Larry Barron

I began my musical journey as a drummer at the age of 11 or 12 actually using Maxwell House coffee cans as my first drum kit. I would place marbles and coins in the "snare" and then would cut out the metal bottoms, placing them onto wooden dowels which I used as my "cymbals"). They actually sounded pretty good. (Yes, I eventually did graduate to real drums!) Ultimately, I discovered in my junior year that the solar system revolved around the guitar, and I made the switch, practicing 8 and 9 hour days - with Zep's "Stairway To Heaven" and the Allman Bros. "Little Martha" being among the first tunes I learned to play. Now if I could only learn to get through “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”... :-)

My first guitar "instructor's" were Jimmy Page, Steve Howe, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Carlos Santana, Andres Segovia, Christopher Parkening, Los Indios Tabajares, Jan Akkerman, Dicky Betts, Jose Feliciano, Phil Keaggy, Steve Morse, and Larry Carlton as my core group of mentors.

My first experience as a "gun for hire" guitarist came when I was paid to travel to NYC in 1980 and play with a punk/alternative band known as "Elmo & The Vegetables". (Yes, I was one of the Veggies). After the Vegetables failed to go anywhere, I played a New Year's concert as a solo guitarist at the famous Lambs Theater on W. 44th in NYC when a talented, fashionable girl approached me afterward, asking if I'd be interested in performing with her at coffeehouses and churches. Her name was Laura Eastman. I didn't make the connection with the name at first until I was at her Dad's office on W. 54th (Eastman & Eastman) and noticed a host of gold records, awards, and other items that suggested he was not your average, run-of-the-mill attorney. Of course, it turned out that Laura was the sister of Linda, who just happened to be married to one Sir Paul McCartney, with her dad and brother as his attorney(s). The closest I came to meeting Paul though was speaking to him on the phone once when he called the office to speak with someone. The receptionist just happened to be busy at the moment and asked me to answer the phone. Crazy stuff. I knew I wasn't "in Kansas" anymore.

I eventually married but the dark cloud of divorce soon rained down on our marital bliss (or should I say, blisters), which quickly sent me into self-imposed exile from everything music. I stupidly sold off my Les Paul, Moog amp, 4 track tape deck (yes, FOUR tracks), and a host of other equipment with the intention never to play again. In my perverted, twisted mosaic of logic, being a starving artist musician had caused me to lose at love. I clung onto God's grace like never before - relying on Him just to help me breathe in and out.

Let's fast forward 5 or 6 years later. I finally regained consciousness from my "musical coma" and ever-so-slowly returned to the daily regimen of scales, fingerpicking and songwriting. I had discovered myself again. I taught myself (as most musicians do these days) to learn various music software packages such as Sonar, Soundforge, Wavelab, T-Racks, and so on. Armed with these great digital tools, I began the task of reworking old compositions as well as creating new ones and laying them down to disk. In addition my solo guitar work, I've worked in Christian Contemporary, Pop, Rock, Blues, and Country genres, having recorded with talented individuals like Alan Walker, Pat Tamburri, Karen Settle, Dean Chance, and more recently artists like Vanessa Hill and Jennifer Sexton.

It is my desire that other guitarists who may be in a "funk" may listen to my stuff, get inspired, and "get back", as Sir Paul sings about. Of course, you don't have to be in an emotional funk to hopefully enjoy my stuff!