Music meanderings…it’s the people you meet who help mark your path.
Born and raised in Nashville, I have a special place in my heart for bluegrass and country music. When I was a teen, meeting folks at fiddle camps—Mark O’Connor String Conference, Christian Howes’ Creative Strings Camp, Mt. Shasta, among others—provided inspiration and exposure to incredible players from a wide range of genres many of whom are now good friends. The great bluegrass player, Aubrey Haynie, was a role model for my first recording, Lost Indian, and I borrowed some of his licks when I was 14! Crystal Plohman, my first fiddle teacher, later gave me the great honor of teaching alongside fiddle greats Vasser Clemens, Buddy Spicher, and Bobby Hicks at the Vanderbilt Blair School of Music International Fiddle Camp. These guys shared everything I could get my ears on.
Soon thereafter, Bobby introduced me to the legendary Jesse McReynolds who invited me to tour with him and the Virginia Boys including regular weekend performances at the Grand Ole Opry. What an opportunity! Touring around on Jesse’s bus at such a young age (15) was humbling and taught me great respect for the bluegrass music legacy that is the basis for the contemporary acoustic sound. Jesse’s humility, originality, and stamina have been a tremendous personal and musical influence.
When my family moved from Nashville to Western Massachusetts, a string of luck and persistence led me to connect with some of the great contemporary bluegrass and folk artists. I toured with the Gordon Stone Trio (Gordon, Aram Bedrosian) throughout Vermont and New England and got some experience playing out and improvising when I was 14. Together we recorded, Rhymes with Orange, an eclectic collection of tunes which won Vermont’s 2006 Album of the Year award. Through Gordon, I met the amazing Michael Daves who taught me some mandolin and made himself available to support my early solo projects. Michael introduced me to Tony Trischka, one of the most influential banjo players in roots music. I have had the honor of touring with Tony on a number of his projects including the Double Banjo Bluegrass project, Territory, and Great Big World. A great banjoist and tremendous person, Tony continues to be an inspiration and important mentor; he has taught me to laugh at myself and keep perspective. At about the same time, I met up with mandolinist Joe Walsh and together we joined one of New England’s renowned folk bands, Northern Lights, with whom we toured and recorded One Day in 2007. Through this project, I met and performed with folk-singer Jonathan Edwards and Amy Gallatin and recorded on their projects, My Love Will Keep (JE) and Phoenix (AG).
Touring with Tony, I shared the stage with some great banjoists, the great Bela Fleck, comedian Steve Martin, and Greg Liszt (Crooked Still/Bruce Springstein). In 2007, Liszt conceived the band, The Deadly Gentlemen, and I signed on for what turned out to be a 7 year ride through Europe and the States performing and sharing the stage with so many great musicians. With the Gents, we recorded The Bastard Masterpiece in 2008, Carry Me to Home in 2010, Roll Me, Tumble Me (on Rounder Records) in 2013.
While at Berklee College of Music, I got to know so many rising acoustic stats including bassist Sam Grisman, who connected me with his dad, David Grisman. In 2009, I joined the David Grisman Quintet (DGQ) to form a sextet with fiddle added. I had some BIG shoes to fill of past fiddle greats in the history of the DGQ: Vassar Clemens, Stephan Grappelli, Darol Anger, Mark O’Connor… all heroes of mine. David has been a huge inspiration, and taught me so much about the history of bluegrass and what it means to be a good all-around musician.
2014 marks a pivotal time with the release of One Song Romance, on Compass Records. A compilation of original tunes, the album reflects my many musical influences from bluegrass to swing, and hosts a cast of the some of the greatest players in the scene today. I’m setting out on new ground and wonder where it will take me…
There’s so many people to meet and so much music to make…
Mike Barnett is the recipient of the 2007 Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin created by Jonathan Cooper and awarded at the Mark O’Connor Sting Conference. Mike plays a Cooper violin. Mike lives in New York City.
