Break Music

Dave Barnes

As singer/songwriter Dave Barnes tells it, he had a Harry Potter moment while in college. Like the poor, misunderstood boy living under the stairs with his Uncle and Aunt, Barnes also belonged to a magical tribe, but up to that point hadn't realized it. "I was thinking I was weird, or something was wrong with me. But when I found the magazine Performing Songwriter, I thought, 'you mean there's a group of people who relate to this? Who have a hard time talking when there is a melody in their head or will run off and call their voicemail so they can remember how this one lyric goes?' "That's right, Dave, you're a wizard. Well, a songwriting wizard, anyway. So get out of that cramped room and get to Hogwarts-er, Nashville. A few years later, Barnes graduated from Middle Tennessee State University with a degree in Recording Industry Management-"I'm one of the few musicians in the world actually using my major," he laughs-and became a performing songwriter himself, relocating to Nashville to see what might happen. At first very little was happening, with Barnes cutting his teeth in a 50-capacity room-and drawing just seven people at one point. But just a few years later, after crisscrossing the country and selling vanloads of two independent albums-Brother, Bring The Sun and Chasing Mississippi, the artist had landed songs on television and in films, and was well known to thousands who'd discovered his soulful, supple way with a melody, wrapping itself around a lyric that sneakily burrows under the skin. Those fans include Vince Gill and Amy Grant (who made guest appearances on Chasing Mississippi) and John Mayer, who said on his blog: "Go where this guy is taking you. My man's aim is true!" Where is Barnes taking listeners? Judging by a spin of his latest, Me and You and the World, just about anywhere. The Steely Dan jazz-pop of "Someday." The Blind Boys of Alabama-style gospel of "Carry Me Through." The lighters-in-the-air sing-along chorus of "When A Heart Breaks