Larry Barrett

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Lawrence Barrett (born April 25, 1955 in Pocatello , Idaho , † September 1, 2014 in Tucson , Arizona ) was an American songwriter and singer of alternative country .

Life

Larry Barrett grew up in Idaho and joined the military in the 1970s. There he worked in the Federal Republic of Germany as a medic and later in the Army Ski Patrol . After his military service, he settled in Fort Worth , Texas , where he started writing songs. His musical ambitions were interrupted when he went back to Idaho in 1978, where he took a sales job at the sporting goods manufacturer Hacky Sack . For five years he was part of a team that demonstrated the exercise equipment in American schools. He then lived briefly in Seattle , where he tried to translate what he had experienced into songs, but soon returned to Germany. There he worked as a paramedic. In the spring of 1992 he and his girlfriend, the musician Lisa King, spent a long time in the Czech Republic . In Prague , the two hired themselves as street musicians, Barrett finally concentrated on writing songs. That same summer, 1992, the two returned to the USA - to Seattle, where they came across a scene that was about to revolutionize the world of independent music - and fundamentally. Barrett recorded eleven songs in a studio there, which he released on cassette. Bruce Wirth from the Walkabouts was enthusiastic about the cassette and made contact with the German label Glitterhouse , where the Walkabouts had long since found a comfortable home. His first CD was released there in 1993, while Barrett became a loose member of the Walkabouts and a few other bands - mostly as a steel player and mandolinist.

Larry Barrett formed a band, The Barretts, which included Lisa King and John Van Feldt, the former bassist of Thin White Rope . Barrett himself played the mandolin, harmonica and banjo in addition to the guitar. The second CD, Beyond The Mississippi , was created live in the studio in 1994 in a short time. In 1995 he returned to Europe - not as a paramedic, but as a musician. He played in various bands (Garry Heffern, The Pickets , The Walkabouts) and often did the opening act under his own name. In 1995 the CD Porch Song Singer was released in a limited edition and only via Glitterhouse Mailorder , which showed songs that had already been released in a modified, purified form and also presented two Dylan covers and a few new songs. Here the style Barrett preferred became particularly evident: he himself aptly called it Front Porch Swing. After that he also toured solo through Europe - u. a. with Terry Lee Hale and Chris Burroughs .

According to the record company, the musician “plagued by self-doubt and a simultaneous thirst for perfection” was not heard from again until the year 2000. The CD The Big Slowdown told with a heavy piano minor and poignant ballads of losses and the beauty of failure. Among other things, Barrett dealt with the death of Kurt Cobain , whom he had met in Seattle after his return from Prague. Barrett received some exuberant praise for this mature work; but that could hardly boost sales of the CD. What some of the songs and the title of the last CD already suggested from today's point of view finally happened: Barrett withdrew again, initially to Seattle. And finally his trail was lost. In Europe there was no other musical sign of life from the man whom his label Glitterhouse had enthusiastically touted as the link between Bob Dylan and Merle Haggard .

The search for clues made Barrett even more difficult: He took his father's first name - Cyril - and moved to Tucson, Arizona. There he joined the local music scene; he regularly played solo at farmers' markets and with bands such as The Long Vowels and The Possibles . He also joined the aid organization "No More Deaths", which takes care of the care of immigrants on the border between the USA and Mexico. To raise funds for this organization, a CD was released in 2012, which also includes a song by Barrett: Coyotes of Sasabe . The 31 artists who contributed to this CD titled Border Songs included Tom Russell , Calexico and Giant Giant Sand .

One of Barrett's last appearances was a radio interview in the Stairwell Sessions series , which is regularly recorded on the stairwell of a Tucson radio station. Other songs from the last few years are The Ballad Of The Sunset Hotel . and One Day In Texas .

Larry / Cyril Barrett died of cancer on September 1, 2014 in Tucson. Three days later showed Neko Case in David Letterman's TV show on Barrett and mentioned a memorial service, which was held in Tucson on 14 September. Because, among other things involved Howe Gelb , Naim Amor and Gabe Sullivan.

Discography

  • Flowers (1993)
  • Beyond The Mississippi (1994)
  • Porch Song Singer (1995, mailorder only)
  • The Big Slowdown (2000)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ David Goodman: Modern Twang. An American Music Guide & Directory, page 17 (Dowling Press), Nashville 1999, ISBN 1-891847-03-1
  2. ↑ http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/seattletimes/obituary.aspx?pid=172440178 Obituary on legacy.com
  3. ^ Report on the genesis of the first Barrett CD on glitterhouse.com
  4. ^ David Goodman: Modern Twang. An American Music Guide & Directory, page 17
  5. ↑ Glitterhouse via Larry Barrett
  6. ^ David Goodman: Modern Twang. An American Music Guide & Directory, page 17
  7. ↑ Homepage of "No More Deaths" (English)
  8. ↑ The song can be downloaded from bandcamp.com
  9. ↑ Tracklist on allmusic.com
  10. ↑ The interview can be played on the broadcaster's homepage
  11. ↑ Possibility to listen to the song on archive.org
  12. ↑ Free download from archive.org
  13. ↑ Report in "Tucson Weekly"
personal data
SURNAME Barrett, Larry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Barrett, Lawrence
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American country musician and songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH April 25, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Pocatello , Idaho , United States
DATE OF DEATH September 1, 2014
Place of death Tucson , Arizona , United States