Minutes From Manitou: A Song History

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"Minutes From Manitou" is one of Bing Futch's own tunes in his tablature book All Over The Map, where the DulcimerDownloads listing puts it in DAD tuning and credits Futch as composer.[1] The book comes from J.O.B. Entertainment, and the download includes an MP3 recording of each song alongside the tablature.[1] Announcing the songbook in April 2007, Futch marked "Minutes From Manitou" as an original composition and said the book's text offers background stories for the songs, though those stories are not given in the sources consulted here.[2] His own store page presents the book as a loose companion to his album Dulcimerica: Volume 1, but groups this tune with his other works rather than with the album tracks.[3]

A rounded reddish-brown stoneware vase with flying geese modeled in low relief around it

Artus Van Briggle, Vase with geese, stoneware, 1902 (design 1900). Made in Colorado Springs and shown as a loose nod to Manitou Springs, Colorado; it has no connection to the tune.

Futch, who makes his home in Orlando, Florida, plays Americana on Appalachian mountain dulcimer, Native American flute and ukulele, and at the 2016 International Blues Challenge in Memphis he made the finals and was named "Best Guitarist" in the Solo/Duo category while playing only the dulcimer.[4] He is also behind Dulcimerica, a video series on YouTube.[4]

Manitou is also the name of Manitou Springs, Colorado, a town best known for its healing mineral springs, on land that the city describes as the heart of the ancestral homeland of the Nuche, or Ute, people; its own site says Dr. William Bell and his business partner General William Palmer initiated it as a municipality in 1872, as a scenic health resort.[5] Futch's blog recounts a visit to Manitou Springs in August 2006, but the sources consulted here do not say whether the tune's title refers to the town, when the tune was written, or what it depicts.[6][2]

Our book that contains the song "Minutes From Manitou"

Sources

  1. Bing Futch: "All Over The Map".
  2. Bing Futch: ""All Over The Map" Now On Sale!".
  3. Bing Futch: "All Over The Map: Dulcimerica Volume 1".
  4. DulcimerDownloads: "Bing Futch – Mountain Dulcimer Books & Bio".
  5. City of Manitou Springs: "Welcome to Manitou Springs".
  6. Bing Futch: "Rocky Mountain High Pt. 1".
  7. Image: Artus Van Briggle, Vase with geese, stoneware, 1902 (design 1900). The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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