Man am I glad I found this place

marley,

A big welcome to the cabin.
Yes the Seagull S6 only gets great reviews, and is a big favourite here in the cabin.
Hope your stay is a long and pleasant one.

Thanks for the warm welcomes.
It's been a slow day with work so I've been creeping around the forum today. Looks like I could stand to learn a lot from the folks here.
Like "high action", had no idea about that until today. Wondered if that's why I have such a hard time with bar chords. Started looking at my set up and it appears to be WAY high.

I'm in the Dallas area. About an hour NE of the City

Hallo and welcome!
Seagull S6, in all its variations (S6 original, S6 Coastline Cedar or spruce GT etc ...), has a very comfortable neck shape and it is less bulky than the typical square shoulder dreadnought.
If I were in your shoes, i would look around for an older edition S6, because of the short scale: it makes the guitar feel easier (softer) on your fingers and that is definitely a plus, especially if you are a novice.
Good luck and have fun!

Since I am getting such sound advice here, I've got another question. I'm seeing several comments about how the wood used for the top effects the sound. I come from a country/bluegrass upbringing and lean more to that type of music.
Any suggestions on the type wood that I should consider?

Guitar tops are normally spruce. Sometimes they can be mahogany, but that tends to have a darker tone.

What they're probably referring to is solid versus laminate. Solid wood vibrates more freely and will sound more open and alive. Most cheap laminates sound more like a cardboard box. But there are plenty of good laminate guitars.

You have to try some to find what sounds good to you. Unfortunately what sounds good in the store may not sound the same after you get it home. Been there, done that! If you buy new, be sure to check their return policy!! If you don't like it after a few days it would be nice to be able to bring it back and try something else.

If you're playing country and bluegrass you're certainly going to want the booming sound of a Martin!! They are very pricey. They do have a few lower end models.

The biggest problem with an all solid wood guitar is you need to keep it in a narrow range of temperature an humidity to keep it from cracking of changing shape. Quick extreme changes are bad. Laminate guitars are no where near as sensitive.

As you read around here you'll find lots of guitars mentioned. Everyone has their opinion what sounds good. In the end it's what sounds good to you.

Talk to people who play music you like and see what they play. Try their guitar if you can. If you have friends that play, that's a huge bonus.