‘I think folk music acts as a great outlet for sharing stories clearly. If done correctly, it works. Many of my favourite songs remain so, strictly because of the lyrics. I would like to imagine folk music can ride alongside any generation’
- Barna Howard What better ways to hear a story than through the sound of an old style picked acoustic guitar and a raucous croaky voice? Put on this album and read about Barna Howard, because if country and folk music had a kid, it would sound a little bit like this...
I remember watching Drinking Buddies, it’s a film about beer and relationships by Joe Swanberg. Two songs stayed in my head. The first one was Foxygen's In The Darkness and the second one was some catchy folk song which sounded familiar but also somehow new. I started to wonder who it could be; Bob Dylan, Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seger...not even close. After much research the name Barna Howard appeared. I had never heard of him before. His picture seemed retro. All the clues led to an obscure sixties musician. Again, I was wrong. Barna Howard is a young country/folk artist from Misourri. As soon as I could I began to listen to his music and soon discovered that Barna had more than one great story to tell. Now Barna Howard is back with a new album Quite A Feelin', an album which reflects his relationship with the concept of home, both his first home Misourri and his new home Portland, Oregon.
You may think a folk musician in days of indie music might sound unappealing to young people. It is the kind of music my dad was listening to and played on guitar when he was younger, but it is also the kind of music he got me into when I was a teenager, the very music which started my love affair with the genre. Who hasn't learned how to play Bob Dylan's Knocking On Heavens Door or Blowing In The Wind? What I am trying to say is simple; there is and always has been an audience for folk music, and we therefore need to recognise the new folk artists of today.
Forget the umpteenth Bob Dylan album where he doesn't properly play and sits behind his piano while a studio band back him up. Forget Mumford fucking Sons. Folk music can truly run alongside any generation, and thankfully the new, genuine folk generation is on its way back and it’s spearheaded, ladies and gentlemen, by Barna Howard.
Follow for the full Interview. Barna Howard Quite A Feelin' 8/10 Robin Ecoeur Comments are closed.
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