Tweet

EMAIL

PRINT

Comments (0)

 1 of 3

There are only two members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame who are ordained ministers—Al Green and Richie Furay. Green pastors a large congregation in Memphis, where his church is a tourist attraction; Furay serves a small out-of-the-way church in Broomfield, Colorado—a humble venue for a humble man. Furay was lead singer of Buffalo Springfield and founder of Poco, two bands that pioneered the sound that came to be called country rock. After a highly publicized conversion to Christianity in 1974, Furay made a few solo albums that remain favorites for fans of "classic CCM"—and then slipped into relative obscurity, devoting his time and talents to his congregation. But now he's back, at the age of 61, with a stellar album of praise songs called I Am Sure

Furay at a recent performance in California.Photo by Dave Elliott

Mark Allan Powell, author of the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music, recently spent a weekend with Furay, observing him in action—baptizing ten people in Boulder Creek, preaching about Noah's ark on Sunday morning. Afterward, they chatted while seated on the veranda of Furay's home on Sugarloaf Mountain, sipping Santa Fe lemonade.

Tell us about the songs on I Am Sure.

Richie Furay: The style is basic country-rock, or what I would call "Americana"—a little bluegrass in there, some R&B. But lyrically, they're all addressed to the Lord, and a lot of the words come right from Scripture. It's actually a follow-up to a similar collection of songs I did in 1997 called In My Father's House.

Both of those projects have been well received, but they don't really fit the mold of "praise and worship."

Furay: No. They might get classed that way—as worship albums—but I would call them collections of "devotional songs." These aren't just choruses to sing in church but full-bodied songs like you would find on any country-rock album. It's just that we're singing them to God, so they're about praise and adoration and thanksgiving—all those things that are in our hearts for God. "With thanksgiving let my heart overflow …"

That one ("Overflow") is a song of passionate beauty. Do you have other favorites?

Furay "Jesus Eternal King" is over ten years old—we wrote that for my daughter Timmie's wedding. "So Far to Go" is a concert favorite, with the fiddle, and it gets your toes tapping. "Come and Praise Him" works really well in congregational worship. But all of these songs, they are among the best I have ever done. I have no doubt of that. There are songs from before that I'm really proud of—some of my Poco, some of my Springfield—but I've been writing with Scott [Sellen, worship leader at Furay's church) for many years and we've just developed this amazing rapport. I love these songs because they express what is in my heart, but I'm also enough of a musician to know that as songs, they are some of the best material I've ever done. And the guys in the band, they all get that too.

Talk about the band.

Furay: This is the dream team—the finest folks in Nashville—and they were so into it. Dan Dugmore (steel guitar) was supposed to be recording with Martina McBride and he got that postponed so he could do this project. And Garth Brooks' studio guitarist [Chris Leuzinger] called up and wanted in. And we got guys from my old bands and from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and there's Chris Hillman [The Byrds] and Jimmy Messina [Loggins & Messina]. It was just awesome! They are the best musicians Nashville has to offer and yet, they're just the sweetest guys. They were completely into the music and into making every song come alive and be what it was supposed to be.

next page... |  1 of 3