Navigating Grief, Growth, and Creativity with Jacob Furr

This episode of Curious Goldfish features host Jason English in conversation with Jacob Furr, a 38-year-old singer-songwriter from Fort Worth, Texas. They discuss Furr's integration of his personal experiences, particularly the loss of his wife to brain cancer in his twenties, into his music, exploring the ongoing process of grief and transformation. The discussion covers Furr's musical journey, his latest album 'Turning,' which symbolizes a message of hope and emergence from despair, and the intricacies of songwriting as a medium for processing emotions. Furr shares stories of growing up, his brief move to San Francisco, and his deep connection to the music scene in Fort Worth, including efforts to gain recognition for the city's musical talents. Additionally, Furr gives insight into the challenges and rewards of being an independent artist, the supportive music community in Fort Worth, and the personal evolution that reflects in the positive outlook of his recent work compared to earlier melancholic themes.

00:00 Navigating Grief and Embracing Life's Freshness

01:06 Introducing Curious Goldfish: A Musical Journey

01:45 Meet Jacob Furr: A Singer-Songwriter's Tale

02:36 The Heart of Fort Worth's Music Scene

04:59 Exploring the Legacy of Townes Van Zandt

08:15 The Independent Artist's Life in Fort Worth

12:53 Turning: A Trilogy of Grief, Growth, and New Beginnings

17:44 Songwriting as Therapy: The Healing Power of Music

23:47 Finding Love and Moving Forward After Loss

27:15 The Hustle Behind the Music: Teaching and Creating

32:05 Wrapping Up: Stay Curious with Curious Goldfish

yeah, and it stays fresh.

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That's the thing.

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Like you can, you can look at it as like,

oh, it was in the year, but then what, 10

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years later now or 11 this year, um, it's

still things will happen and things will

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come up and you're like, oh, that's just

as fresh as it was, you know, day after.

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So, you know, it's, it's a, it's a

process like that grieving process.

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It doesn't stop.

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And it's, it's just, how can you integrate

that into your life and how can you

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like make that part of who you are now?

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Cause it's not like you're going

to get over it or forget it.

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You know, and which I was afraid of

doing for a long time of forgetting

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the way that that felt or the way that

it felt to be in love in that way.

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and yeah, you don't forget it.

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You just sort of like incorporate it

and then appreciate it as it comes

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up a new, each new, you know, each

new time or each new day, I guess.

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Jason English (Host): Welcome to

curious goldfish, a podcast community

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where music and curiosity come together

through interesting conversations

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with the music makers of our world.

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I'm your host, Jason English.

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You can find curious goldfish and all the

major podcast and social media platforms.

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And of course, we have all of

our content on our website.

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Curious goldfish.

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com.

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Jacob Furr is a 38 year old

singer songwriter from Fort Worth,

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Texas, who makes you feel like

you've been best buddies forever.

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Maybe it's our mutual love and respect

for many of the same musicians and music.

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Maybe it's our upbringing in the American

evangelical church, a shared experience

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that we are both slightly embarrassed

by and also partially enamored with.

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Our connection can't be facial hair.

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His beard runs circles around mine.

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And of course it can't be around shared

musical ability because he has all of that

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and I have none of it, whatever it is.

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I am so incredibly grateful that

Jacob reached out to me when I first

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launched this podcast, just wanting to

gauge my interest in a chat with him.

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I had just published an episode with

Vanessa Peters who Jacob talks too often.

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And while I am able to do remote

interviews, it's always best to

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meet in person, try to build some

sort of camaraderie face to face.

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And that's exactly what happened.

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And I hope that connection comes across

as you listen to us talk about the

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music scene in Fort Worth, the album he

released last year called turning and the

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tragic story of losing his wife to brain

cancer when he was just in his twenties.

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He performs the title track to that

album for us a signal of hope to the

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world that you can emerge from tragedy

and heartbreak even though those

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feelings of despair never really leave.

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I wish I lived closer to Jacob.

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He's someone that you can picture

yourself just hanging out with.

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And it would be a thoughtful conversation

with a hell of a lot of laughs.

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I know it's just not me.

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I imagine he makes so many people

feel like best friends forever.

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just after a few minutes.

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I'm excited to introduce him to you today.

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Jacob Furr of Fort worth, Texas.

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Let's dive in.

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Jacob.

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It's really nice to meet you.

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Jacob Furr: It's really

nice to meet you, Jason.

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Thanks for having me in

your, uh, hotel room.

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Jason English (Host): It's a little

weird, uh, but, you know, everybody

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that's listening, don't worry, you

know, we just wanted some privacy.

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Jacob Furr: It's very

soundproofed in here.

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Jason English (Host): Yeah, it's good.

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I'm here.

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Um, yeah, we're in Dallas.

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I'm here.

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I have a day job and I thought

I'd sneak in an interview.

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Obviously nights and weekends.

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Just make sure my boss isn't,

uh, isn't freaking out.

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But, um, yeah, so you live in Fort Worth

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Jacob Furr: I do live in Fort Worth

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Jason English (Host): and

you, you grew up there, right?

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Jacob Furr: I grew up there, yeah.

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Um, yeah, I was born there in 86

and then moved to San Francisco

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in like 2010, I think for a little

bit, and then moved back here.

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Jason English (Host): That's different.

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San Francisco is

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Jacob Furr: Yeah, it was a, uh,

it was a, it was a big change.

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It was a good change.

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needed it.

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Yeah.

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Jason English (Host): well,

yeah, that's, that's awesome.

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And you're, you know, and just watching

you online and social media and stuff,

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like you're really embedded into the,

not just the music community of Fort

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Worth, but the community at large, right?

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Jacob Furr: Yeah, I try to be like,

um, especially Fort Worth because

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I, uh, Yeah, I just believe heavily

in Fort Worth music and like the

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people that create over there.

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Um, and so I try to do everything I can

to support the other people like me.

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I mean, cause it's, you know, it's

an all boats sort of situation.

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Um, so yeah, I think we have, uh,

we have a really high quality, um,

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Music scene over there that gets sort

of overshadowed a lot by Dallas and

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Austin and all that kind of stuff.

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So, um, but I think everybody, everybody,

everything that we do over there is

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like on par with that sort of scene.

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Jason English (Host): Oh, that's awesome.

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I mean, even just this weekend,

you guys did a Hometowns Fest.

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Jacob Furr: We did hometowns fest

this weekend to sort of celebrate

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towns, Vanzant, and that was.

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Yeah, that's good.

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That's been, I think that's the eighth

year that we've like officially done it.

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And this guy named Bruce Payne

puts it on and he, I mean,

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it's just all volunteer stuff.

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Like he just loves town so much

that he puts that festival on every

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year and it's not really a festival.

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It's more like a birthday

celebration more than anything else.

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And then we do this like open

mic on the last day of it.

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And everybody plays towns, fans,

aunt songs, and tries to bum each

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other out as hard as they can.

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Jason English (Host): Oh my gosh, yeah.

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So I didn't really, I mean, I

guess I had heard his music.

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I didn't know really his story

up until a few years ago.

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Did you see that Ken Burns

documentary on country music?

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No.

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Jacob Furr: Wait, the Oh, yeah.

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No, no,

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Jason English (Host): PBS.

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Jacob Furr: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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The thing that I remember from that

one was like the Carter family stuff.

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Like I was obsessed with that, like first

era of it, like, and just how interesting

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like the Carter family specifically was

and how they collected all that stuff.

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But yeah, he does get into it a

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Jason English (Host): Yeah.

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Yeah.

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And I think, uh, it was, you know,

it was one of my favorite things on

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television that I've seen, but towns

actually, uh, He's he's an important

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part of the history of country music

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Jacob Furr: Yeah, for sure.

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Jason English (Host): sort of represented

that changed into like more of the folk

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Jacob Furr: folk Yeah, he's like,

yeah, I think he like translated a lot

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from like, um, Sort of like what Dylan

was doing, like, cause a lot of those

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dudes from Houston, they were, they

were like really into that like, hippie

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beatnik culture and it was like, Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Jason English (Host): their,

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Jacob Furr: Down in Houston was like

their version of San Francisco and

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their version of the hate Ashbery.

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So they're all kind of hippies, but

they have that like Texas sort of,

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you gotta wear the cowboy hat and the

blue jeans sort of thing going on.

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Um, so they never really fit too well

into the country thing like that.

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They almost had to just because of

like the location where they were is

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the way it's my take on it anyways.

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Um, So, yeah, what I love about Townes

is that, like, yeah, he is this, like,

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transitional figure from, like, Dylan,

who's doing this, like, pop rock thing,

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into this, like, country folk Americana,

for lack of a better word, sort of

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thing, and he's, yeah, the poetry

that he's using is, like, way more

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interesting than, like, the songwriting

aspect of it, you know, so, yeah,

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he's a, he's a fascinating character.

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Jason English (Host):

from Fort Worth, right?

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Jacob Furr: Yeah, he

was born in Fort Worth.

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His family was like, Bruce is going

to get mad if I get this all wrong.

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Um, his, the Van Zandt family basically

like, Fund founded Fort Worth in a lot

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of ways and like found that a bunch of

stuff around here in Texas They're a big

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big money family from from East, Texas

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Jason English (Host): Um,

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Jacob Furr: So yeah, he was born in

Fort Worth His great granddad's cabin is

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like you can go see his great like they

preserved his cabin So you can go like

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hang out at the Van Zandt cabin in town.

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It's really weird But we've yeah,

we've we've gone a long time without

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celebrating people like him and like

Ornette Coleman's from Fort Worth, which

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is like mind blowing to like, it's just

never been a part of like the story that

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we've told about ourselves over there.

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So we're, we're getting better at that

through like places like here, Fort

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Worth and the city itself is sort of

like helping promote that and being

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like, Hey, this is a part of our,

like who we actually are in this town.

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So

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Jason English (Host): That's neat.

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So what are the advantages of being

an independent singer songwriter

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in a place like Fort Worth?

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And then what are the disadvantages?

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Jacob Furr: Oh, that's a good one.

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Um, advantages.

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It's real safe and it's real friendly.

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So you can kind of get away with

whatever you want to get away with.

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You can try it like I like to

do lots of different things.

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Um, so you don't have to like box

yourself into anything at any point.

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Um,

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Jason English (Host): and

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Jacob Furr: Yeah, it's

just really supportive.

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And I think that's great for people.

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Um, but the, the flip side of that

is that it gets really, um, insular

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because everybody's just sort of

swimming in the same pond, um, which

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we're, we're breaking out of that.

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Like that's been a problem in the past.

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I think, um, that like, If you were from

Fort Worth or you came to Fort Worth,

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like you were just from Fort Worth.

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And it was just like, we're really,

really proud of being from Fort Worth.

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Cause we're not Dallas.

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Like, you know, we're like the little,

it's that little brother syndrome.

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And so we're like, really

proud to be from Fort Worth.

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And so now it's like, okay, we're

proud to be from Fort Worth.

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Let's like, Export this out and like, see,

you know, let's all get a little bit more

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ambitious about what we're doing and, you

know, sort of get out, like, use the scene

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as like our home base, but sort of like

get out of just playing the same five bars

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over and over again with everybody else.

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Jason English (Host): with everybody else.

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That's good.

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Uh, what are, what are

some of the disadvantages?

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Um,

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Jacob Furr: Um, I mean, let

that insularity I think would

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be the main disadvantage of it.

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Um, It's not really, we're not

super connected to the industry.

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Right.

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But once again, we're changing all that.

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Like we're, we're, there's a lot of work

that we're putting into like changing

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that, like connecting people, um, to

sort of bigger things outside of us.

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Um, I think the whole Leon Bridges thing

like changed a lot of people's minds,

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but I don't know that it, it, in a lot

of good ways, but also in a lot of bad

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ways to it, like made people like really

focused on this like outward thing and

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like, um, You know, what can we get?

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Can we get Atlantic records to come here?

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You know, that kind of thing.

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And it, it sort of, it,

you know, I don't know.

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It's a good thing.

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It's a bad thing.

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Everything's interesting.

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Jason English (Host): I mean, I

think Fort Worth doesn't really pop

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into someone's head right away when

you talk about the music industry.

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Right.

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Cause it's usually, you

know, Nashville, Memphis,

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Jacob Furr: Yeah, exactly.

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Jason English (Host): do you think like

in this day and age, I would imagine, you

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know, I'm not part of the music industry,

but, For a long time, it's like, you know,

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I'm going to Nashville to like make it.

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Do you think you have to do that,

you know, still, or, or not really?

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Jacob Furr: it depends on what you want.

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Like I say, I'd have a lot of friends

that have done it that have gone to

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Nashville specifically to like make

it and to go do the 10 year town thing

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and write and you know, and absolutely.

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And like I have friends that still live

in Fort Worth that like tour with big

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bands and like, you know, from Nashville

and they fly up there and everything.

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So I think there's a, there's

a connecting point between it.

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Um, yeah.

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I don't think you have

to do anything anymore.

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Like you can be from anywhere and

like connect with people these days.

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Like you can go, you can go to the

conference, you can get on the plane, you

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can, you know, connect with them online.

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Like we were talking about earlier,

like, you know, like I just sent you

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a message, like, let's talk, like, you

know, so there's, yeah, the geography

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thing, I don't think matters anymore.

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And I think it's more a matter

of like Fort worth sort of.

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Catching up mentally to that and, and not

getting stuck in this, like, well, we're

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from Fort Worth and if you don't know

us, you know, screw you, you know, like,

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and now it's like, Oh no, we're from Fort

Worth and we would really like you at all

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to like, see what we're doing over here.

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Jason English (Host): Yeah.

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Seriously.

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Well that's good.

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So, you know, we talked about the,

the documentary, like part of that

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documentary was also about Willie

Nelson, who, you know, he'd laid down

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in the middle of Broadway one night.

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Basically trying to kill himself, I think,

in Nashville because it was so difficult.

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Yeah.

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And then, you know, he ended up

coming back to Texas and Yeah.

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Rest is history.

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Jacob Furr: Did the thing.

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Yeah.

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Jason English (Host):

years ago or 50 years

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Jacob Furr: Yeah.

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And I have some friends that have

considered like Nashville's rough.

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I've done Nashville, like a couple of

just like dip my toe into like, Oh,

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I'm going to go see, you know, met with

like publishing people or whatever.

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And it was like, ah, I don't

think I want to like do this.

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Like, and that could be fear

on my part, but it is like, it

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is very much, you know, yeah.

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If you're going to go up there,

You have to be committed to

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the thing and do the thing.

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And I admire people that are

and have been able to like make

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a life for themselves there.

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But for me personally, I

was like, ah, I'm good.

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Jason English (Host): Although if

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Jacob Furr: Although if anybody wants to

offer me a record deal from Nashville, uh,

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Jason English (Host): a record

deal from Nashville, I'm up.

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Jacob Furr: out in

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Jason English (Host): and it

was called Turning Mm-Hmm.

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, is that right?

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Called Turning, put it out in September.

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Yeah.

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Jacob Furr: It was the, uh, the

third album of a cycle that I was,

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had been working on for a long time.

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So it was sort of like the end, the end

chapter to a long period of writing.

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Jason English (Host): Yeah.

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Well, I think.

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I need to make one comment and then

come back to the album, but it's,

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it, it feels like much more positive

than, uh, than the previous ones.

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And by the way, in some of these

other interviews, you, you sort

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of described yourself as like Mr.

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Mr.

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Melancholy.

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I mean, I haven't laughed this

hard even before the interview then

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Jacob Furr: Think it comes out

in the music a lot of times.

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Yeah,

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Jason English (Host):

seem like a happy guy.

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I

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Jacob Furr: I'm okay.

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Yeah, I'm a happy cynic

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Jason English (Host): Yeah.

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Yeah.

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But is that the album is much

more, it felt like a more positive

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outlook than the other ones.

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Jacob Furr: and that was like surprising

I think in a lot of ways because I

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knew that I wanted to Finish the whole

thing, but I hadn't intended on writing

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a happy album I was just sort of still

using writing as like a process for

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grieving, all this kind of stuff.

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And so it just sort of like ended

up being that way that like, that's

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what was coming out as I was writing.

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And I was like, Oh, I guess I should,

this is this is the thread that

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connects this to those other things.

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It doesn't have to be some new thing.

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It actually does involve the

past two records and how they

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all sort of fit together.

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So

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Jason English (Host): yeah.

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Is it your own trilogy?

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Jacob Furr: to be happy.

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Jason English (Host): I mean,

you're like a totally happy guy.

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Uh, yeah,

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Jacob Furr: now I am

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Jason English (Host): yeah,

well, that's, yeah, that's true.

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Uh, but it's your own,

it's your own trilogy.

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It

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Jacob Furr: is yeah, and I don't I didn't

mean to do that like I you know, I When

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I lived in San Francisco, I was talking

about this yesterday at the town's fest

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that that was like my first introduction

to towns fancy it And because I, I got a,

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I got a record, um, or a bunch of records

of his for my birthday one year there.

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Anyways, long story short, that

was when I like really wanted to

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start songwriting because I was

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it was like, I think I can do this.

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And so I started writing some stuff.

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Um, yeah.

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Um, yeah.

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And then, yeah, like life happens

and some, some bad things go down.

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You gotta, you know, grieve

through it and work through it.

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And that sort of became like how

I did it was through the writing.

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It wasn't like, it was

like two separate things.

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It was one thing that kept going.

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Um, and I didn't know when it would end

or if it would stop, or if it would be

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like the only thing that I ever wrote

about for the rest of my life, but I was

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just riding through it just to try to get

through it and yeah, turning ended up.

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Like, it starts off real sad.

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That first song is like, Uh, Bal Marai,

I think is the first track on there.

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That's a really intense

song for me emotionally.

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But then by the end, the, the equal

and opposite emotion is happening too.

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Like, it's this very, like, I'm, I'm

ready to like, go out and do things again.

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You know?

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Jason English (Host): Well, it seems

like the song turning, it seems like

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that's the, uh, it's like a love

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Jacob Furr: is yeah, it is and and I

don't think I wrote that specifically

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about any particular love like I'm in a

wonderful relationship right now and Like

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it's just I the language of love works

really well for that emotion of like

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I'm ready for something new I'm ready.

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I'm ready to let you in.

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I'm ready to express myself, you know, so

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Jason English (Host): that's awesome.

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So, you know, you mentioned the grieving.

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I think you have it on your website.

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Uh, you lost your wife to brain cancer.

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You're in your late twenties.

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Jacob Furr: 2013.

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So that was been like 24, I think.

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No, 20.

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I don't remember.

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Jason English (Host): I mean,

you're in your twenties.

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That's,

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Jacob Furr: Yeah.

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Like mid twenties.

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Yeah.

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It's a lot to

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Jason English (Host): That's a lot.

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Jacob Furr: Yeah.

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It's a whole thing.

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Jason English (Host): And I, I think

you did, I listened to an interview that

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you did within a year of that happening.

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And I was like, so impressed of, uh,

I forgot the name of the podcast, but

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it was like a radio show or something.

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And, you know, Yeah, it

was country fried rock.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Jacob Furr: Sloan.

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Jason English (Host): Yeah.

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And you're, you're on, you're on the

phone or something, you know, you were

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remote, but I was like, Oh my gosh, this

guy's talking about like this thing.

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And it was fairly fresh.

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Jacob Furr: yeah, and it stays fresh.

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That's the thing.

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Like you can, you can look at it as

like, oh, it was in the year, but then

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like, what, 10 years later now or 11

this year, um, it's still like things

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will happen and things will come up

and you're like, oh, that's just as

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fresh as it was, you know, day after.

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So, you know, it's, it's a, it's a

process like that grieving process.

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Um, It doesn't stop.

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And it's, it's just, how can you integrate

that into your life and how can you

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like make that part of who you are now?

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Cause it's not like you're going

to get over it or forget it.

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You know, like, and which I was afraid of

doing for a long time of like, forgetting

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the way that that felt or the way that

like it felt to be in love in that way.

397

Um, and yeah, you don't forget it.

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You just sort of like incorporate it

and then appreciate it as it comes

399

up a new, each new, you know, each

new time or each new day, I guess.

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Jason English (Host): a songwriting

perspective, did it change?

401

approach

402

How you approach the process of that,

or, you know, something that emotional

403

and that tragic, or what did it just,

uh, enhance your attention to the words

404

and the emotions and things like that.

405

Like, yeah.

406

Can you put your finger on

407

Jacob Furr: Yeah, no, I think it,

um, shoot, that's a good question.

408

Uh, I don't know that it like enhanced

the songwriting process necessarily

409

as much as like The songwriting just

gave me a way to like work it out.

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Like I listened to your Grace Pettis

interview yesterday or day before and Like

411

she said something about that like that.

412

She uses it as like free therapy

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Jason English (Host): Um,

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Jacob Furr: And I mean if you're

a musician you have to have free

415

therapy because you can't afford it.

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Otherwise Like so it definitely

very much is this like how

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do I feel about this thing?

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um My problem and not to get too

real about it, but like my problem

419

with it is like, how real do you

get about it in your writing?

420

Like, are you like, how much space

is there to put down like the rawest

421

thing that you can put down and then

with the intent of either releasing

422

it or keeping it for yourself, that's

a really hard, um, line to walk.

423

And like Balmorae, that's a great

example of that on the new record.

424

Jason English (Host): a

425

Jacob Furr: I wrote that

song a long time ago.

426

Like that was like, that was

like a very distinct memory of

427

something that I wanted to remember.

428

Um, and so that's why it's like

really emotional for me now to hear

429

that song or play it or whatever.

430

But it took me that long to like

be comfortable presenting that to

431

the world and being like, yeah,

this is, this is another memory.

432

This is another way to kick off this

like story that I'm trying to tell here.

433

So, um, yeah, I don't

know if that answered the

434

Jason English (Host): Yeah, that's good.

435

Jacob Furr: rambling about that.

436

Jason English (Host): Yeah.

437

That, that, that makes sense.

438

Uh, and I, you know, we talked

about the hopefulness of the

439

album compared to other ones.

440

I think the, probably the most popular

song on the album is take care.

441

What, like who's That message for, uh, I

442

Jacob Furr: I tell this as a joke

at my shows, but it's actually true.

443

I was dog sitting for a friend,

and I, he, like, this is no joke.

444

It, like, sounds like a joke,

but it's legitimately true.

445

I was dog sitting for a friend.

446

He had a lazy boy that had, like,

a USB phone charger on the side.

447

And so I just sat there one day

for, like, six hours in this chair

448

and watched American Pickers.

449

And, like, there was a guitar on

the wall, and, like, just, like,

450

pulled the guitar down and was just

kind of goofing and wrote that song.

451

And, In that like time period

of watching American Pickers.

452

So it wasn't, I know it wasn't.

453

And the thing was like,

I don't know how it was.

454

It was so that first line is take care

of the things that get left behind.

455

Like that was directly

inspired from the show.

456

Cause I was like really enjoying,

you know, like these people's love

457

for their heirlooms or whatever.

458

And then from there, I just sort of like.

459

Yeah, sort of like peeled it apart

and sort of like found out, you know,

460

what else, what else that line could

like inspire you to say, you know,

461

so yeah, I like people laugh when

I, and it's meant to make people

462

laugh cause it's a funny story, but

it's legitimately how I wrote that.

463

Yeah.

464

Jason English (Host): and barns.

465

Yeah, that's my

466

Jacob Furr: Yeah.

467

And I, I, one of the episodes was

my favorite is like the guys that

468

like, The old dudes that bring the

pickers in and they're like, Oh

469

yeah, come look at all my stuff.

470

I'll sell you something.

471

And then they don't sell them

anything because they're just

472

like, I'm going to get on TV and

get to show off all my old junk.

473

And like, those are my favorite anyways.

474

So that's how I wrote.

475

Take care everybody.

476

The

477

Jason English (Host): So

478

So my favorite episode of American Pickers

is when they find the original Von Dutch

479

inscribed badass motorcycle in some

barn, like in, you know, in Timbuktu.

480

I mean, those guys, they are

treasure, they're treasure hunting.

481

Jacob Furr: Yeah.

482

Yeah.

483

And they're finding such, and they, you

know, I love, uh, I'm a history nerd, so

484

I love like the storytelling behind the

history of each piece and everything.

485

So yeah, it's a, it's a

very inspirational show.

486

Jason English (Host): I mean, if I,

you know, in my next life I could,

487

I would either be a musician or.

488

Jacob Furr: I mean, how cool

would it be to be a picker?

489

Jason English (Host): a picker.

490

Jacob Furr: killer job.

491

Killer.

492

Jason English (Host): personalities

that they meet, right?

493

Jacob Furr: that's awesome.

494

Jason English (Host): Yeah.

495

Jacob Furr: I'm into it.

496

Jason English (Host): It's so funny.

497

so in all your albums, the, the, or I

guess the three that you've done, what,

498

if someone was to say like, what's the,

the best representation of Jacob for

499

what's the song that you would go to?

500

My

501

Jacob Furr: Oh, man.

502

Uh, that's a good question.

503

I would say the best representation

would probably be either

504

Branches or Mockingbird.

505

And those are off the first album,

which is really, um, interesting.

506

Um, but those, those two

songs mean a whole lot to me.

507

Um,

508

Jason English (Host): you didn't

you write branches when your your

509

Jacob Furr: Branches?

510

Yeah, well, I wrote that in, in

the hospital, like, yeah, and

511

it, and if you don't know that

context about it, it's not.

512

that kind of a song

513

Like it's like describing it with

that context here makes it sound

514

like a real bummer of a song.

515

It's not at all.

516

It's like, it's a really pretty

song and I love it a lot.

517

Um, and it, yeah, it's not, I don't

think it's a sad song at all, which

518

is funny and, and weird, but yeah,

the branches is like my favorite one.

519

Jason English (Host): would that

be the best representation of you?

520

Jacob Furr: Um, just cause it's

in like a major key and it's like

521

all about love and, uh, yeah.

522

It's got a cool guitar part.

523

Like I love little guitar parts.

524

Like the intro to that song is like

this, like, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo.

525

That goes to this like weird seven chord.

526

I just love little things like that.

527

So like, it has a lot of things

that I really like and try to

528

keep incorporating in later on.

529

So I can hear parts in later songs

that are coming from that sort of.

530

Idea for branches.

531

Jason English (Host): All right.

532

Jacob Furr: And lots of birds.

533

I laugh.

534

Lots of birds in my songs.

535

So that song's like all about Birds.

536

Jason English (Host): That's cool.

537

All right.

538

Uh, so that was one of your first songs.

539

And then we talked about really

the last track of the last album,

540

which is turning, which is again

about a new love potentially.

541

And you mentioned the

relationship that you're in now,

542

Jacob Furr: Yeah.

543

Jason English (Host): you know,

since when your wife passed, how

544

long was it, was it, was the process.

545

For you to, to sort of put yourself

back out there, you know, like, was

546

that, did you, was it a, was it a bit?

547

Jacob Furr: it took a little bit.

548

I mean, being that young when it

happened, I think had a lot to do with

549

um, getting back out quickly, almost

within two years, maybe just because

550

like when something like that happens

to you when you're that young, what

551

I've now realized in hindsight is um,

It's not that the heart repairs fast.

552

It's just life is moving so quickly at

that point when you're 26 that having

553

something like that doesn't Stop the flow

of everyone else's life around you and

554

it doesn't stop the flow of your life

And so you have to learn really fast

555

how to incorporate that stuff into it.

556

And that's like the unique Challenge

of grieving when you're in your you

557

know early 20 that not a lot of people

There's not a lot of resources out

558

there for it And there's not a lot

of people that talk about it because

559

Jason English (Host):

because I mean, you were so

560

Jacob Furr: that age Yeah people yeah

people that age are just sort of expected

561

to pick up and move on because you can

you're young and you have the energy

562

to Hop back into life in general.

563

Um, so yeah, it wasn't like a long time

afterwards, but it wasn't, you know,

564

it You know, it was like a year, a year

and a half or so, something like that.

565

So yeah, but it's been, um, yeah, it's

been an interesting journey ever since

566

then, like trying to sort of reintegrate

yourself into life with this sort of thing

567

that like, cause I don't hide it, right?

568

Like it's on, it's on a website.

569

You can like read about it on,

it's a part, it's a main part

570

of the art that I've created.

571

It's a main part of my life story.

572

Um, so yeah, it's, it's an

interesting challenge to sort of

573

incorporate that into daily life when.

574

You know, you meet, I'll meet, like,

older people that, um, will be, will,

575

sort of judge me for being a young guy

that doesn't have any experience, and

576

I'm just like, you just have to eat

it sometimes, be like, that's fine,

577

like, you can think that about me,

because, you know, it's okay, but I've

578

been through some stuff, you know,

579

Jason English (Host): no, seriously.

580

Well, I would, I would imagine

also that being a musician

581

doesn't make dating.

582

More simple,

583

Jacob Furr: No, yeah,

584

Jason English (Host): when you, you know,

so when you take your, the history that

585

you've had and the heartbreak and the

tragedy, and then you add the fact that

586

like, you're, you know, your profession

and lifestyle, it can't be easy to,

587

Jacob Furr: It's not a,

it's not a good combo.

588

No, it's really not.

589

Um, I mean, it is for the right person.

590

Um, but yeah, it's not easy to, to sort

of, um, out that puzzle and be like,

591

Hey, this is what I do for a living.

592

Also, I have this whole thing and

also that whole thing, that story

593

is like the main piece of art that

I create all the time, you know?

594

So yeah, it takes a, it takes a special

person to be able to handle that.

595

And,

596

Jason English (Host): Yeah, they

gotta be really, really secure, right?

597

Jacob Furr: yeah, really secure and

just, um, But it's also taken me a

598

long time to like become the person

that can sort of talk about those,

599

those things and not let it affect me

in my daily sort of stuff, you know?

600

So it's a two way street.

601

It's not just like looking for somebody

like just accept you, you know, as you

602

are, you have to be like, okay, how am

I putting myself back into the world?

603

And am I doing it in this like

respectful way to the past and to, you

604

know, whoever's around me right now.

605

Jason English (Host): Yeah.

606

Well, yeah.

607

Good for you.

608

Jacob Furr: a tough line.

609

It's a tough line to walk.

610

I'm not gonna lie.

611

Jason English (Host): No, I can't.

612

Yeah, I can't imagine.

613

Um, So in terms of where you're at with

your career, I think, you know, you're,

614

you do, you make albums, you, you perform.

615

And I think I saw where you teach guitar,

616

Jacob Furr: I teach

guitar three days a week.

617

Jason English (Host): That's really cool.

618

And it's all people of all ages, right?

619

Jacob Furr: Yeah.

620

It's people of all ages.

621

And that was a post pandemic thing.

622

A friend of mine, I kind of

music school and said, Hey,

623

do you want to come do this?

624

And I was like, yeah, I need money.

625

So I started doing it and yeah,

I've really, I've really enjoyed it.

626

It's, it's very challenging, like,

and very mentally, um, taxing, but it

627

gives me good structure for my week.

628

And it gives me like I'm learning stuff

all the time Like I have to show people

629

how to do stuff on the guitar and like

oh, I I don't even I don't know How I did

630

that but like let me like Learn relearn

this thing and show you how to do this.

631

So it's been a good thing to do.

632

So

633

Jason English (Host): that's great.

634

Jacob Furr: it helps

635

Jason English (Host): that's good.

636

I, what's interesting in some of the

conversations I've had, there's a,

637

there's a guy that's in Nashville,

actually a Wyatt Edmondson.

638

And I talked to him in January.

639

He's one example, but really

it's almost everybody.

640

Um, I'm really impressed with

like the hustle of musicians.

641

You know, a lot of people would think,

Oh, they're the ones that are like,

642

you know, artsy and just care about,

you know, the craft and looking good

643

or sounding good and stuff, but.

644

For the most part There's so much going

on behind the scenes That you know, I

645

really appreciate the hustle and like

the teaching guitar is an example of

646

Jacob Furr: It's a whole lot of work.

647

Yeah.

648

I mean, yeah.

649

Cause yeah, you've got to be

hustling on your promotion side.

650

You gotta be hustling on

your, like, you gotta create.

651

More stuff like you have to You're

there to make music like that's the

652

life that you chose, but then yeah also

teaching guitars like having another

653

job Like on top of all of that job,

you know, and so it's hard to keep

654

them separated sometimes and like It's

hard to still love guitar after three

655

days of teaching guitar sometimes.

656

And you're like, man, I really need to

sit down and write some stuff, but I just

657

do not want to play guitar right now.

658

So it's, yeah, it's a lot

of, it's a lot of work.

659

It's a lot of hustle and you gotta,

you just gotta do it these days.

660

It's the way to do it.

661

Jason English (Host): You

gotta break out the banjo.

662

Jacob Furr: Yeah.

663

I, I had a banjo that I sold

for rent one time, so yeah.

664

Jason English (Host): Oh my gosh.

665

Wow.

666

All right.

667

Thanks so much for joining us for

another episode of Curious Goldfish.

668

Please follow and subscribe to

the podcast and on social media.

669

Also tell your music loving

friends about us too.

670

Until next time, stay curious.