Passion for music and a true love of Fort Worth are two of Punch Shaw’s defining qualities. The professor of communications is known for encouraging his students to explore all the culture and fine arts the Metroplex has to offer.
“Growing up, I always thought that if you lead a good life and treated others as you wanted to be treated, when you died you went to Fort Worth,” Shaw said.
Fort Worth was the first big city Shaw ever saw when he and his family attended the Stock Show during his childhood.
Even as a child Shaw had a passion for music, but he didn’t always have access to new music and records. He grew up on remote ranches in New Mexico and Oklahoma. He later moved to Tennessee but still never lived closer than 30 miles to the nearest record store. The distance couldn’t keep him from his passion for music.
“We always had to wait for one of the older kids to get the car so we could make the run into Memphis to get records,” he said. “We couldn’t mail order them in the summer because they’d arrive warped. We actually had to work hard to get to music.”
This southern background has influenced his desire to study the music in his life.
“Blues there was like country-western music here. Listening to blues there was like breathing, it was part of the general fabric of life,” Shaw said.
When the British Invasion took over Memphis, Shaw said his entire outlook on music changed. His beloved Elvis and blues were being introduced to the likes of The Beatles, and it was during this time that his passion for music began to grow and evolve.
“The music that was so intrinsic to my day-to-day life went through this European filter and was handed back to me in a more complex form and that really lit me up,” Shaw said. “I was fortunate to live in a place where, without me thinking about it, I was able to engage that music in a way that other listeners in other parts of the country wouldn’t have.”
After college, Shaw found himself at the intersection of blues, rock and southern country near Memphis and began his career as a beat journalist writing music reviews and obituaries. “Sometimes in Memphis, those two overlapped,” he said.
He knew he wanted to further his education though and he ended up at The University of Texas where he earned his Ph.D. and began his current career path of teaching and freelance writing. Shaw was teaching at Southern Illinois University when a job opened up to teach at TCU. It was an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“I had a good job where I was, but I knew I couldn’t pass this up. I was just delirious that I was actually going to get to live here, and it still freaks me out,” he said.
His career has come full circle now. More than fifty years after first attending the Fort Worth Stock Show as a young child with his family, he is now covering it for theFort Worth Star-Telegram. He is also a reviewer for the paper where he critiques theatre, and music and dance performances.
“Even though I’ve spent a long stretch of my career in the classroom, I continue to write for newspapers and other publications on occasion,” he said. “I never stopped writing about music.”
He currently teaches mass communication classes, where students enjoy a different album every day as they file into class and in the past has taught extended education classes on various fine arts subjects. One of his favorites, “Intro to Cowtown Culture” was meant to make people aware of all the options Fort Worth offers.
“I like to explain and demystify music where people can really understand it,” Shaw said. “I hope the students at TCU appreciate that their campus doesn’t end at West Cantey and Berry,” he said. “If you really use this place, your campus stretches to Dallas and Weatherford.”
With a maxed out iPod that holds thousands of songs and shelf after shelf of albums, CDs and even eight-track tapes Shaw said it’s difficult to choose a top five, because it could change on any given day. His favorites are always evolving.
