Music Interview:
Suzanne Barrie

Suzanne Barrie is a extraordinary person who brings something back to the music industry long missing: creativity and originality. Coming from Columbus, Ohio, this singer/songwriter performs from the heart as she expresses to the music industry a soft acoustic/folk presence. Recently, I had the pleasure to interview this remarkable talent thru electronic mail and was delighted as to the outcome of our encounter. Here is the interview that Suzanne and I did recently. Enjoy!

Main Website:
sonicbids.com/barrie

MySpace URL:
http://www.myspace.com/barrieandcompany

Music Now: When and how did you first become interested in music? How long have you been playing music?

Suzanne Barrie: I became interested in playing the piano at a very early age. My mother was a pianist and I would often hear her playing piano at night after I was tucked into bed. Ironically, years later, when I was a teenager, by ear I started playing a lot of standards from the 1930's to 1950's that I used to hear her practicing. Then she would say... "Play your own music and stop copying me!" But really, she gave me a good ear for improvising and playing jazzy standards on the piano.

Music Now: What are your musical influences?

Suzanne Barrie: My early influences were mostly classical works and jazz standards. My upbringing by my mother was somewhat isolated musically. She loved an album by Paul McCartney that was entitled "Redrose Speedway", I believe, and I remember having to listen to that album a million times over and over on trips and in the house. She was also a huge fan of Tom Jones, so we did have some fun too! I was a young girl in the 1960's, thus I'm admitting my age here. In those years, we had a huge 8 track cassette recorder in the car. It is amazing how far music electronics has come! Thank goodness, my aunt and uncle started giving me other albums for presents. I became interested in The Moody Blues, The Who, Carole King and Elton John. In fact, I wanted to grow up to be a female version of a singer/songwriter/pianist just like Elton John. In my freshman year of college, I auditioned for a publisher in New York. He said I sounded like Carole King and I was thrilled! These days I like just about a bit of all genres across the spectrum.

Music Now: Does anyone in your family play music?

Suzanne Barrie: My one daughter is an incredible young clarinetist who has been winning a lot of performance awards here in Columbus, Ohio. She will be a student at The Interlochen Academy of the Arts this summer. My oldest daughter trains in vocal performance.

Music Now: When you are making music, describe how you are feeling?

Suzanne Barrie: Songwriting can be an awesome experience. Sometimes you don't know where an idea came from as if it was pulled from thin air. Other times when writing, a secret about you is exposed to the world that you really did not want to tell anyone and then you feel very vulnerable, especially if a line in a lyric is going to raise question or get you in trouble. Hehehe... well, hopefully not too much trouble. Thus, I guess there is this vulnerable and secretive side of me that occasionally does get exposed in an original lyric. I love performing as a singer/songwriter/pianist... just absolutely love it. There is a part of me that becomes alive in front of an audience that does not always get conveyed in a recording. Also, there is this huge intellectual/emotional connection that takes place when performing originals that can be overpowering.

Music Now: Why did you write or decided to play any of your songs?
Suzanne Barrie: I wrote my first song in the 7th grade for a music class I was in. From that day forward, I was hooked on writing and performing originals. These days I feel that my music songwriting is divided so to speak. There is part of me that has been writing music for politics, world peace and social and environmental reform all of which I strongly believe in. Then there is the part of me that says... "You better try to write a hit song that will sell if you don't want to starve!" Ah, well...

Music Now: Why did you choose to play this kind of music?

Suzanne Barrie: I think my music varies in genre, but in general lyric writing, performing and recording is just a part of my soul. At this point it's not a choice, just something I do because I love it.

Music Now: What do you feel is missing in the music industry today?

Suzanne Barrie: In my opinion, there is a lot missing... Okay, I don't personally have satellite radio or a huge amount of time to surf the Internet, but I feel that the main radio stations that I turn on in my car should support more independent artists and bands... We don't always have a million dollars for a radio campaign, but geez... we have a lot to offer in terms of lyrics and new sounds. Years ago I got a bit tired of writing yet another "love or pop song"... I feel that the industry needs to be more open to lyrics with intellect and "punch" if you know what I mean.

I also feel that independent artists need more guidance and investor options in general. For example, I have visions in my own mind of how I want my ultimate stage show to look. My visions are too large... I want a small orchestra, one that rocks... Well, where do we start? I don't have the funding for where I want to be and some of the musicians that I've worked with are "tired" of the local cafe scene for small performance.

Music Now: Do you feel like you are a role model to others?

Suzanne Barrie: I've spoken a number of times for local high school classes where I've been invited to speak. I truly hope that I am an inspiration for young songwriters and performing musicians.

Music Now: What keeps you going even when times you feel like giving up?

Suzanne Barrie: We all go through feeling like giving up on our musical dreams from time to time as independent artists. I have a close music friend who has a huge on line fan base and even he has given up on doing music as his career from time to time. You need to have friends who think like YOU. I have helped him get back on track when he has been frustrated and at his all time lows and he has done the same for me. Every fan letter means a lot to me! I proudly display them on my website. They are my inspiration to continue as well as letters from organizations such as Unicef thanking me for my work on a music project.

Music Now: What are some of the big projects you are working on?

Suzanne Barrie: I was lucky enough to have a studio engineer/producer contact me regarding writing and singing a vocal track for a character in the series of books "A Song of Ice and Fire" by author George R.R. Martin. I will be the voice of Daenerys, a major character. This was a very tough project for me as there are three books in the series, each of which is about 1,000 pages. I had to really read her chapters and become close to her character to be able to write the lyric and portray the part. I've been pitching songs through arselect on the Internet and I am writing another album addressing the upcoming election... this country is going to need some help to turn things around for the better!!

Music Now: What can we expect from you in the next several years?

Suzanne Barrie: If I still have a chance, I would like to tour more getting outside of Central Ohio. We'll see... all kinds of ideas are floating around upstairs in my head. It's just a matter of materializing them. I also wrote a song years ago that I thought would make a great musical, but I didn't have a complete storyline for a show. Now I do have that storyline... it's all a matter of getting it down on paper and a demo for representation. Then it's a matter of finding an investor.

Music Now: Any new releases, updates, or anything else you would like to tell our audience?

Suzanne Barrie: Well, I have MP3's out there on the Internet in a number of places... if you would like to e-mail me you can do so through www.myspace.com/barrieandcompany or at www.arselect.com/mysongs/barrieandcompany I always love to hear from people. Also, I test out demos from time to time on my sites just for fun, so stop by and you may catch a glimpse of something you haven't heard before.

Thanks for this great Spotlight



Photo used in this story was provided by Suzanne Barrie.