band in the mid-1980s, and we became a popular band in Houston until about 1994, when I began devoting full time to my work in a national economics consulting firm based in the College Station/Bryan area.
However, in about the year 2000, I rerecorded songs in a professional studio, using my band members. The recording resulted in two discs that received heavy play in countries in Europe, as well as Australia and New Zealand, with some in the United States – everywhere where DJ’s could control their playlists rather than have playlists dictated by corporate interests. Those releases were played so much that in 2000 and 2001, Dr. Fry’s Texas Medicine Band was among the most played independent artists in the world.
On this site I will visit songs and point out aspects of them that are interesting to me. I will show you some of Doug’s poems. I may talk about interesting events that occurred when the band was active.
Subscribe, and I will take you on a musical journey.
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Darrel
As you know, we have some history together… However, I’m really eager to see any new things you have in store.
Clifford Fry
Hi Darrel – none of this can match what you and I did together. I hope all is well with you. I would appreciate any comments, as I trust you judgement. Am I keeping these web site emails sufficiently interesting?
It is getting hot here.
You can see a song from a recent jam on Facebook – mine or Barbara Webb’s.
Best wishes,
Clifford
Bobby Allen
I really enjoyed this cliff , Thanks
Clifford Fry
Hi Bobby – I hope to see you sometime soon. Keep in touch.
Clifford
Clifford Fry
Hi Bobby – THanks for the feedback. Let me know if I am keeping it interesting. I am writing what I want to write, and I have no clue if it is interesting to others.
I hope all is well with you.
Best wishes,
Clifford
Ben Gibbons
Great start. Look forward to reading more. I’m sure you will not have time but. Faye has a blog page too and she has many funny and interesting topics. You can find it at: Blog.fayegibbons.com
Ben Gibbons
Great start. I look forward to reading more. I’m sure you don’t time to read it but Faye has a blog too. You can get to it at: blog.fayegibbons. Com
Wanda Needleman
Thanks Cliff! Great to follow you and to learn more!
Wanda
Clifford Fry
Hi Wanda – do you like these posts, or have you been able to read them yet? For any posts you miss you can go to the web site CliffordLFry.com and read past posts. I hope to see you and Alan sometime this summer.
Clifford
Ronald
Bop till you drop
Joerg
I love journeys – musical or otherwise 🙂
Clifford Fry
Read post 1 about Leaning to the Wind – then listen to the song. It is one of my favorites.