Tim Barry

Folk-punk is getting pretty big. I mean, it's a good direction for punk, but the sheer number of bands coming out is kinda overwhelming. Seems like every frontman of a band is picking up an acoustic, with the likes of Dave Hause (The Loved Ones), Frank Turner (Million Dead), Chuck Ragan (HWM), Jim Ward (At The Drive-In/Sparta), Brendan Kelly (Falcon/Larry Arms), Joe McMahon (Smoke or Fire) and Ben Nicols (Lucero). The list goes on and on. With so many dudes trading Les Pauls for Martins it's hard to keep track of all of 'em. A lot of the material coming out is just... boring. Frank Turner in particular is boring as all hell. I can't get into him just because his voice is too pristine and all of his songs just sound like a rehash of his earlier material. Lucero was great, but c'mon Ben Nichols, how many times are you gonna cover "Kiss The Bottle?" Nevermind Dave Hause, I have a hard time getting through the sea of cheese and forced country riffs of any Loved Ones album. Chuck Ragan for awhile was seemingly the only dude with a knack for this sort of music. I mean, Rumbleseat was fucking awesome. "Feast or Famine" was an amazing album, and even his tirades in Saw Wheel stand out as a cookie-cutter example of what other frontmen should be doing, instead of playing crappy, whiny low-fi acoustic songs with some country pull-offs and hammer-ons. Don't even get me started on the No Idea/Plan It-X bullshit too. I mean, Defiance, Ohio and Andrew Jackson Jihad are good, but Rosa, Ghost Mice? What the fuck is this crap. Spoonboy? The only good songs on "I Love You, This Is A Robbery" aren't even done by Spoonboy. Are you fucking kidding me, how do people listen to this garbage?

Then there is Tim Barry, the frontman from Avail. What needs to be said about Avail? They made "Over the James", "Satiate", "100 Times"... They are one of those cherished bands that, despite no longer being together, is still in constant rotation on playlists all over the world, withstanding the test of time. Although not so much in the Northeast, Avail is a thing of legend once you cross into Dixie country. Amongst so much crap, Tim Barry's solo stuff epitomizes what the crossover from punk to folk should be. Uncompromising, rough around the edges, and unabashedly honest, still maintaining the spirit of punk yet transitioning flawlessly from something like Avail to a stripped-down solo project that actually represents Americana folk music opposed to 90% of "folk-punk" musicians who are simply jumping on the bandwagon so to speak. Barry's music sounds like it's coming from a kid who grew up on the riverside and struggled his whole life, whereas Dave Hause sounds like a whiny doucher who happened to listen to some of his dad's old Buck Owens records in the suburbs of Chicago. If there is one thing that has not transferred from punk to this seemingly new sub-genre, it is most certainly sincerity.

Recommended listening:

• Manchester - http://www.mediafire.com/?e0rmtnlzm0z
• Rivanna Junction - http://www.mediafire.com/?lxhdmiymyyz
• Laurel Street demos - http://www.mediafire.com/?2ifmiwodydm