Barton’s Blues (2005)

Barton’s Blues is a place piece. Meaning, I would not have written it had I not moved to Austin. I started the project wanting to write something idiomatic for guitar, but also something that asked what a guitar meant to me and to others. Of course, there are many answers, but I eventually settled on the idea of guitar as expressive tool for the wandering traveler. I imagined some freeloading vagrant train hopping around the countryside, cares thrown to the wind, guitar in one hand and probably something illegal in the other. My piece is perhaps a small account of his journey, moving from carefree opening, to someplace a bit murkier and finally back to where he started, no worse for the wear, but happy all the same.

Barton’s Blues was originally composed for Jon Yerby and the 2005 Hammer/Nail project at UT Austin. After the premiere I worked extensively with another guitarist, Kim Perlak, who helped edit and revise the score. Kim has since played the piece all over the country and recorded the work for her 2012 album, Common Ground.

Premiered May 5, 2005 Jessen Auditorium, UT Austin, Jon Yerby, Guitar

April 12, 2012 The Cactus Cafe, Austin, TX. Kim Perlak.

March 24, 2012 Yale University, Sprague Hall, New Haven, CT. Kim Perlak.

April 3, 2008 University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC.