Danny Barnes

Pizza Box

ATO Records

Here’s a musician who has been somewhat of a secret weapon for a long, long time. He plays banjo, but that’s like saying Mickey Mantle swung a bat. It’s not what he plays but how Barnes plays it. He first gained notice in Austin’s Bad Livers, which took bluegrass music and stomped it into another configuration altogether. Once that band pretty much had their way with the style, Barnes lit out for new territory and the challenge of what he can do with those four strings. It turns out he can do just about anything he wants, whether it’s drifting into hard rock, dancing around with pure country or flailing away in the stratosphere with just a drummer and bassist. This musician sounds like someone who never met a rule he needed to keep, and not out of any spite but rather the pure art of creation from fashioning his own. Pizza Box bears the proud glory of all that eclectic sprawling around, and this time through he has Dave Matthews singing along, supplying the record company and throwing in spiritual support at every turn. He may even have drawn the album cover. What needs to happen now is for music lovers to open their ears and discover the prodigious gifts Danny Barnes is offering, because they really are quite ample. As he says on the inside jacket: “Remember: a. Hey, we’re all in this together. b. Music is good!” If there are any further words that need to be added, they would be just how flat-out energetic songs like “Road,” “Bone,” “Sparta, TN” and the others are, not to mention the heartbreaking beauty of “Overdue,” surely one for the ages. This is 100 m.p.h. music, meant to be imbibed under all conditions and used to help continue our journey to the next stop down the line. Certified.