On a recent afternoon, John Fullbright was at home on his family farm in Bearden, Okla., walking around the same little town where he grew up. The region has lately been plagued by violent storms that have wreaked havoc across Oklahoma and Texas.
“I’m watching my garden drown right now and get molested by tornadoes and stuff,” he said.
Still, Fullbright seemed in a tranquil mood. Before returning to the farm, he’d been working virtually nonstop since the 2012 release of “From the Ground Up,” his Grammy-nominated debut studio album. He released his second studio album, “Songs,” two years later, and continued to tour heavily. It was an exceptionally busy stretch for the inherently taciturn Oklahoman, and he was happy to be back home.
“I left the house three or four years ago to go on a short Texas run and I never came back,” Fullbright said. “I’ve managed to work hard enough to take a little bit of a break.”
That break won’t last long, though. Fullbright has a spate of shows coming up in June, including a gig at The Stone Church in Newmarket on Thursday, June 4.
The local show is a chance to catch a musician who has experienced a remarkably rapid rise. Fullbright released his first solo recording, “Live at the Blue Door,” in 2009. “From the Ground Up” followed three years later, introducing Fullbright’s spirited brand of country-folk to a national audience. His confident voice is capable of soothing harmonies and coarse exclamations, with matching melodies and punctuations on guitar and harmonica. The record garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Americana Album, alongside releases by The Avett Brothers, Mumford & Sons, and Bonnie Raitt.
“This is exactly what I wanted. This is the one thing that I really truly wanted growing up.” — John Fullbright
Released in the spring of 2014, “Songs” was greeted with further acclaim. The album is softer and more melodious than its predecessor, but with the same heartfelt passion at its core. The opening track, “Happy,” reflects Fullbright’s songwriting philosophy. He takes issue with the notion that the best art is borne out of misery and suffering. “Tell me what’s so bad about happy,” he sings.
“I kind of come from the Woody Guthrie school of life: don’t write hopeless songs,” Fullbright said. “Why do you write a song? Because you want someone else to hear it, I guess. Why do you want somebody else to hear it? If it’s a sad song, because you want them to feel sad with you. You want a little pity party. I don’t want to do that. If I feel like that, I make a conscious effort to say, ‘I’m not going to write that down; I’m not going to record that.’”
That message is echoed in “Keeping Hope Alive,” the third track on “Songs”: “Wait for change / Moments that rearrange / And the biggest fight that reigns / Is called keeping hope alive.”
Fullbright easily could have filled his musical catalog with sad songs. He began playing piano as a child, but few of his peers in rural Oklahoma shared his interest in music.
“I was lonely. I mean, I pretty much had my grandma’s piano — she lived next door — and I’d just go play the piano and that was it, that was my musical education for a really long time,” he said.
The youngest of three boys, Fullbright said most kids spent their spare time either playing football or working on the farm. “I didn’t want to do any of that. I’m a pretty lazy dude, so I just decided I wanted to sit at the piano. So I’d just play the piano for hours.”
Once a year in July, though, the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival would come to the neighboring town of Okemah, Guthrie’s hometown. Starting when he was around 16, Fullbright would attend the festival each year and play with other likeminded musicians.
“You had all of these free-spirited, free-thinking hippies, basically, that’d roll in and play all these great folks songs, and I just thought that was great,” he said.
John Fullbright’s second studio album, “Songs,” came out in 2014.Now, at age 27, Fullbright is regularly surrounded by fellow musicians from his home state and elsewhere. Even when the stresses of rigorous touring start to weigh on him, he feels fortunate.
“I still have to stop and laugh and say, ‘This is exactly what I wanted. This is the one thing that I really truly wanted growing up,’” he said.
Fullbright is still refining his songwriting craft. Over the course of his solo career, he’s learned to be more economical and straightforward with his lyrics, saying more with fewer words.
“I try not to be vague,” he said. “Bob Dylan was vague. He was very good at it. I have a general rule of thumb that’s kind of, ‘If Dylan did it, you shouldn’t. Don’t try.’”
In “Going Home,” one of the simplest and most strikingly emotive tracks on “Songs,” Fullbright sings about his musical journey, and about returning to his hometown: “Easy come, easy go / The more I learn, the less I know / My ears stopped ringing / I’m going home.”
Though Fullbright has managed to relax during his stay at the old farmhouse, he still writes “constantly.” His piano sits in a small bedroom by a west-facing window, and he often starts writing as the sun goes down, finding inspiration in the “gorgeous Oklahoma sunsets that I just stare at pretty much every day sitting at my piano.”
Fullbright is not sure when he’ll record his next album, but he does have a fresh batch of songs ready for his upcoming show at The Stone Church. What can guests expect?
“Hopefully a well-rested John Fullbright playing brand new songs that nobody has ever heard before,” he said.
Presented by Bright & Lyon, John Fullbright will perform on Thursday, June 4, at 7 p.m. at The Stone Church, 5 Granite St., Newmarket, 603-659-7700. Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door, available at stonechurchrocks.com.
Top: John Fullbright (photo by Kate Burn)