Going through the production of a show in a different town is exciting, and while I’ve been on the road hundreds, if not a thousand times or more during my career the mystery behind the unknown is still quite pleasing to me, as the anticipation of meeting new artists, crews, along with all the pre-planning of a road trip, a checklist of gear to take, hotels, Airbnb, and all the excitement of receiving an email reply from someone you contacted. It’s all quite exciting.
While time was winding down, and show day was approaching for the Singacoustic 5 showcase in Santa Monica, CA, and still an artist short, I realized that if you surrender your anxiety to the universe, the universe will take care of you in return. A few days before the show, I received a notification that someone signed up for a performance using the online submission form on the singacoustic page on the website. I looked up the name of a local artist named Barrett Wilson and I had to check him out. With a few clicks on the screen, I was led to his website, and with a few more clicks, it was time to listen and it was awesome. Barrett’s tunes are groovy, you feel the need to move your head with the rhythm and move your shoulders while sitting as if you have no control over your body movements. Catchy tunes for sure.
During our introductory phone chat, I was introduced to a Southern California cool dude, a soft-spoken young artist, a guitar teacher with full confidence in his voice. We chatted for a while and I was eager to meet him and listen to his music, and I was extremely pleased that he accepted my invitation to be a part of our Singacoustic family. Barrett asked if he could bring a bass player with him and I could not argue with that, it’s a duo, love it.
With the Santa Monica crew in the car, we drove down to Santa Monica on May 3rd, a nice drive with our show host Ana Sophia Dunham, and production manager Kristofer Hall. The trip took about 6.5 hours on a beautiful sunny but cool spring day in California, with a stop for a wonderful sushi dinner at one of the best sushi restaurants in the state. We finally reached our Airbnb, and it was time to stretch, relax, and prepare for the show.
We reached the 4th Street Recording Studio in Santa Monica, met the studio engineer Andreas Sandnes, started to set up for the show and the artists started to show up. I got to finally meet Barrett and Frank Caito, two of the coolest artists I ever met. They were both super cool, as expected. Frank turned out to be a great photographer, snapping black-and-white photos all over the studio and Barrett Wilson picked an amp, plugged his electric guitar, and started the warm-up.
Barrett and Frank had an amazing set of brilliantly written songs with great lyrics. I watched two of the most amazing musicians as Barrett has a great flare in his style of storytelling introducing his songs to the live-stream viewers. After all, it’s all about the story behind the song.
The set starts with “Other Life”, a song that starts with an amazingly tasty and crafted guitar riff supported by solid bass notes to accomplish that groovy tempo that makes you uncontrollably move your shoulders and shake your body with it, you just have no control while Barrett’s sweet and easy on the ears voice takes you to a happy place while singing “Looking to your other life when it feels like nothing is right”… Second song was “One More Day”, a song about selfishly wanting another day in life since life just moves so fast, and the need for more time in life. What a great concept. The set ended with “I Don’t Belong Here Anymore”, a song about an old beat-up guitar that was found on a boat where his brother worked. A song with deep profound lyrics about life, a fabulous song.
During Barrett’s interview with Ana Sophia Dunham, it was revealed that as a kid, Barrett made a guitar out of paper, painted it, and started practicing. It is great to start young when you have the talent.
Barret Wilson talks about a guitar he built out of cardboard paper when he was 11 years old.
All in all, it was another great show by amazing local artists. Thank you Barrett Wilson and Frank Caito for one great performance. Cheers!