Contemporary folk songwriter Brian Barron has released his new single, Junkie Boy. We asked him the BIG questions . . .
The song is the first track to be released from Barron's forthcoming second album, The World Keeps Turning, and he says it’s an acoustic lullaby about the world of addiction, dedicated to those who have found themselves on the losing side of that battle.
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Styling himself as "a musical savant", Barron draws inspiration from American folk singer Arlo Guthrie and Bob Dylan for his latest album.
The two-minute song taps into the inner thoughts of those struggling with addiction, whether it be an addiction to drugs, social media, fame, TV, or material objectives.
Tell us three things about yourself . . .
I'm a writer I'm a singer I'm a guitar slinger.
How would you describe your music?
It's like holding a mirror up, reflecting the world back onto itself. It's the kind of a thing that creeps into your body the day you were born, flows from early in the morning through the depths of the night, it's making metal melt with vicious insight.
Who are your musical inspirations?
I learned what to do and how to do it from people like Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, and the Staples Singers. I learned what not to do from everyone else.
What was the first gig you ever attended and the first record you bought/downloaded?
When I was 12, I ran away from home for the third and final time. I stumbled upon a travelling circus of Polish tight rope walkers and trapeze artists who took me under their wing on their travels through Europe and into the depths on Siberia. One night, post show an old, bearded laughing lady, who played banjo entertained everybody with Roscoe Holcomb songs. I got drunk on Chopin and smoked my first cigarette. It all started there.
Mickiewicz, one of the poets of the group, happened to have a field recorder with him and he captured her singing her songs and transferred them to tape for me. Technically I didn't buy it, but this was my first record.
What is your favourite song right now?
There is this particular blackbird who has taken up residence in my back garden that I thoroughly enjoy listening to. I'm not sure if the song has a particular title or it's currently released but it's utterly enthralling.
What is your favourite lyric all time?
"I saw thousands that could overcome the darkness, for the love of a lousy buck I watched them die" - When The Night Comes Falling From the Sky by Bob Dylan.
What song could listen to for the rest of my life?
I Saw the Light by Hank Williams.
Where can people find your music/more information?
Wherever there's a hungry mouth to feed, wherever there is a worn-out weary person in need. Wherever the boot of the oppressor stands on the neck of the innocent, wherever truth has been twisted, warped, and bent. Wherever a new-born baby cries, on the tip of the arrow that flies, that cuts through the dust and the dirt of all the lies and gossip that hurt. Wherever the beam of the lighthouse shines out at sea, wherever there's chains that need to be busted and freed.
