video?
bangs into the next one bangs into the next
one and just takes them for a ride all the
way to the end.”
After decades of creating music and landing
song after song on the radio, Barnes says
“It’s the ultimate validation after all these
years for people to know those songs.
They’re still played on the radio every day,
across the country.”
Barnes career in music and with 38
Special has been full of ups and downs.
He’s experienced the highs, and he
also remembers what it was like to be a
struggling musician. “‘Hold On Loosely’ was
on our 4th album,” he recalls. “A lot of people
think that was our first album. We did three
albums that nobody really ever heard of.”
Growing up in the “bed of Southern
rock”, Jacksonville, Florida, Barnes began
performing as a teenager. “Jacksonville
INSIGHT
was a navy town and there were four naval
bases there. So as kids, 14 and 15 years old,
we’d play the sailors clubs. All of us, Duane
Allman, Gregg Allman Ronnie Van Zant, all
of the Skynard guys, we all played sailors
clubs. [We] played the hits of the day.”
“We learned the basics and fundamentals of
songs,” Barnes continues. “Because it really
is a craft... So you’re learning all these songs
and playing all these cover songs, all the hits
of the day. And then you get cocky and say
‘Well I can write my own songs.’ and that’s
when you go starve for 10 years. That’s not
the fun part.”
Thinking back on getting started in the
music industry, Barnes admits that the world
of music is highly competitive. “It’s dog eat
dog…. Record companies look at you like
you’re only as good as your last hit song.”
In 1979, 38 Special “opened the door to
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