Stillwater man studies Oklahoma music
Monique HeadleySome see bright lights and big city and think great music exists exclusively in some faraway place. Others, like Stillwater resident Hugh W. Foley Jr., serve to document that some of the best American music originated and continues to be birthed in Oklahoma.
With Foley, the still waters of his musicality runs deep.
His musical background spans from Red Dirt and Jazz to RuPaul, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Flaming Lips to KRS One. The list is seemingly endless. Foley is also a member of the music group Slapout for which he plays trombone, guitar, sings and writes songs.
In radio since 1977, Foley has traveled the world with his musical passion as a DJ, music programmer, author, college professor, reporter and American Indian activist and hymnal archivist. Recently, he served as a consultant and contributor to the acclaimed rock history exhibit, “Another Hot Rocklahoma Night,” and is a featured contributor in “Another Hot Oklahoma Night: A Rock and Roll Story,” as issued by the Oklahoma Historical Society.
He is working to complete the second edition of his seminar tome and music resource, “The Oklahoma Music Guide.”
“(Foley) is one of the most if not the foremost authority on Oklahoma music,” publisher Doug Dollar of New Forums Press said. “He is a scholar ... he loves what he does and he is able to write books for the popular versus a strictly scholarly approach.”
Foley’s work to reveal the Oklahoma sound, Dollar said, has been very successful.
Foley has lived in Atlanta, Georgia, Berkeley, California and New York City where his roommate was performer RuPaul. While in the Army, Foley was stationed in Germany and Japan.
“In the late ’80s, I stumbled onto Oklahoma musicians,” Foley said. “I saw there were all these Oklahoma bands people hadn’t aggregated.”
Initially, he intended to catalog all Oklahoma music, but was promptly overwhelmed.
“Instead of encompassing all genres,” he said, “when I came back in 1983, I focused on Muskogee and its music. Its history is deep.”
That past, heavy with Indian, African and European influences in the former trading post, he said, “is the music of America.”
Through the Muskogee scene, Dollar said, “(Foley) ... really explores the influences of different groups ... (and) kind of breaks down the stereotypes of Oklahoma artists.”
Still a sonic focal point, Muskogee is the site of the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, of which Foley is an ex-officio director. Most recently, Carrie Underwood, Rocky Frisco and Ramona Reed were inducted into the hall, which will soon undergo a multi-million dollar expansion.
Well-versed on popular Americana, Foley is equally passionate about American Indian music and politics.
“At my wife’s family’s church,” he said, “they sing Muskogee Creek hymns — vocals only.”
The music, he said, dates back to and is a blend of 1800 Scottish missionary hymns, Calvinist traditions of no instrumentation, the music of slaves and the language of Creek Indians.
“The songs are slave spirituals with Indian words ... from when they were leaving” and being forced to what would become Oklahoma, he explained.
Music founded on Christianity inflected with the devastation of the Indian experience, said Foley.
“It’s been a challenge to explain all the music to everyone. It’s hard for people with Western ears to understand the music because microtones — notes between the keys — are their foundation,” he said.
Foley said he supports the tradition because “in some ways, American Indian music is the literature of the tribe.”
As serious as Foley is about his study of Indian music, so is he concerned about the positive and authentic representation of native images. Foley frequently lectures against the use of Indian images as mascots and was vocal proponent of Senate Bill 765, the Oklahoma Anti-Discriminatory Mascots Act that, according to the legislation, was drafted to prohibit the use of racially derogatory or discriminatory school or athletic team names, nicknames and mascots.
MORE INFO
For more information about Oklahoma music, visit http://www.oklahomamusicguide.com.
To view a copy of Foley’s anti-mascot work, “Savage Country IV: Oklahoma Senate Bill 765 Anti-Discriminatory Mascot Act 2009,” visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZhcoQ9gyMk&feature=channel_page.
With Foley, the still waters of his musicality runs deep.
His musical background spans from Red Dirt and Jazz to RuPaul, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Flaming Lips to KRS One. The list is seemingly endless. Foley is also a member of the music group Slapout for which he plays trombone, guitar, sings and writes songs.
In radio since 1977, Foley has traveled the world with his musical passion as a DJ, music programmer, author, college professor, reporter and American Indian activist and hymnal archivist. Recently, he served as a consultant and contributor to the acclaimed rock history exhibit, “Another Hot Rocklahoma Night,” and is a featured contributor in “Another Hot Oklahoma Night: A Rock and Roll Story,” as issued by the Oklahoma Historical Society.
He is working to complete the second edition of his seminar tome and music resource, “The Oklahoma Music Guide.”
“(Foley) is one of the most if not the foremost authority on Oklahoma music,” publisher Doug Dollar of New Forums Press said. “He is a scholar ... he loves what he does and he is able to write books for the popular versus a strictly scholarly approach.”
Foley’s work to reveal the Oklahoma sound, Dollar said, has been very successful.
Foley has lived in Atlanta, Georgia, Berkeley, California and New York City where his roommate was performer RuPaul. While in the Army, Foley was stationed in Germany and Japan.
“In the late ’80s, I stumbled onto Oklahoma musicians,” Foley said. “I saw there were all these Oklahoma bands people hadn’t aggregated.”
Initially, he intended to catalog all Oklahoma music, but was promptly overwhelmed.
“Instead of encompassing all genres,” he said, “when I came back in 1983, I focused on Muskogee and its music. Its history is deep.”
That past, heavy with Indian, African and European influences in the former trading post, he said, “is the music of America.”
Through the Muskogee scene, Dollar said, “(Foley) ... really explores the influences of different groups ... (and) kind of breaks down the stereotypes of Oklahoma artists.”
Still a sonic focal point, Muskogee is the site of the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, of which Foley is an ex-officio director. Most recently, Carrie Underwood, Rocky Frisco and Ramona Reed were inducted into the hall, which will soon undergo a multi-million dollar expansion.
Well-versed on popular Americana, Foley is equally passionate about American Indian music and politics.
“At my wife’s family’s church,” he said, “they sing Muskogee Creek hymns — vocals only.”
The music, he said, dates back to and is a blend of 1800 Scottish missionary hymns, Calvinist traditions of no instrumentation, the music of slaves and the language of Creek Indians.
“The songs are slave spirituals with Indian words ... from when they were leaving” and being forced to what would become Oklahoma, he explained.
Music founded on Christianity inflected with the devastation of the Indian experience, said Foley.
“It’s been a challenge to explain all the music to everyone. It’s hard for people with Western ears to understand the music because microtones — notes between the keys — are their foundation,” he said.
Foley said he supports the tradition because “in some ways, American Indian music is the literature of the tribe.”
As serious as Foley is about his study of Indian music, so is he concerned about the positive and authentic representation of native images. Foley frequently lectures against the use of Indian images as mascots and was vocal proponent of Senate Bill 765, the Oklahoma Anti-Discriminatory Mascots Act that, according to the legislation, was drafted to prohibit the use of racially derogatory or discriminatory school or athletic team names, nicknames and mascots.
MORE INFO
For more information about Oklahoma music, visit http://www.oklahomamusicguide.com.
To view a copy of Foley’s anti-mascot work, “Savage Country IV: Oklahoma Senate Bill 765 Anti-Discriminatory Mascot Act 2009,” visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZhcoQ9gyMk&feature=channel_page.
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