Art and Culture

The Mighty Superiors, known from only a couple of obscure 45s on the Song Bird label, prove that in gospel music an artist doesn't have to be famous to be good. 

Novel by one of the great writers of the 20th century

When it’s embroiled in controversy, art can’t speak as loudly as the people who speak against it. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t listen to it.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration of Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal” tried to lower the unemployment rate through a vast and varied program of public works.  Along with construction jobs, the WPA also paid artists to decorate new public buildings. (more)

With the Gospel Keynotes, Willie Neal Johnson released a string of memorable, soulful LPs for Nashboro and Malaco beginning in the late '70s. 

Heartfelt novella of a man dealing with his conscience

The people who participate in a High School Choir Contest testify to the power of the arts.

I recently had the chance to attend a high school choir contest.  I sat in an auditorium while choirs from around the state filed in and out, each performing three pieces for a panel of judges.  The effect was to pull back the curtain and get an appreciation of the work, the stress, the nervousness, the preparation, and the overall effort from countless people for something like this to happen.  (more)

With the Pentecostal Mass Choir of Chicago, Charles Watkins was a gospel music innovator, bringing new textures, rhythms and instrumentations to gospel music. 

Exciting story of a white child kidnapped by the Kiowa tribe.

For National Poetry Month in April, KWBU is highlighting four local poets to share what influences their work as well as how they entered into the medium. 

Our fourth poet is Christopher Danysh. 

Danysh is a student at Tarleton State University majoring in Psychology with a minor in English. His poetry has been published in Stone Circle, MCC’s Student Literary Magazine, and exhibited in the Central Texas Artist Collective’s Annual Ekphrasis Exhibit.  

Taking pieces of songs from different sources, Charles Ives made orchestra music that described America.

I spent some time last week listening the music of an American composer named Charles Ives. Born in Connecticut in 1874, Ives isn’t very familiar to the general population but some say he’s one of the few American composers who ranks alongside Europeans.  He wrote his remarkable second symphony between 1897 and 1902 but it wasn’t performed publicly until 1952.  Leonard Bernstein was among those who tirelessly championed the then mostly unknown Ives and his music. ( more)

This nifty self-produced live LP features several great gospel songs on the A side and the powerful, expressive sermon The Ball Game of Life on the B side. 

This month on Conversations With Creative Waco, host Rae Jefferson talks with the Creative Waco staff Fiona Bond, Kennedy Sam and Stefanie Wheat-Johnson about their second annual ArtPrenticeship mural program and what the community can expect to see by the end of the summer. 

This week on Act Locally Waco, host Ashley Thornton is bringing us events for Children's Book Week and other events to take the kids to,  as well as several fundraisers to support. 

Sweeping novel of the new world open to explorers trying to make a fortune in timber.