Michael Reed Barker is a rock-country-folk artist from Shreveport, Louisiana who’s just released several singles through the ReverbNation website. His six newest tracks are “Solider,” “For The Lonely Ones,” “Get Up Get Down,” “Upside Of Down,” “Life Among The Dead” and “Cool Breeze.”
Though biographical data on Barker is scarce, he’s apparently been playing since 1968 and his newest tracks “herald the history of (my) rock and roll legacy!” Our first track “Soldier” begins with baroque-style strummed electrics, creating an immediately somber mood. Barker sings in a Dylanesque voice, speaking for all the soldiers “from any country” who are real human beings and somebody’s child. His tag line is chilling: “If not today, maybe tomorrow.” There’s no other instruments and the song really doesn’t need them. “For The Lonely Ones” changes things up with more of a full band sound adding expansive keyboards and bass, though I believe the drums are digital. The descending chord motif very much recalls Lennon’s “I’m Losing You.” Barker’s guitar configurations are again quite interesting, with a sort of jazz sensibility. His vocals this time have that classic Paul Williams breathy quality. It’s a good track but the resemblance to Lennon’s song is just a bit distracting. “Get Up Get Down” is a fast rocker and the first track to really cut loose. Barker slams those 7th chords in double time while also wailing away on lead guitar. It’s a classic blues structure with celebratory “group vocal” choruses of “Get up! Get down!” The guitars are the stars here, and there’s yet more evidence of Barker’s interesting style of guitar wrangling. “Upside Of Down” is a shorter track with a great title. The sound quality compresses a bit here, similar to that weird tunnel-like tone of “Lady Madonna.” This is another rollicking track with rapid-fire Dylanesque vocals and swinging guitars alongside barroom piano. I daresay this could have been a bedroom demo or the very last cassette copy of a lost Master. It’s still one of my favorite tracks here! “Life Among the Dead” is the first song of Barker’s I’ve heard to feature acoustic guitar and harmonica. Back to the stark quality of “Soldier,” Barker sings matter-of-factly about the dangers we all face simply surviving our time on this earth. It’s like an old-fashioned folk protest song and is quite powerful, though the sound is (purposely?) compressed and phase-y. The final track “Cool Breeze” is another surprise, featuring banjo, fiddles and lap (or pedal) steel guitars. The sound here is wide and clean and the song itself is totally uplifting. “Taking a ride on the sunnier side” indeed! Barker favors us with happy chords, joyous imagery and an incredible array of instruments for this country-style ballad. This is the winner for me. Just six songs on this list but there’s many more where these from, any one of which is worth a listen!
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