I’ll see you guys down the road. And thank you for the one you’ve given me thus far…

TIM BARRY

November 29, 2010

Richmond, VA

It’s been a one hell of a year so far. I know I’m lucky.

I’ve been home a few days and can’t help but reflect. Since January I’ve toured with nearly all of my favorites; Chuck Ragan, Ben Nichols, Frank Turner, Against Me! Todd Beene, The Gaslight Anthem, Ninja Gun, Possessed by Paul James, Canada’s The Cavaliers!, Jon Gaunt, Red Clay River out of Roanoke, Va and more. I’ve clocked more miles than possible to track and played more shows than I can count. And none of it would be worth it if it weren’t for the hospitality, encouragement and support of both my road families and my loved one’s back home in Virginia. Thank you. That’s all I got. A simple thank you.

In the short term, I’m keeping it semi – low key for a couple months. August and September I will only be doing a few regional shows and a couple fly in dates (TBA). I’ll also begin the long process of sorting through all of the new songs I’ve been writing. Although there is no date set, I do look forward to getting back in the studio. But it will be a good amount of time before recording kicks back in.

Come October the pace will pick back up with specific US dates. And to my Northern Neighbors, please keep your ear to the ground for some rumblings. I’ll be doing a proper tour up your way that has yet to be announced. Dates will follow.

All that aside, I’ve gotten a lot of correspondence in regards to a show that will be played in a parking lot near 15th & Broad Street here in Richmond, Virginia. The concept is direct action to increase pressure on the city and Virginia Commonwealth University to acknowledge and memorialize what lays below it – a slave burial ground. The event, we hope will bring more outside attention to the idiocy the city has perpetuated by not embracing true respect of those who built our city. Please stay in touch with me regarding this action. The planning phase has just begun. There is much to be discussed and coordinated. I will keep all of those interested up to speed on this protest. NO DATES HAVE BEEN SET AS OF THIS UPDATE.

All my love.

Tim Barry

Richmond, VA

August, 2010

Hello from home, I hope everyone is doing wonderful.

A friend of mine from Kansas City sent me this quote by Robert Lewis Stevenson.

“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.”

To me, that quote makes sense. And it helps me make sense of these circles I’ve been driving (and riding) around the country for all these years. This past tour has been long. Long and amazing. It started in Canada on January 27th and ended here in Richmond, VA on April 10. I’ve played more shows than I can count. And I’ve played with some of the best folks I have ever known. Bands like Against Me! Chuck Ragan, Red Clay River, Possessed by Paul James, Ninja Gun and so many more.

And when the odds were stacked against us we still made every show. When the transmission busted in my van, Matt Gere (my Tour Manager) stayed with it back in Indiana to get fixed while Red Clay River squeezed me, my dog Emma and my guitar into their van so I could make the shows. Meanwhile Matt limped my van back to Richmond running on 7 cylinders and faulty breaks, where Sarah Kiesler lent us her little Honda Civic so we could get to all the East Coast dates. Then up in Brooklyn, Red Clay River got their van with all their gear in it stolen, with only two more shows to play. A few weeks earlier, Konrad of Possessed by Paul James and Vanessa Jean (of Lubrication Zine fame) had a bad accident on MLK in Oakland, putting a incredible damper on even the idea of getting on stage. But the shows were still played. The shows were played with broken gear, broken hands and with out voice. But they were played. Often with the help of friends and strangers. I think at this point, it’s all we know how to do. To KEEP GOING. To keep moving. To ask for help when in need and to make it to our destinations no matter how hard. And then go again.

You know what this is leading up to. It’s a simple thank you. It’s a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has helped me and my people along the way. For coming to the shows, for putting them on, for putting us up, for putting up with us, for breakfast at dinner time and beers at breakfast.

This life is short and this world small. I’m thankful for it.

ONWARD TO AUSTRALIA! STOKED…

All my love,

Tim Barry

Richmond, VA

April 2010

Intro

Idle Idylist

Cardinal in Red Bed

This November

Tacoma

Avoiding Catatonic Surrender

Prosser’s Gabriel

Ronnie Song

Downtown VCU

Church of Level Track

Wait at Milano

Dog Bumped

Now available, purchase in the store!

JANUARY 26, 2010

www.suburbanhomerecords.com

Promotional write-ups like this are generally loaded with hyperbole and bullshit intended to sell records and CDs and digital downloads and ringtones and all kinds of other stuff.

However, this is a press release for Tim Barry’s latest recording, a 12-song effort entitled 28^th & Stonewall and it’s gonna be a little different. See, Barry, a singer-songwriter and former front man for Virginia punk stalwarts Avail, is vigorously opposed to bullshit. So the goal here is to give you an honest, hype-free introduction to 28^th & Stonewall, which hits stores and the web on January 26, 2010, thanks to the good people at Suburban Home, an indie Colorado label.

Barry’s third full-length recording as a solo artist builds on the sound that’s garnered him a small but dedicated following over the past few years, weaving together folk, low-fi country, and classic rock. If you ask Barry, he’ll tell you he just got together with friends in his hometown of Richmond, Virginia and put down a bunch of fresh songs with some real talented musicians. He thinks the tunes are pretty good.

“I like the flow of it, the peaks and valleys, the way it goes up and down,” says Barry, who wrote the bulk of the songs in a three week burst while home from tour. He’s quick to give longtime collaborator and co-producer Lance Koehler props for his work on the album: “The quality of the recording is by far the best Lance has done, and the mastering is real good.”

If you ask other folks about 28^th & Stonewall, they’re likely to tell you it’s one of the best things he’s done in a music career that’s spanned nearly two decades. (Yeah, we know, that borders dangerously on hype.) Words that come to mind in describing the new record: pretty, funny, honest, guarded, rockin’, sweet.

It’s also a step in a different direction for Barry. While 2008’s harrowing Manchester painted almost exclusively in shades of black, 28^th & Stonewall utilizes a much wider palette of colors, moving deftly from mood to mood. Kicking off with “Thing of the Past,” an infectious country stomper built around a crisp electric guitar riff and pedal steel twang, Barry gets playful and raucous with the help of the No BS Brass Band on the bluesy “Will Travel,” and clowns around on “Downtown VCU” and “Bus Driver.”

Perhaps the biggest surprise is “Prosser’s Gabriel,” a fury-laden five-minute-long historical sketch about a failed slave uprising in Virginia. The song, featured in a recent issue of Beyond Race magazine, has already become a staple of Barry’s live performances.

Of course, this a Tim Barry record and a Tim Barry record wouldn’t be complete without some beautiful, heart-on-sleeve slow-burners. “You ain’t looked my way in months,” he laments on “Moving on Blue,” a gorgeous organ-driven chronicle of love lost, featuring Daniel Clark (a regular with Ryan Adams) on keys. On “With Ease I Leave,” Barry sits atop a hill overlooking the city, lonely and confused, watching freight trains haul coal beneath a winter sky: “I know I think too much and spend too much time alone.”

Barry, who’s maintained a relentless touring schedule over the past couple of years, recorded 28^th & Stonewall in Richmond at Koehler’s Minimum Wage Studios, and tapped an array of Richmonders to back him, including his sister Caitlin Hunt on violin and guitarist Josh Small, a frequent tour mate. With the new record poised to drop, he expects to spend a very large chunk of 2010 on the road, playing everything from grimy dive bars to decent-sized theaters.

At a time when most of his contemporaries from the underground music scene have slowed down, quit playing, or found steady 9-to-5s, Barry finds himself more immersed in music than ever. “I could stay at home and make a lot more money working at the Richmond Ballet, but I wouldn’t feel fulfilled,” he says. His dedication to the craft shines through on 28^th & Stonewall.

Lot’s going on for me both musically and outside of music. I’ll stick to music in this format though.

-NEW 7” will be released October 13, 2009 (Suburban Home/Epitaph). It’s a split with Frank Turner. My song is called “Thing of the Past” and will also be featured on my new full length. A video for the song will be released around the same time by Jason from Black Water Productions.

-I begin REVIVAL TOUR dates the same day – October 13. I want to clear up some confusion about this year’s Revival Tour. I am only doing a small section of the tour, mainly on the East Coast. I’ve been getting a lot of mail from people who believe I’m on the entire tour. This is not true. Check the dates on my site for confirmed shows.

-My NEW ALBUM called “28^th & Stonewall” is finished. Another Suburban Home Records release. A street date will be announced down the road. Do not expect it to be out until early next year.

-And once it’s out expect me to hit the road hard. TOURING will begin in late February and never end. I WILL be doing international shows this time around. Tour dates will be announced at the appropriate time.

Thanks

Tim Barry

September 2009

Richmond, VA

-I finished tracking my new album – called “28th & Stonewall.” It will be mixed and mastered by mid-August. A release date is pending, and as soon as I know it I will post it. But to be realistic, expect it out by late Fall.

-A song called “Thing of the Past” will be released first on a split 7″. Check in with Suburban Home Records for info on that.

-Logan (who maintains this site) just posted a bunch of new show dates. Check ‘em out.

-For reasons unknown to me I am on Facebook now. Although I have no idea how to work it yet, I think it will in time prove resourceful. I post updates on the “info” section of my pages. The links are as follows:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1811548279&ref=profile

http://www.facebook.com/pages/TIM-BARRY/101458963644

I will keep you folks posted. And as always, thank you for checking in.

Tim Barry

July 29, 2009

Richmond, Va

There is something to be said about changing seasons. Each season affords you the opportunity to assimilate into it. I always say that “the summer is for raising hell and the winter is for
documenting it.” I feel an urgent need to switch up with the season. To switch my routine. For the last couple months it’s been “play, sleep, drive, play, sleep, drive.”

I’ve played over 100 shows since October. So now I need to do something else until the urge to play again comes back. I need to get on the rails, to spend time outside. To see from different perspectives. To take a break and look in different directions. To live in different moments.

For the time being, musically, I will do some random “one off” shows this summer. And I will also begin the slow process of making a new album beginning on May 15. I will not record in the traditional sense. Meaning I’m not blocking out X amount of time in the studio and stressing myself out with a deadline on the creative process. I will simply record off and on, a couple days at a time, until I have recorded the right amount of songs that FEEL RIGHT to put together as a full length.

The tour I just finished blew my mind. It blew my mind because it was challenging some nights and easy others. It blew my mind because we played festivals and basement shows and everything in between. Because music is to be played in every kind of setting and environment. And should never become
redundant.  It blew my mind because it’s all coming together. I have people who help me now. People who do a ton of work behind the scene to keep me vertical and moving:  Tim Shaw my tour manager.

Matt Gere who sells my merch.  Margie Alban who books my shows. Virgil at Suburban Home Records who who puts out my songs. Vanessa Burt at Mutiny who does my publicity. Logan Kornhauser who prints my shirts and takes care of my website, because I don’t have the patience to learn it on my own. Josh Small, my right hand man, who shares the stage with me during my set each night, after playing his own. And of course Austin Lucas who shared the road with all of us. And this list doesn’t even come close to including all the local promoters and friends who bust their asses to put on shows in their towns and cities. OR all the people who go out of their way to make it to the shows so we can all have a blast.

I don’t know what’s going on, but this is all beginning to make much more sense. And it FEELS RIGHT. So I’m
gonna keep on doing what ever it is I’m doing.

In a long winded way, I’m saying thank you.

There will be many more tours and songs coming.

Tim Barry
April 27, 2009
Richmond, Va