PRIME SEASON
can tell by the music I play and write, and the instruments I use. I love the sound of drums, guitar, and bass – they have so much dynamics between them. I’ve listened to three-piece power trios like Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience for 50 years, so if I can sound like them, that’s great. When you have a good guitar player over a great rhythm section there’s nothing better.” From the blues to psychedelia, to rock and pop, “Blue River of Dreams” is a smooth blend of Barnes’s lifelong influences. Whether it’s B.B. King or the Beatles, Pink Floyd or Santana, Barnes’s inspirations are on display throughout the record. There is the Latin-infused track, “Ooh Baby,” the dreamy atmospherics of the title track, and the pop rock of “Let Love Go” and “Peace, Love, and Rock ‘N Roll.” “I’m a blues guy at heart and I love the psychedelic era,” Barnes says. “The blues are about feeling; it’s soulful, it’s from the heart. They’re telling stories that teach you something about real life. I love the early blues of Willie Dixon, Bo Diddley, and Buddy Guy.”
New Bedford blues
Johnny Barnes has the blues Johnny Barnes’ life has been a cornucopia of roles and experiences. He has been behind the wheel of a taxi cab and behind the wheel of a police car. He has sat in a classroom at the Harvard Extension School and in front of his Sean McCarthy keyboard as he’s typed up multiple murder mysteries. He has been the manager of a popular Boston nightclub and has run a detective agency out of the city’s Chinatown district. And while he has evolved through a variety of identities, one thing has been a constant throughout: his love of making music. At the age of 69, this Fairhaven resident has just released “Blue River of Dreams,” an eight-song collection of his own musical creations, backed by a group of local performers and recorded at an area studio. This will be another piece in an extensive catalog of recordings he has amassed since leaving New Bedford to
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S ou th C oast P r ime T imes
emerge onto the Boston music scene in the early 1970s. It is a career that has put him in the company of some of the music industry’s foremost figures, building a resume of experiences and inspirations that culminates in the unique feel of his sixth full-length record. “I’m stuck in the 60s,” Barnes says. “You
M ay /J une 2022
But “Blue River of Dreams” is somewhat of a departure for Barnes. A New Bedford native, he built a reputation for his brand of hard-driving blues rock when his groups took to stages and airwaves throughout New England. His numerous singles would find their way onto Boston radio stations such as WBCN and WCOZ. His 1976 single, “Steel Rail Blues,” received airplay around the world. His followup, “Sudden Death Overdrive” was at the top of the local charts on WBCN for 11 weeks. “Steele Rail Blues” showed its staying power when it was re-released as part of a compilation record in 2020 by Easy Rider magazine, on an album named “Brown Acid.”
“I got to jam with a lot of cool people who became my friends” Throughout the 1970s and 80s, Barnes was part of a vibrant Boston music scene. He fondly recalls members of the band Mother’s Milk (which would go on to become Boston), marveling at the fact that his music had found its way to local radio. He would also find himself in the company of future esteemed rockers such as Aerosmith, The Cars, The J. Geils Band, Billy Squier, Extreme, Til Tuesday,
