PADDINGTON: Country music star Casey Barnes is Tasmanian born and now living on the Gold Coast. He came to fame after appearing on Australian Idol in 2009 and last year was nominated for an ARIA for Best Country Album. Barnes creates catchy country ditties with a pop enthusiasm, optimism and fun. Barnes brings country music to a mainstream audience, in a similar vein to Keith Urban. He is known for his memorable live performances that have a sense of spectacle and a good dose of humour.
He is currently touring his latest single “Come Turn Me On”, a playful party-starting song about missing home. The tour is sweeping the east coast from urban cities like Brisbane, Sydney, and the Gold Coast to smaller/(suitably) country locales including Gosford, Townsville, Gympie, Mareeba and Shepparton.
Set to play in Sydney for the first time in two years, Covid restrictions sees his Paddington RSL show on July 9 postponed to September 2.
I like the new video clip “Come Turn Me On” especially that it ends with you getting into a truck! Love the big nod to country. What inspired that song? So glad you like the clip! I have to do a special shout out to my wife Michelle here as she came up with all of the creative direction behind the video. We wanted it to be high energy and lots of fun to compliment the song and really enjoyed shooting this one! I did a heck of a lot of co-writing throughout Covid last year and teamed up with two amazing songwriters in Nashville to write this track. It’s all about missing the one you love and being excited to get back home.
You are known for your great high-energy live shows, what makes for a good show? I think the most important thing is a connection with your audience. Over the last few years, we’ve spent a lot of time focussing on the live show, how to make it the best that it can be. A lot of that has involved writing and releasing the right songs as well. It’s a real buzz now we’re back playing shows again and having the crowd sing all the words back. Last year was pretty tough not being able to tour so we’re extremely grateful to be back doing what we love again.
You have toured a fair bit – even across the United States pre-Covid – what was your favourite show? Or a favourite town to play to? Always hard to single out a favourite show as we’ve done some absolute rippers over the last few years. My first real big break opening for Bryan Adams for A Day on the Green is one that I’ll never forget as that really kick started everything. When it comes to a favourite town to play, it’s hard to beat a home town show on the Gold Coast, and one of our favourite festivals is Groundwater Country Music Festival, which is held here every year. It’s always a huge buzz and keeps getting bigger and better!
What makes a perfect song? It’s a bit like what makes for a perfect live show … it’s all about the connection between you and the listener. Whether it’s an upbeat track or a ballad you’ve got to be able to tell a story and draw the listener in … keep their attention. I always like to create certain “moments” within a song that do that – combined with lyrics that people can relate to.
Royalties aside, which song would you most like to cover? I’ve always been a huge fan of both Elton John and James Taylor since I was a little kid growing up listening to their records. But if I had to pick one song, maybe a beautiful stripped back acoustic version of “Fire and Rain” … just acoustic guitar, vocals and cello. That’d be pretty special.
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Information and tickets at http://paddorsl.com.au
