Singer-songwriter and banjo player Danny Barnes shared a new single, “Hey Man,” from his star-studded upcoming album, Man On Fire. The Dave Matthews-produced LP arrives on March 6 via ATO Records.
Man On Fire also features Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones on bass and mandolin, renowned guitarist Bill Frisell and highly sought after session drummer Matt Chamberlain (Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie) as well as Matthews adding vocals and Wurlitzer.
“Normally I work by myself,” Barnes said in a statement. “I’ve learned to make records pretty quickly on my own over the years, but this time around I wanted to slow things down and open up the process to a circle of friends whose musical input I really value, to collaborate with a small handful of artists I consider to be true masters.”
As always, Barnes adds his own, eclectic flair, something he calls “folktronics.” “I liked to imagine this guy in a rural area who discovered all of this electronic machinery from the ’50s and ’60s just laying around in his yard,” Barnes explained. “I wanted to make songs that sounded like some hillbilly got a hold of a bunch of oscillators and stuff and incorporated it all into a hoedown. That weird conflict of old and new has always been a part of my music.”
“I’m an unusual guy in that I don’t like to write about myself much,” Barnes added about his creative process. “A lot of my ideas come from reading the Bible and observing the world around me. On some level, we’re all just trying to find beauty and happiness and fulfillment within a system that doesn’t necessarily have our best interests at heart, and I think the role of music and art and poetry is to provide catharsis in the face of all that.”
“Hey Man,” premiered by Bluegrass Today, follows previously released single “Awful Strange” and traces the plight of one of those souls who exists on the fringes of the system. Listen to “Hey Man” below:
