MANCHESTER, NH – Even though they might sound sonically different, the impetus for both folk music and punk rock come from the same place. It’s a place of honesty with a heart-on-the-sleeve aesthetic while providing commentary on either what’s happening in the world, what’s going on in a person’s life, or a specific time and place. The frontman for the Richmond, Virginia punk rockers Avail, Tim Barry has his hands in both styles. On August 16, he’s going to be exhibiting his folk side at The Shaskeen in Manchester. It’s part of a stacked bill featuring Lenny Lashley from the Boston punk legends Darkbuster and fellow Bostonian Matt Charette from Matt Charette & The Truer Sound with the show starting at 7 p.m.
Barry and I had a talk ahead of his performance about making music and performing with his family, how playing at The Shaskeen has become an annual thing, and a new album he’s working on.
Rob Duguay: Recently with your music career, you’ve been getting your family involved with your daughter Lela Jane and your sister Caitlin performing with you as part of a show you had back in March at Spacebomb Studio in your hometown of Richmond along with videos of your daughter singing various songs with you playing guitar. Would you say that music has strengthened the bonds that you have with your family while adding another layer of connection? How would you say it has recently contributed to that particular side of your life?
Tim Barry: Music is a normal part of our lives, so if you see it leaking into what I do publicly, it’s sort of a natural progression and not something that’s intended. My sister Caitlin, for example, has been playing shows with me for over 20 years. In the early days, she toured with me extensively all through the United States and she’s always been the violin player on all of my records, so that was really natural and it made sense to go on the road. I have two daughters, Coralee and Lela, and Coralee is not interested in singing or playing music, but she likes to dance. Lela has always been really vocal about her interest in singing, so we play together all the time.
She just stepped on stage with me because they’re often with me when I’m traveling. I often just leave a microphone up in case they either want to say anything or sing, and Lela just ended up starting to do that. Last year’s show at The Shaskeen was actually one of the first shows that Lela actually came up and performed during one of my sets. In fact, that was the first time she did that and she sang a Dixie Chicks song called “Traveling Soldier” with me and another cover of a Zach Bryan song.
RD: Very cool, that’s awesome. As a father, did you initially introduce Lela to the punk rock and folk music that you listened to when you were a kid or have you always let her find her own way when it comes to discovering the music that she likes?
TB: It’s a little bit of a tricky answer because nowadays everybody uses streaming services and Spotify playlists, which is certainly different from the way I grew up with finding music. It was generally through friends or flipping through albums in the record store, so we actually don’t use streaming services at all in our house. We use CDs and vinyl, and we actually listen to the radio in the truck, which I know is very odd these days. What Lela has been exposed to and Coralee has been exposed to is generally whatever I’ve been listening to, and then whatever they branch out into being interested in, I vehemently follow up with used CDs and stuff. I would say that they have their own way and their own path, which has been encouraged by me, but much of their foundation is the folk and country music that I have always enjoyed along with the southern rock that I grew up with, and we mainly just listen to Taylor Swift.
RD: You just mentioned The Shaskeen, and you have a show happening there this weekend. You’ve been touring all over the place, back in May you played at Pouzza Fest in Montreal, you’re going down to Fest in Gainesville, Florida later this year along with shows in Detroit and Buffalo. How has it been with being on the road and touring over the past few months as an independent musician?
TB: This year is actually a light year for me on the road because I’m going to be in the studio in September recording a new record, and so far, so good. These are just shows to keep me busy and keep me focused. I always think that if I have something to look forward to then it gives my life a lot more meaning, so these shows have been set up sporadically so I have the ability to get out, see people, play music and bring people together. Touring will really increase next year, but my main focus this year is to do these one-off shows that have become pretty annual, like my Garwood, New Jersey show, or the Detroit show, or The Shaskeen show. These are all kind of like my annual shows, including Cleveland, which is a show I play with Ben Nichols from Lucero every year, but everything has been great so far.
RD: I’m glad to hear it. Speaking of the show at The Shaskeen, you’re headlining a stacked bill with Lenny Lashley and Matt Charette, so what are your thoughts on coming back?
TB: This might be my 10th year doing it. I come to The Shaskeen every August, and the first time that Josh [Ames], who co-runs the place, invited me, I had such a great time and we decided to make it an annual thing. It’s a show I look forward to doing every single year and I always try to make it a little different while switching the setlist up the best I can. We sell it out and it’s always a really special experience. People in New England, New Hampshire, Providence, the Boston proper area and elsewhere are a lot like the people where I come from, we click and it’s always a really great time.
RD: The Shaskeen is the major venue in New Hampshire, so it should be a blast. You just mentioned that you’re working on a new studio record, so what is the current status of it? I know it’s a few years since you put out “Spring Hill”, so what’s the situation with this album you’re currently working on?
TB: First and foremost, that’s the first time I’ve actually publicly stated that I’ll be in the studio in September. The only way I can explain it as a person who is responsible for writing the songs, producing them and being in charge of the studio with no band to back me up, it’s almost like putting together a really big puzzle of sounds and colors and laying them out. I’m in the process of putting the puzzle together, but my problem is the opposite of most people who’ve been in this game for a long time, and that is that I’ve never had writer’s block. In fact, I have too many songs, so I’ve been whittling down which 14 to 17 songs to record, in what order they will go and in what direction they will go. I don’t put a deadline on creativity, so I’ll be in the studio in September, and if I finish during that month, then I’ll move forward with titles, art, release dates and so on, but right now, it’s one foot in front of the other.