Burke’s Blog

By Burke Ingraffia • June 8th, 2008

David Wilcox is a songwriter who I have always enjoyed deeply. I thought I would write about his music and provide some MP3’s for purchase.

Stan Rogers exemplified the tradition of Canadian maritime folk music. Watch a video of his life and music called “One Warm Line.”

 
There is a song that I used to love that I just found again.  It’s called “Flying Red Horse” by John Gorka.  It’s about the red horse from the Mobil Gas stations setting herself free from the sign.  Sounds like she is a mare.  John Gorka has the most beautiful baritone voice and is a [...]

Anyone who is familiar with a guitar amplifier knows that there are two different knobs – one usually called the “pre-amp” or “gain” and the other called “post-amp” or simply, “volume.” The pre-amp is the knob that creates the distortion or the fuzziness of the guitar sound, and the post-amp creates the actual loudness [...]

The time for for renewing our culture into one of light and life via new intellectual and artistic paradigms has never been so ripe as it is today. Communication on a worldwide level is so simple now. The Internet, for one, is a tool that can possibly assist in bringing us closer.  In every region, city, [...]

You do not have to have the word “Jesus” in a song for it to be a Christian song. There are a lot of ways you can promote the Gospel by telling a story that parallels a Biblical theme, the life of a Saint, or merely has a Christian moral theme.  You can find your [...]

Choose your words very carefully - once they leave your mouth or your pen they have inherent power.

The Sermon on the Mount was a very direct way in which Jesus taught his followers:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit
Blessed are they that mourn
Blessed are the meek” etc
But Jesus also knew that telling stories was also a way to teach his followers. We tend to call them “parables,” but they were really just stories [...]