radionotes podcast episodes

069 Casey Barnes

by | May 17, 2020 | episodes | 1 comment

069 Casey Barnes

Casey Barnes is a number one charting Country music artist from the Gold Coast in Queensland Australia. Who has released an album called Town Of a Millions Dreams.

Ahead of that record’s release Casey spoke to radionotes about the music and his life…

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IMAGE CREDIT: Supplied 

As thought would happen, this album also hit Number one on release. Such an amazing talent they are. Hope you enjoy listening to this chat.

SHOW NOTES: Casey Barnes

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Feature Guest: Casey Barnes’ Town of a Million Dreams

Next Episode: Emily Hatton – Country music artist

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[Radio Production – notes: ]

CREDITS

Theme/Music: Martin Kennedy and All India Radio   

Web-design/tech: Steve Davis

Voice: Tammy Weller  

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TRANSCRIPT

First version provided by REV team member Marc F – check to audio before quoting wider

John Murch:
Welcome to radionotes.

Casey Barnes:
Thanks for having me.

John Murch:
And the reason why I wanted to have a chat with you, and we won’t get too gloomy too soon, but you were having a bit of a conversation with the great entertainment reporter, Peter Ford. And let’s be honest, these aren’t easy times. And I want to know how Casey Barnes is. So, with that in mind, how are you?

Casey Barnes:
I’m good, mate. And it’s an amazing thing, the power of Twitter. Some of the most intriguing opportunities and connections that I’ve made over the last maybe 10 years have, funnily enough, often come through the power of Twitter. It’s really interesting. I could probably share with you a couple of stories as we go along, but it’s an amazing way to connect with people and not obviously Twitter, but other forms of social media as well. Peter he’s a lovely bloke, and very generous, and always wanting to help.

John Murch:
Let’s get the Twitter mentions out of the way or their Twitter interactions. I’m pretty keen to have as a guest, Reggie from Big Brother. That new series is just started again on Channel 7 as well.

Casey Barnes:
We are, mates. And I think we’ve got that connection that goes right back to the fact that we’re both originally from Tassie. and it’s funny. When Tasmanians leave Tassie and bump into each other, wherever they’ve ended up moving, like with us, Reggie and I both based up here on the Goldie, it’s just an instant connection as I think a lot of people that are born and raised in Tassie, I always find are usually really down to earth, and grounded, and pretty decent people most of the time. And so Reggie and I have just been mates. She also knows my wife. And yeah, she’s a lovely person and I’ve always had a real soft spot for her.

John Murch:
Well, I have, but that’s from a TV viewer point of view. An absolute legend, she is. And we’ll just continue on the Big Brother Tasmanian thing before we get to your music. And that is just yesterday record time, Laura Clare, who was originally from Tasmania and moved to Melbourne from Big Brother, released her latest EP album release, called Salty Sweet. And it’s just kind of nature you Tasmanians have that it’s such a genuine release.

Casey Barnes:
Yeah. And I think it’s an underwriter state. Not a heck of a lot of people that live down there, but when you look back at not just music, but even on the sporting thing, there’s so many great sporting people that have come out of Tassie and some great bands down there as well. And I think you’ve got, as a kid when you’re growing up, you’ve got so much time on your hands. And if you don’t get into something like sport or music or a hobby of some sort, you can sometimes go off the rails. Some kids do go off the rails if they don’t find something to focus on. And yeah, there’s some real genuine talent that comes out of the state. And it’s good to see.

John Murch:
Yeah, I’d get people to have a listen to our chat with an artist called Claire Anne Taylor. She’s still down in Tassie doing some great stuff. But to you, Casey, if we can talk about just Tasmania, I guess, getting those early days under our belt, a bit of an idea of how you get to number one on the charts from Tasmania, what was it like in Tasmania growing up for you?

Casey Barnes:
Honestly, all great memories. I mean, going to look back at my childhood and feel sorry for myself in any way. I grew up in a very supportive home. And my mum in particular always, always had music playing and records and all different styles of music. Not just one particular form of music. And then as I got a little bit older, I picked up the guitar and started to learn how to play. And then I had an amazing high school music teacher who was really supporting and saw something in me at the time that sort of pushed me into becoming comfortable playing in front of an audience. And we did a few school assemblies. And once I got those under my best, I thought I could definitely get used to doing this. And that’s where it all started. So definitely have lots of great memories.

John Murch:
And when we talk about a Town Of A Million Dreams, are we talking about Tasmania, are we talking about somewhere in America or are we talking about the Gold Coast?

Casey Barnes:
Well, the Town Of A Million Dreams could be any town. It could be the listener relating to where their town is that they grew up in and having dreams. And I think that’s the message behind the title of the album. For me, growing up as a kid, I did, I had all these dreams of what I wanted to achieve when I got older. And as I got older, those dreams got bigger and bigger, and I started … There’s a funny story that when I was living in Launceston in Tassie, there was a little Irish bar that I used to walk past when I was going to school. And there was a blackboard out the front, and it had who was playing on each different night of the week. And at the time, I thought if I can get my name on that blackboard on a Tuesday night, I reckon I hit the big time. That was my goal and funnily enough, that was my first ever gig that I ended up getting was at that pub.

Casey Barnes:
It’s funny because you tick that goal off and then you’d move on to the next and the next and you keep going from there. But the actual title, Town Of A Million Dreams, comes from a lyric out of one of the tracks on the album called Bright Lights, a song which is all about, I’ve spent a lot of time in Nashville. And Nashville in particular is this incredible place of so many ridiculously talented people, musicians, and producers, and all styles of different music. And there’s so many people pushing to the reach their dream or whatever it might be. That was where that lyric came from.

John Murch:
If I can take you back to that blackboard, when you eventually got there on Tuesday, did they have a tight-ass Tuesday Schnitty or anything like that? What was the atmosphere like inside the pub?

Casey Barnes:
It was great. Honestly, it was … pick your … there’s many, many Irish pubs around Australia and I’ve spent my fair share of time doing gigs in lots of different ones as I grew up. And actually funnily enough, some of the most pivotal moments in my career have happened playing in Irish bars. But that particular pub was place where I very first started and I used to go along and watch another guy doing his covers before I had the courage to do them on my own. I used to sit there and watch him and just wonder, how can I do this myself? And he was actually nice enough. He came up to me, I think on one of his breaks and said, “Mate, why don’t you get up in the next set and play a few songs?” And I said, “Oh, no, no. I’d be too shy to do that.”

Casey Barnes:
And my buddies all said, “No, why don’t you do it?” So I did and I got up and played, it might’ve been three or four songs and the manager heard it. He said, “Why don’t we give you a run and see how you go?” And that’s how it all started. But then I’ve got out of memories. When I moved to the Gold Coast as I grew up a little bit, I was around 19, 20, I made the move up here to Queensland and only to have a residency again at another Irish bar up here.

Casey Barnes:
And there’s an Aussie rock band called The Butterfly Effect who were big in the early 2000s, huge Aussie rock band. And a guy called Clint Boge, the lead singer, and I didn’t know who he was but he was sitting in the crowd at one of my gigs. And he said, “Mate, when you’re on your next break, I’d love to have a chat.” And he sort of took the aside and it was this real pivotal for me where he gave me a huge kick up the backside and said, “Mate, I’ll be honest with you. What are you doing playing and wasting your talent playing in covers gigs playing in pubs?” And I said, “Oh, I don’t know what you mean.” He said, “Mate, you need to back yourself, start writing songs and get out there and release your own music.” So it was this amazing chat that he gave me. And I, yeah, never looked back after that.

John Murch:
My understanding is the country genre, that particularly in Australia, maybe it’s an Australian thing with our mateship and everything, else is very much a collaborative kind of genre to be in.

Casey Barnes:
Yeah, it is. And it’s growing with popularity, especially in the last couple of years. It’s a special thing here in Australia, the connection that you’ve got with not just the country fans, but the fellow artists. We’re all pretty close knit and we look after one another, which I really love. But there’s a new shifting, even the country sound in the last couple of years, people are … or commercial radio is starting to play country music with the likes of Morgan Evans, and Keith Urban, and Dan + Shay, and all these different acts that are actually getting a run on country radio. And a lot of people will come up to you, even listening to my stuff and they’ll go, “Oh, mate, I didn’t really used to like country music, but I really liked your stuff.” And I think that’s nice to see that there’s a change happening and people are actually warming to the whole new sort of country sound, which is great.

John Murch:
I want to talk about Sparks Fly. Because the current single that it is, it talks a little bit like Better Days about dresses. And what’s your favorite kind of dress? When you’re having to look at people wearing dresses, what’s your favorite kind of dress?

Casey Barnes:
Favorite kind of dress? Oh geez. Well, I’m happily married.

John Murch:
So it’s the one your wife’s wearing?

Casey Barnes:
Definitely. My wife owns some beautiful dresses. I know in particular, she’s a fan of the Camilla, which we definitely couldn’t be affording at the moment under the current circumstances. But she’s got some beautiful dresses. I remember the day that I met her, actually. I was doing this tiny little gig and she happened to walk past and stop. And it was a instant see connection. I guess that, funnily enough, that’s a segue way to what the song is about. It’s about that instant connection and chemistry and spark that you have between yourself and whoever your partner might be. Yeah. We thought it was a great sort of topic to write a song about.

John Murch:
What color was the dress on that day?

Casey Barnes:
It was pink sort of thing. She was wearing, and I know for a fact she was wearing this really cute little pink beanie. And I’ll never forget that.

John Murch:
There’s also a reference to July 4th, which of course is American Independence Day. Do you have a sense that the music needs to also sit well with an American audience as well? Do you feel like both Australian and maybe American because of the Nashville connections?

Casey Barnes:
Yeah, look, I definitely … I mean, obviously proudly Australian but I’ve spent a lot of time in the States over the last 10, 15 years, and I’ve always had a fascination with the States right back to when I was a kid of 15, 16. I started going across and I did a student exchange over there, I studied and then I went back and worked in one of the big summer camps over in North Carolina as a counselor, doing sport and music with the kids. And I just always had a connection with the States and Sparks Fly in particular, I actually teamed up with Nashville-based two writers, a guy and a girl who co-wrote Sparks Fly with me. And I guess that was a great connection to have with those guys. And the reference to the 4th of July and sparks and fireworks since it was always a visual thing for people to have in their heads when they’re listening to the song. But yeah, I absolutely love the States. I’ve been going back and forth a lot in the last couple of years as well doing shows and festivals over there.

John Murch:
Missy Lancaster does some work with you featuring on a tune or maybe two.

Casey Barnes:
Missy Lancaster. Yeah. She is a lovely girl and a super, super talent Australian. And we’ve been mates for a long time. And when I was over in the States again last year and I was writing with a girl called Hayley Warner. She’s another Aussie. We were on Australian Idol together, believe it or not. A long, long time ago, 2009. And Hayley now lives in LA and she is a pure songwriter. She writes for everybody. I think one of her last big hits, she wrote with Katy Perry, which was her last single which went number one all over the world. So she’s an amazing songwriter. We were over in LA and this particular song came about. And I was going to release it on my own, but then I thought it was great to actually came up with somebody and do it as a duet Missy was perfect voice for the song. We sent it to her and she loved it. And yeah, we collaborated together and put it out as a duet. And it’s a really special little song.

John Murch:
You mentioned Australian Idol in passing. The only thing want to I mention about that is Marcia Hines said of you, you’re very comfortable behind the guitar. That was the wonderful Marcia Hines speaking about you in 2009. So she was right there.

Casey Barnes:
She’s a lovely person, actually, Marcia. She’s fantastic. It was a great experience. Funnily enough, I always said I was never going to go on a reality TV show. They used to have, there’d be drunk punters usually at the end of the night, back in 2008 or whatever. And they come up and they go, “Mate, I reckon you should have a go at that bloody Australian Idol show. You’d go all right at that.” Always say no because I didn’t really want to go down that road but it ended up being something that taught me a lot, and brought me out of my shell, and I became a lot more comfortable. And it was yeah, was a good experience.

John Murch:
I’m not a sporty kind of guy. But back to the Twitter’s very quickly, I noticed that you interact with a goal that was kicked between the Adelaide Crows and Collingwood of Andrew McLeod. And you also like Fitzy is a broadcaster as well. Are you an Adelaide Crows supporter?

Casey Barnes:
No, I’m a mad AFL fanatic though, and I’m a huge Hawthorn supporter. But there is a funny story that ties even with Twitter and footy which I can share with you. But I’ve known Fitzy actually since he came off Big Brother, which was many, many, many years ago. And he was very green at the time, he was actually completely different to the way he comes across. He’s very polished, and professional, and he’s excellent on TV these days, very funny guy. But when he came off the back of Big Brother, we actually did some events together where I was performing at the event and they had Fitzy come along as a bit of a personality there to chat to the crowds. And I’ll never forget him because he hadn’t done it before, he was dropping the F bomb every second sentence in front of a huge room full of people.

Casey Barnes:
And you could just see people looking at one another going, “What is this guy doing?” And yeah, very, very funny guy. But I’ve known Fitzy for ages. Going back to the connection with footy, there’s another sportsperson, a guy called Joe Ingles who’s an Aussie basketballer. He plays for an Australian basketball team and he also plays over in America for the Utah Jazz in the NBA. And we started this connection over Twitter where he’s a fellow Hawthorn supporter and so am I. And we used to banter back and forth about footy. And then the next thing you know, he’s sending a message. He said, “Listen, I’m actually getting married next year to my partner, Renae. Would you be interested in playing at our wedding?” So it was funny. We ended up getting flying down to Adelaide and playing at their swanky wedding up in the Hills of Adelaide and the wineries, and it just a who’s who of Australian sport was all at this wedding. But that all came through a simple connection through Twitter. So it’s an interesting thing how it unfolds sometimes.

John Murch:
What do you think of this little town called Adelaide

Casey Barnes:
I love it. I think it reminds me a lot of … there’s parts of it that remind me a lot of Launceston, I think because it is one of the older townships obviously now, it’s a city. But the architecture and all of the beautiful cathedrals and churches. And the people that it is similar to Tassie. And I’ve done quite a few gigs down there over the last 10 years. And I love it down there. It’s a beautiful spot. Some of my very, very good mates, one of my best mates is down in Adelaide as well. So I’ve always had a good connection.

John Murch:
Should we touch on this issue where we are right now? And that is where a great musician like yourself has a kicker of an album, but then you can’t tour it. How you feeling about that? How you getting your head around that?

Casey Barnes:
Yeah, that’s a great question. And to be honest with you, at the very beginning of this, it was, it was pretty gut-wrenching only because we had spent months and months preparing a tour, and putting it together, and rehearsing it. And there were a lot of people involved, not just myself, but my entire band, and the crew, and flowing right down to the guys that work behind the scenes for me. And we put a heck of a lot of time into it. And we had a lot of people looking forward to us going and playing in their neck of the woods. Yeah, to have that sort of happen. I mean, it’s obviously many, many artists from all over the world have been put in the same position. So it was gut-wrenching at the time. But I think you’re left with a choice of how you handle it.

Casey Barnes:
You can honestly let it get to you. And it’s easy to get down in the dumps about it. Or you can go, “Okay, how can we approach this from another angle, and try and and stay positive, and come at it from a different headspace?” And that’s exactly what we’ve done. We also have the option of, do we actually release the album now or would we hold it over until this all blows over and it’s a different landscape actually to release music? But again, we thought, no, let’s push ahead with it. People need a break from reality, they want to listen to music, and let’s put it out. We made that decision and I’m really proud that we did. And we’ve had a great response to it. We’ve been doing the Facebook Live as well, which instead of going out on the road and touring, we’re actually bringing the concert to people’s lounge room, and giving them a break from reality, and taking questions, and having that connection over the livestream. It’s been great, so it’s just a matter of changing your perspective and trying to roll with the punches.

John Murch:
And even on the weekend that we’re recording this, the third IsolAid Festival, which is 24 hours of 20-minute music sets are happening across Instagram Live. So musicians definitely are able to get their music out, even from their Isol-Aid. I guess the thing is about how to recruit, and live and merchandise has been the key. So at the end of the day, at least you have the album to merchandise and the t-shirts.

Casey Barnes:
Yeah, yeah, you’re right. I mean probably 90% of most musos’ income comes from performing live. And I think that’s what hit the industry the most is that income stream isn’t there. And as I said before, it’s not just the guy at the front performing, there’s so many people behind the scenes that it flows onto. So that’s where it had a devastating effect on a huge amount of people. And luckily, there’ve been some guys like Support Act, they’re an online charity that have set up for people that are really down and struggling and that need that crisis help.

Casey Barnes:
And even mentoring because not just the financial impact, it’s actually a lot to do with the mental impact. And there’s a lot of people in the music industry that are pretty fragile and feel it a lot more than some other people. So I think to have that ability to call up Support Act and chat to somebody and have to support it’s really a great thing. There’s a lot of negatives that have come out of this but on the flip side, there’s been some amazing things that have come out of this as well which I think we should try and focus on that too.

John Murch:
supportact.org.au. If things are a little bit more on thin ice, Lifeline, 13 11 14. Or if you need some resources, beyondblue.org.au. Can I ask, because you seem to be someone who does have the ability to embrace the positive, or at least that from a performer point of view seems to be the case and engagement with the live audience as well, what keeps you positive?

Casey Barnes:
Look, for me, it’s my family. Number one. I’m very, very lucky to have incredibly supportive wife, and my kids, and my immediate family have always had my back from the start. And I think without them, there would have been some pretty tough times of getting through not just what we’re going through now, but in the music industry, there’s a lot of ups and downs. You really are on a roller coaster where sometimes it could be going incredibly well. And then sometimes, you can have setbacks like what we’re going through now. And you’ve got to learn to adapt to that. So I’m very lucky to have their support and they’ve always got my back.

John Murch:
Another thing I know is that you’ve been hanging out, or at least ondoing the walkedy walk at Springbrook National Park. What’s that all about? Are you a big hiker?

Casey Barnes:
You’ve done well. Well, yeah, I do. I mean, we love the outdoors. I’m a big fan of physical activity. I think that’s another thing that’s important to anybody’s mental health too is incorporating some sort of physical exercise. And for me, I try and do something every day just to blow the cobwebs out and get a fresh head. And that particular little outing was my wife’s birthday and we decided, while it was still safe at the time to do so, we’d get in the car and drive somewhere remote and isolated. And actually went to this incredible hike through the Hinterland of the Gold Coast and found these waterfalls and took a little picnic. It was great. It was something that the girls wouldn’t normally get to do. It was a lot of fun.

John Murch:
Purling Brook Falls from memory as well, which look outstanding. Just amazing.

Casey Barnes:
There was another little thing that I posted. I think it’s gone now. It was on my Instagram Story. But I don’t mind doing a bit of background commentary. I’ve been known to do these things. Very unique guy that we spotted, we’re at a very safe distance away from him, but he looked to be the typical German tourist. And he decided, he was down into his, literally within his jocks. That was all he had on. And he had his camera out. And was taking all these wildlife photos and standing in the water and stuff. And I decided to back annouce and commentate everything he was doing for good couple of minutes. That was quite amusing. I put that up on my Instagram. You remember Roy and HG, you know the sort of stuff that they would do? It was along those lines.

Casey Barnes:
And there was another time we went up, similar location up the back of the Gold Coast. It’s a swimming hole that’s up the back here. And there was a particular, it was Australia Day last year, and there were a lot of these real big Maori guys that were all up up there and they were having this bomb-off competition where they were jumping off the cliff into the water. And I had great enjoyment in adding a bit of background commentary to that. And it was good. I reckon if music doesn’t work, I’ll dabble in a bit of Channel 7 sports commentary or something.

John Murch:
Casey Barnes joins us. A very special guest. That new album, you can get right now is called Town Of A Million Dreams. We’ve established that’s where you want it to be. Who have you got on this album, in the studio, making this recording what it is?

Casey Barnes:
Oh geez, that’s a good question. There’s a lot of incredibly talented people behind the scenes that help put it together and ranging from people here in Australia and also great connections that I sort of was able to make over in the States as well. But here in Australia, I’ve been lucky enough to work with two producers down in Melbourne. A guy called Michael Delorenzis and another guy called Michael Paynter. And Michael Paynter, if you don’t know who this guy is, do yourself a favour and Google his name. Incredibly talented guy. He plays guitar with Icehouse, he plays keyboards with The Veronicas, and he also releases his own music. And he’s got a voice like John Farnham and Rick Price had a baby, I guess is probably the best way to explain it. He’s ridiculously super talented guy. I was lucky enough to work with those two on a lot of the album and co-writing with them.

Casey Barnes:
And then over in Nashville, I teamed up with an Australian producer that was working out of there at the time. A guy called Matt Fell who he’s won multiple ARIAs and Golden Guitars. Had this opportunity to team up with him while he was going to be in Nashville. So I recorded a part of the album with him. And we got some amazing session plays in on the record as well. I guess notably would be one guy in particular, long time drummer for Keith Urban, we were lucky enough to snag him and he came in and played drums on a lot of the songs. And yeah, it was a great experience and very, very lucky to team up with lots and lots of super talented people.

John Murch:
As someone who believes in big dreams and dreaming big. How far off do you think you are off working with Keith Urban?

Casey Barnes:
Yeah. It’d be a dream come true. It’s funny how close you can be to somebody. I mean, I’ve been lucky enough to meet him a couple of times in person, and he’s a lovely, lovely, humble bloke, and obviously incredibly talented. And it’s funny because I’ve done a lot of work with another Aussie called Rick Price. Rick was massive, funnily enough, when I was growing up going through high school, I used to listen to Rick Price all the time. He was on the radio. Back at school bus every day, I’d always hear his songs via the radio.

Casey Barnes:
And Rick and I were lucky enough to connect in Nashville where he lives now. And Rick is great mates with Keith. And he’ll often get a text from Keith, and that’s actually a funny story, he’ll get a text and he’ll say, “Hey, look, we’re having a barbecue on the weekend. Do you wanna come over and bring your partner. And Nicole will be here.” And he always jokes about, “What the hell do you to Keith’s place for a barbie? You rock up there with a six pack of VBs and some snags? Or what do you do?” He just said they’re such love, down to earth, and real, normal people, which is really refreshing. But I would love, love to work with him one day.

John Murch:
Let’s take you back to the studio where this album was being recorded. What was the environment like within the studio environment? How was this all put together like that?

Casey Barnes:
It was done in a couple of different ways. I guess, actually the album as a result takes people on a little bit of a journey throughout. That’s I guess, another positive about going through this, the time that we’re in at the moment is people have so much time on their hands. And rather than the way that we’ve gone now with streaming, it’s all about the single and people just listening to songs on their own. But I think because people for have that little bit extra time on their hands is an opportunity to go back and actually listen to an album or a record in its entirety from start to finish and appreciate how the songs have been structured and put together. And with the recording process, a lot of the stuff I did in Nashville was done very organically in the studio with a heck of a lot of different live players and very raw and real.

Casey Barnes:
And then some of the stuff that I did here in Australia, Michael Paynter and the boys was done in a different way where Michael Paynter and Dello, the other guy that I worked with, they’re multi-instrumental. So they’ll play guitar, bass, keyboard, all the instruments themselves. And it’s a different way of recording. So yeah, there’s a couple of different processes that we went through and we put it all together, but it’s fun being part of both.

John Murch:
How are you finding in these times that are a little bit more isolated from the teamwork that you would have been used to, I would guess? And particularly that of trying things out live, how you going with the songwriting part of being a singer-songwriter?

Casey Barnes:
Oh, I love it. I absolutely love it. And it comes in all sorts of different ways. I think that’s one of the most interesting processes is actually writing. And there’s been a couple of really interesting … I shared an interview that I did not long ago with some guys that actually came over to my house and shot it, and they actually talked to me about the whole songwriting process and some of the stories that have happened along the way. And sometimes, literally, you tap into something and I don’t know how to explain it, but just songs sometimes can really write themselves and you’re just facilitating the message that’s coming through. And it’s hard to put into words, but it’s happened to me a couple of times. And there’s a song off my last album called Set Sail, which is a tribute to my father-in-law, who I was extremely close with. And he passed away really suddenly out of the blue. And it knocked us all for six.

Casey Barnes:
And I’ll give you the short version of the story. But his favorite song of all time was Desperado by The Eagles. And at his funeral, we had a guy come along and actually play that song at the service. And obviously, a very emotional time. And then I think a week or two after that, I was down in Melbourne finishing the album with the boys and they sort of said at the time, “How do you feel about writing a song as a tribute to your father-in-law?” “I’m not sure if I can go there. I feel it’s just a little bit too raw at the moment and I just don’t know if I can.” And so we left it for the day. The next day, we came back into the studio and Michael Paynter, he sat down at the piano and he just started applying. And of all songs that he could possibly play at that time, he started playing Desperado by The Eagles. He didn’t know anything about the backstory behind the meaning of that song. It was just a random chance thing that he started playing that song.

Casey Barnes:
And then I obviously lost the plot. It was just this really spooky moment. And then we ended up writing immediately after, the song Set Sail, which is the lyrics was like Ted was getting a message through to say, “I’m okay, guys. I just want you to get a message through to now my wife, Michelle, and our mother-in-law, Chris that It’s okay. I’m okay. I’m going to look out for you guys and don’t worry.” And it was just really spooky thing, but literally, the song wrote itself. And sometimes you can be… Yeah. Things just happen and you tap into something and it’s hard to explain, but it’s definitely a very interesting story.

John Murch:
Do you get a sense the universe speaks to you as a musician, or even as an individual in that way regularly?

Casey Barnes:
Yeah. Look, I mean, I’m not one of these super over-the-top spiritual type of people, but I’m definitely, I think most musicians are pretty emotional people. And you do, you do connect to things. And I think if you allow yourself to do that, you can really tap into some brilliant stuff. And often, there are times where I’ve written songs when I honestly look back and go, “I just honestly don’t know where that came from. It just came out of me.” And it’s not just lyrics, but it’s often melodies and music that you’ll just find on my phone’ll usually be full of ideas that I’ll have and I just recorded down at the time. And yeah, it’s a powerful thing. It’s one of the things I love the most about the whole process.

John Murch:
You care deeply for your wife. What’s the song that connects you two? What is the song that is the Michelle and Casey song?

Casey Barnes:
Oh, I’ve written a … what she’s done well. I’ve written quite a few songs. In particular, there’s one of the songs that I wrote with Rick Price is called Michelle. And it’s all about how we met and the place we were both in at the time. We’d both come out of different relationships and we were both sort of had broken wings, and we were hurting or whatever. But we met and it was the best thing that could have possibly happened to us at the time. And there’s one particular song on the new record, which is, I guess, a dedication to Michelle and it’s called Fine Wine. And I co-wrote that with Hayley Warner, the girl I was speaking about earlier, who lives in LA. Hayley is actually a great close friend of Michelle’s as well. And song is all about being in a relationship that gets better with age, like a fine line. And it’s the truth. It’s funny how things can happen like that. And that connection that you’ve got, that actually builds, and grows, and so it is a tribute to her. It’s one of my favorite tracks on the album, actually.

John Murch:
Casey, beautiful point to finish our conversation today. Thanks for doing radionotes.

Casey Barnes:
Oh, appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

 

1 Comment

  1. christine preston
    christine preston on June 10, 2021 at 10:57 pm

    Great interview with a humble, talented, awesome human being

    Reply

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