Barns Courtney

As he finished his Out With The Old Tour with a sold-out show back where it all began in Seattle, Barns puts the electric atmosphere down to 1. A sell-out show, and 2. his desire to create the best rock and roll extravaganza. Having a favourite seems cruel to ask, but Omaha, Nebraska, has caught his attention in terms of a performance that’s stuck in his mind. As he takes a moment to reminisce, I can’t help but bring up the praise he’s received for his live shows. “I adore the live performance aspect. You can listen to music at home, so why would anyone pay for tickets if the show doesn’t transcend and transmute into a different experience. I do everything I can to try and make the shows as visceral as possible and to transport people into a different state of being if I can. It’s a full experience that people pay for. It’s a magic show. We come here to lose our inhibitions and to be catapulted outside ourselves into a shared experience. An all singing all dancing, our hearts beating hallelujah.” With masses of fans waiting after each show to meet Barns, there’s no question that it feels like a sort of accolade. “It’s my favourite thing to do: meet people after the shows. You don’t really understand a city or a town until you speak to the locals. I’m always taken aback by the kinds of people I meet and the stories I hear.” You often hear about the power music can have on fans, with most who get the opportunity to express it telling stories of how it’s helped them through a difficult time, something Barns is all too familiar with. “I sometimes wonder when people tell you that your music saved their life, if actually, when you feel powerless, perhaps it’s easier to put your power somewhere else. Maybe music can be a tool, a catalyst, to help you realise the power needed to pull yourself out of your trials and tribulations and out of your turmoil.” I ask what’s important to him when thinking of those he’s helped with his music? “I always try to make people who say such things feel empowered and remind them that whatever they face, they’re not alone. I’m happy to be their soundtrack.”

As Barns touches on the importance he sees in the meet and greets, never knowing who you’re going to meet and how much their story will mean to you, he tells me the story of a fan whose meet and greet was extremely special to him. “There was one woman I met after a show who used her Make A Wish Foundation wish to get tickets to see me. I was so flabbergasted. I told her I would have put you on the guest list.” He laughs. “You should have gone to see the Rolling Stones.” But what a compliment I exclaim, that your music truly means that much to your fans. “Every night I go out and speak to people after I’ve come offstage, I’m always amazed at their interactions.” It may not always be possible, as he explains the toll touring has on his voice, but the importance he places on sharing his journey with the fans is incredibly apparent.

“Everything is what makes it fun. It’s just a revolving door of endless good times. But it really is the band and the crew that make it what it is. It’s the people that make the tour such a wonderful adventure. Most of the touring are not actually playing the show. It’s riding the bus. It’s wandering through gas station gift shops at four in the morning. It’s grabbing a slice of pizza before going into the radio station. It’s all these little moments, and they’re beautiful. I’ve never met a single artist who doesn’t love touring, and I think the ones who aren’t so sure when you get to the bottom of it, it’s always because they don’t have people they love around them.” As the tour bus pulls up In his hometown, I tell him there’s nowhere quite like home. “It’s a bizarre experience because worlds collide and universes mix that maybe shouldn’t necessarily unless in your head. People you haven’t seen since you were in school, parents or family friends, all somehow swimming around in the same reality, it can be weird but truly wonderful.”


Having spent COVID writing and being creative at every turn, Barns saw an influx of positive feedback following the release of new tracks like ‘Supernatural’. I love the video, I tell him. It seems you got to explore another part of yourself creatively. “Thanks, It’s my directorial debut.” He declares, “Thank God for Elektra Records. It’s the first time I’ve ever felt like people trust me creatively.” Having fought tooth and nail over the course of three record deals, Barns tells me, “I’ve worked hard to be taken seriously in what I do and to be given a chance.”

The creativity that has led him to write and even direct his very music video, he puts down to having his own superpower, ADHD. “People view these disorders as disabilities and burdens when neurodivergence is an incredible tool. It’s a superpower if you know how to wield it. As someone who has been diagnosed with ADHD from a very, very young age, I was taught that this was something to be ashamed of, hidden, and medicated. It took me decades to realise that this was my superpower.”