Music is a family affair for the Sensational Barnes Brothers

BY CRYSTAL SCHELLE Special to The News-Post

By the time Chris Barnes and his younger brother Courtney Barnes launched their Sensational Barnes Brothers project, they were already veterans of the music industry.

“Both my parents were musicians and singers and performers. So we grew up around music all the time,” said Chris Barnes, 41, from his home in Memphis, just days after returning from playing some gigs with Chris, 32.

As he talks about his musical roots, his words are slathered in a Memphis accent.

Their father, Calvin “Duke” Barnes, and their mother, Deborah, always made music a part of their home. Deborah was the daughter of the Rev. James L. Gleese, who founded the Beale Street Mission for Blacks. She even spent time as one of Ray Charles’ Raelettes before deciding to stay home to raise her family.

On July 21, the Sensational Barnes Brothers will keep that legacy alive when they perform at the Weinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick.

Barnes said when they were younger, they spent time traveling with their parents, who were big wedding singers in the area. His parents were also part of singing groups such as Gale Jones Murphy and Company and Ralph Lawson and Company. He said they would also sing at church, “where the foundation is laid.”

Barnes and his siblings soon found themselves as background singers for their parents.

“There were four of us, and the ability came naturally,” he said.

It was his parents’ idea to put the Barnes children together to form a band called Joy. Barnes said Courtney, who is the youngest, was about 6 at the time. They’d play instruments and sing for various crowds.

In 2015, after their father’s passing, the Barnes family released “The Barnes Family Tree.”

Through it all, Chris and Courtney continued to make music, but as session musicians. That’s how they became featured as background vocalists on Don Bryant’s Grammy Awardnominated 2017 album “Don’t Give Up on Love.”

It was through Watson that the duo recorded gospel music from a 1970s

The Sensational Barnes Brothers

When: 8 p.m. July 21

Where: Weinberg Center for the Arts, 20 W. Patrick St., Frederick

Cost: $21.75+ Info: 301-600-3838, weinbergcenter.org

D-Vine Spirituals Record Catalog.

“We picked about 15 songs. Bruce picked about 15 songs, and luckily out of those songs, we picked 13 of the same song,” Barnes recalled.

Watson wanted the brothers to sing together.

“It was kind of it was an experiment for Courtney and me to sort of couple up and do an album together,” Barnes said.

They were excited about the chosen songs and getting to work together as a duo.

The album, “Nobody’s Fault But My Own” was recorded under Bible and Tire Recording Co., produced by Watson himself, and released in 2019.

But the Barnes brothers aren’t quitting their other jobs any time soon.

“We say music is a way of life,” he said.

That means when they’re not touring as the Sensational Barnes Brothers, Barnes still sings backgrounds for the Bar-Kays. They’ve also worked with Latin Grammy-nominated Making Movies as well as the lead singer of The Black Keys, Dan Auerbach, on his newest solo album.

“Being out front and having your own gig is cool, but I enjoy being on the stage, creating music, writing,” he said,

Although Barnes jokingly says that working alongside family is “challenging,” he said it’s been beneficial as well.

“Working with family is easier, like your brains are clicking and you’re sort of thinking the same things,” he said.

“So going into situations where you may not be working with somebody you’re related to, you know you have to kind of work out those kinks. … Whenever you perform professionally, you want to do it at the highest level, so we push each other that way, and I think that’s prepared us for being out front.”

For those who haven’t seen the Sensational Barnes Brothers perform, get ready to dance, Barnes said.

“It’s not all gospel, as far as genre is concerned. We have moments of high energy. There’s a nice ebb and flow to the show. There are lovely ballads we love to sing,” he said. “And it’s a motivational type of show. We’re talking about singing about love, about God’s love, loving one another. It’s very inspirational.”

Crystal Schelle is a journalist whose work has been published locally, regionally and nationally. She enjoys trivia, cats and streaming movies.