elvisgumby – Page 24 – artwheelermusic.com

Writing A Cave in Bethlehem

For many of my songs, I try and go against the grain of normal thinking about familiar Bible Stories. The idea for A Cave in Bethlehem came from the fact that many of the stables in the region where Jesus was born were caves instead of the wooden structures we see in modern nativity scenes. I also… Continue reading Writing A Cave in Bethlehem

Writing Speaking In Tongues

My pastor was preaching a sermon about Pentecost. He was discussing speaking in tongues. My mind tends to drift during some sermons and this was one of those times. I began thinking of how the concept of speaking in tongues is different in the story from Acts than it is in later parts of scripture… Continue reading Writing Speaking In Tongues

Writing Crusin’ for a Brusin’ – The Jonah Songs

Several years ago, I wrote a song called The Belly of the Whale. It was based on the familiar story from the first three chapters of the book of Jonah. In the story, Jonah is called to preach to the people of Nineveh, he runs away from God, is swallow by a whale, is spit up… Continue reading Writing Crusin’ for a Brusin’ – The Jonah Songs

Writing Neighbor

My song Neighbor is based on the parable of the Good Samaritan. The song has 5 verses and each verse has its own melody. It works like a round. Each verse gives voice to a different person related to the parable.

Writing Mariam’s Song

Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.” -Exodus 15:21 This verse of scripture is identified at Mariam’s Song in most of my Bibles. The verses prior to it in Exodus 15 are identified as Moses Song. Moses Song is an account of crossing… Continue reading Writing Mariam’s Song

Writing Isaiah 11 – The Lion and the Lamb

I decided that I wanted to write a song about the Bible verse, “the lion will lie down with the lamb.” It turns out that this is one of those things everyone thinks is in the Bible but its not. The closest thing to this is in the eleventh chapter of the book of Isaiah. … Continue reading Writing Isaiah 11 – The Lion and the Lamb

Elvis Week 2018 – The Beginning of the End

I’m going to go with you to Elvis Week this year.” This is what my wife told me moments after I let her know that my jury duty wasn’t going to interfere with my annual trip to Elvis Week at Graceland. She had never expressed much interest in going on this trip until this year. … Continue reading Elvis Week 2018 – The Beginning of the End

Public Flatulence

I don’t claim to be an expert on people’s habits of breaking wind. It’s not something that we talk about that often. Only family and the closest of friends usually discuss it. But as a rule, people don’t usually fart in public. We don’t even talk about it in a lot of situations. The scale… Continue reading Public Flatulence

Naked Pose at the Amusement Park

When my youngest daughter was little, she would run around with no clothes on after she got out of the shower. She would stand in the hallway upstairs outside of her room, raise one arm above her head and the other down by her side and shout “I’m Naked!” She didn’t do it all the… Continue reading Naked Pose at the Amusement Park

RFK Remembered

I’m writing this post on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. I was 6 years old when this happened. I remember seeing footage of the event on television at my grandmother’s house. I was young enough at the time that I assumed everything I saw was live. I was also confused… Continue reading RFK Remembered