Being Barnes

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Dave Barnes is definitely an "artist's artist," someone whose music gets passed around on tour buses and covered by bigger names, who find themselves wishing they could have come up with those words and melodies.

His fourth studio effort, What We Want, What We Get, is a showcase of the talent that probably should have made him a household name three releases ago; the music reveals some angst over a career that hasn't gone exactly according to plan. It's a thematic collection that takes on longing and loss, and that place called grace where we all wind up when life doesn't turn out like we planned.

But don't get the idea that he's bitter or looking back with regret. This pastor's kid who picked up a guitar in college knows that in his career, and in his life, he's beyond lucky — he's just plain blessed.

This is your first themed album. Why choose the track you did for the title?
I've never had a song-titled record, but it was just, "That's it! This is what the album's about." It's about expectations, when life and situations disappoint you, and where is God in all that stuff. A lot of it dealt with success, with me doing my first record deal and having insane expectations for how all that was going to turn out and seeing situations not pan out like I thought they would.

What did you want that you didn't get?
I saw people I admired become fans of mine, but I was frustrated that I wasn't a member of a country club I never bothered to join. It was a real wake-up call. I realized, you'll never be tomorrow what you're not becoming today.

But this album is about so much more than frustration, right?
Sometimes the blessing is in what you don't get. Sometimes the blessing is that these expectations don't come true. God really had to pry my career out of my hands.

Despite some disappointment on your part over the response to your first Razor & Tie release, Me and You and the World, you continue to make quite a name for yourself among A-list artists in Nashville and beyond. What are some of the stories there?
The Amy Grant story is one of my favorites in the world. I was at Davis-Kidd bookstore in Nashville with a very dear friend. We see her and we're gawking at how beautiful she is, then she actually came over to us and said, "Hey guys, do you have Mother's Day gifts yet? I'm here with my friend and she's selling her books." So I introduced myself, and she asked if I had any music. Then later a friend of mine told me he heard her at a [Nashville area] benefit and she was talking about my CD from stage.

Later, she called me and said, "You gave me that record, and I heard the first three songs and I got the Nashville telephone book out and tried to find you!"

Then there's Matt Wertz. Your careers have been pretty intertwined, haven't they?
In 2001, I had just finished recording an acoustic EP with [producer] Ed Cash when [Matt] e-mailed me. So we met, and he invited me to play some Young Life dates with him. That's really how I got my start. We ended up playing half of our shows with each other for three or four years. He's like a brother.

Ed Cash played a role in your early career as well, didn't he?
Bebo Norman, Ed and Wertz are a big part in different ways of me doing what I'm doing today. I met Bebo at a Young Life camp, and he invited me to play during his set. Then he said, "You've got to meet Ed!" Ed was moving to Nashville and I was graduating, so I helped with babysitting and picking up furniture and then stuff in the studio. We even wrote some songs together for other people. We've done two EPs and four records together now. If it's not broken, don't fix it. He gets what I do and knows how to push me.

The album is about more than just career, though. It's also your most accessible and covers a lot of ground in the relationship department.
This is the first time I said, "I want these to be singable quickly." I want to sing this one time and you can sing the chorus back to me, so I took a lot of time.

As a preacher's kid, some might have expected you to go the more traditional Christian pop route. Was it intentional to go in another direction?
As I was writing songs, I tried to write Christian songs — being around Bebo and Ed, that's just what you do — but they were terrible! They were so trite; it's just not in my gift set.

But now you've come full circle, with an album that's being promoted to the Christian market too. Did it just work out that these songs were a fit for both markets?
It just kind of unfolded that way. When I'm at my most nonthinking, doing what comes naturally, this is what comes out.