John Heath with Baber review (from the Marion Ledger)

By John M. Heath

themarionledger@gmail.com

 

 

    He’s been an American Idol Contestant, had an album crack iTunes’ Top 20 Country Chart, and played New York’s “Bitter End”, but before all of that, Barrett Baber graduated from good old Marion High.

    Baber, now a resident of Fayetteville, AR, is set to release a new CD (his fourth) entitled Battlefield Us in September and Marion residents should be pleased to know that it’s a good one.

    In the vein of folky singer songwriters with a pop polish like John Mayer, Baber’s songs on Battlefield Us run a gamut of emotions.  From the confessional ‘Guys Like Me’, through the mature, bittersweet ‘Roll’, to the witty and reflective ‘Prisoner Worship at the Stone County Jail’, all of the songs have a candid, personal quality, as if the singer has taken you into his confidence, relating stories out of his life’s pages as he tries to piece together what it all means.

    That’s not to say that this is one of those songwriter’s albums that strains for significance and ‘message’ at the expense of fun; far from it.  One of the album’s highlights is ‘Drop Dead Redhead’, a bouncy, funky little tune that revels in the bravado of youth as it reminds us that ‘you never turn loose of a drop dead redhead’.  It’s a catchy song that merits hitting the repeat button before letting go of, and the singer’s rapid-fire delivery recalls the heydey of Blues Traveler.

    Perhaps the most powerful song on the album is the soulful, country infused ‘Quarter to Four’ that captures the tired-eyed feel of the A.M. hours rather uniquely.  The song has already received airplay in 6 states, and it’s not hard to see why.  In a world of disposable music, a little uncalculated honesty can be refreshing.

    Battlefield Us is available through Amazon, iTunes, and Baber’s website, http://www.barrettbaber.com.  Your eardrums could do much worse than giving this hometown boy a listen.