Songwriter Feature - Lockwood Barr

I know a lot of people refer to someone as "one of their first friends in Nashville," but Lockwood Barr was truly my first friend in Nashville.  We met when I was still in high school and she had just started at Vanderbilt.  It was the summer of 2010 and we were both playing a show at the Nashville Palace, Ashley Mcbride played that night as well.  I am so blessed to have met Lockwood so early in my music journey and so thankful for her friendship over the past ten years.  

I hope you'll join us tonight on Instagram LIVE at 8pm central time for some original music! In the meantime, I would like to pass the mic over to Lockwood Barr so you can get to know her!

When did you start singing/playing music?

I've been singing and playing for as long as I can remember. I grew up in a musical family, so it was always around growing up. Playing music was basically like breathing in the Barr household.

How did you get into songwriting?

I sort of just fell into it in middle school and high school...I felt like I had all these secrets about myself that I couldn't possibly tell anyone, but it felt safe to put them in a song. And then singing my music felt like this huge cathartic release. I've never looked back.

Who are your biggest influences?

The Beatles, The Corrs, Dixie Chicks, Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, Dolly Parton, Shania Twain, Savage Garden

What are you listening to right now?

Carvin Walls' new single "Hippie," and Mickey Guyton's "Black Like Me."

If you could only listen to one artist for the rest of your life, who would it be?

That is a cruel question for a musician! Let's go with the Beatles for today.

What is "Best Bad Decision Maker" about? What do you want listeners to know about what the song means to you?

I just dropped "Best Bad Decision Maker!" I want people to feel spontaneous and adventurous after listening to it; the song is meant to be about the beauty of breaking the rules. Sometimes we all need to rebel a little.

If you could write a song with any person dead or alive, who would it be?

OOF that's a tough one...I think it's a tie between Sheryl Crow and John Hiatt

What was/is your experience in quarantine like as a musician?

It's tough, I'm not going to lie. Thank goodness for facetime songwriting sessions and live stream concerts, but I seriously miss the real thing. And even as venues are beginning to reopen, I'm holding back a little longer. I have older family and immunocompromised friends in town, so I'm waiting and watching the numbers like a hawk. It's incredibly depressing to watch from afar, but I believe I'm making the right call for myself personally. On the bright side, I've realized that music really is what I'm meant to do. When I can't play in front of live audiences, I feel like I'm missing a limb...absence really does make the heart grow fonder.

What advice would you give to an aspiring singer/songwriter?

Just keep going, even if you feel like you're not getting anywhere. Being a musician is almost like training in a gym; you build up your muscles over time. You have to keep working, and really be consistent.

MORE ABOUT LOCKWOOD BARR: 

“She has the goods.” –Music Row Magazine

Lockwood Barr logged over 100 shows all over the country in 2019. She’s opened for artists and writers like Lori McKenna and Angaleena Presley (Pistol Annies), played in several festivals from Arizona to Mississippi to Key Largo, and regularly hosts rounds at the Bluebird Cafe. Other successes include a 2019 Music Row Magazine “DISClaimer” feature for her banjo-centric single “6 Feet Deep,” having her song “Over You” aired on the final season of Ashton Kutcher’s Netflix series “The Ranch,” a NIMA (Nashville Industry Music Award) win for Best Live Country Performer, and a cut (“Hold Me in Your Heart”) on Sarah Peacock’s new 2020 record “Burn the Witch,” which has already been acclaimed in both Billboard and American Songwriter Magazine. Last year, she once again teamed up Matt Odmark of Grammy Award-winning band Jars of Clay and newcomer Ryan Youmans to release 3 new singles, including an original Christmas duet, “Christmas in Memphis” with NBC’s The Voice alum, Barrett Baber. “Christmas in Memphis” was hailed by “Saving Country Music” alongside Kacey Musgrave’s “A Very Kacey Christmas” as one of the top “Country and Roots Christmas Releases for 2019”. .With a mother who performed with John Hartford and the Dillards, a dad who taught her banjo, and a cousin, Al Barr, who fronts the Dropkick Murphys, being on stage is in Lockwood’s DNA.