Dave Barnes w/ Steve Moakler May 6, 2010

Born in South Carolina, Barnes grew up in rural Mississippi, first gravitating to the hip-hop popular with his classmates (first CD: Young MC), then latching on to the soul, blues and soulful rock favored by his Jackson-born mother and Clarksdale-born father. As singer/songwriter Dave Barnes tells it, he had a Harry Potter moment while in college. Like the poor, misunderstood boy living under the stairs with his Uncle and Aunt, Barnes also belonged to a magical tribe, but up to that point hadn't realized it. "I was thinking I was weird, or something was wrong with me. But when I found the magazine Performing Songwriter, I thought, 'you mean there's a group of people who relate to this? Who have a hard time talking when there is a melody in their head or will run off and call their voicemail so they can remember how this one lyric goes?'"

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