Celebrated folk artist, Tret Fure, delights Peninsula
audience with heartfelt performance
By: Michael T. Wagner
On Sunday, January 15, fifty men and women from across Hampton Roads gathered at the Universal Unitarian Fellowship of the Peninsula (UUFP) in Newport News for a live concert with celebrated folk artist Tret Fure (pronounced fury). The event, hosted by Young’s Mill Music, was the second that Fure has given at the UUFP, and the fourth on the Peninsula.
Hailing from Madison, Wisconsin, Fure has nearly four decades of performance experience, and an acclaimed history of touring across the United States. Having begun her career in Berkeley, California, where she was a UC Berkeley undergraduate student, her career took her from the West Coast to the East, and then onward to Europe, including the United Kingdom and Russia.
The atmosphere inside the Sanctuary at the UUFP was calm yet ecstatic – an exciting mix that exists when an audience knows the performance they are about to indulge in will be pleasurable. The small crowd, mostly returning Fure fans, seemed more like a friendly get together than a collection of strangers whose paths have crossed by chance of musical taste only. Unified by their admiration for the artist, the enthusiastic audience sat rapt in their chairs, responsive to Fure’s every word.
Aside from Fure’s obvious musical talent – with four decades of performances and twelve albums under her belt – it became immediately clear that what defines a Fure performance, and often those of other folk artists, is the intimate nature of the event. A singer/songwriter whose ballads are known for having deeply personal resonances, her music is inspired by the keen observations and often seminal events of her life. By explicitly communicating this, Fure was successful at amplifying the meaning of each song, thus deeply enriching the experience. In many ways by pairing non-lyrical narrative with lyrical performance, Fure allowed the concert to transcend that of a standard event and evolve into the artistic telling of a life, rather than a mere compilation of disconnected songs.
For instance, Fure spoke candidly about how the song titled Grace of God (featured on her latest album The Horizon) was inspired by a phone call she received from one of her brothers announcing the near fatal auto accident he had survived the day before, thus causing an intensely introspective moment regarding the importance of telling those we love that we love them while they are still here to hear it. Fure also spoke of society’s inclination to exist in a state of disconnected apathy, and through song expressed her thoughts on the matter, which were inspired after having spent a week commuting on New York City’s A-train. She also shared humorous stories about growing up in a half Norwegian, half Italian family, and the stark dichotomy that often presented.
“You really feel like you know her by listening to her stories and then hearing the beautiful song that goes with it,” explained Stacey, a Fure fan, and New York resident who happened to be in town for the performance.
Fure was gracious enough to also elaborate on her current partner, Lauren Furey (yes, their names are identical in sound), a local resident who was the sole actor to introduce Fure to Hampton Roads nearly a year ago.
To learn more about Tret Fure you can follow her on Facebook, or visit her website at: www.tretfure.com
