John Fullbright

Oklahoma has proved fertile ground for songwriting over the years. From Albert Brumley and Woody Guthrie through Leon Russell and Jimmy Webb, Oklahoma has produced songwriters that pursued their singular vision and left the music world enriched, and often changed, by their contributions. Although it would be careless to suggest that an artist just releasing their debut album warrants a place in that group, John Fullbright's From The Ground Up has some of the greats (see above) thinking that the 23-year-old might just have a place in that conversation someday soon.
John Fullbright was raised and still resides in Okemah, Oklahoma, a hometown he shares with Woody Guthrie (the photo on the album cover shows him on the front porch of the house that both he and his father grew up in). Music was a staple of the Fullbright household, mostly in the form of the family's diverse and treasured album collection. "The most trouble I ever got in was when I had done something to one of my mother's albums," Fullbright recalls. The early pull of music was intense; he started playing piano at age 5, later picking up the guitar. His relative cultural isolation served him in that he had space to listen to his own developing voice, but when he was ready to make his way in the world, he benefitted greatly by being one hour from a great support system for singer-songwriters. The Blue Door, the legendary venue, took him in and exposed him to some of the greatest songwriters in the country as they would pass through town in concert. The founder of The Blue Door, Greg Johnson, was so taken by Fullbright's talent, that he began managing him in order to open the necessary doors for his career to take root. Fullbright and Johnson released a live album in 2009 that set sales records at Woodyfest, the annual folk festival honoring Woody Guthrie.