A veteran of 12 plus years working for an NPR all-music
affiliate in Boston, Barnes Newberry now brings his
love of 60's and 70's folk and folk-rock to mvyradio.
Schooled in the early days of those genres along with
the singer-songwriter, country rock and blues movements,
he created a specialty show in 2000 called Highway 61
Revisited that drew from mostly US, UK and Canadian
artists that populated the commercial and underground
airwaves back in the days of both AM and FM "underground"
radio. In addition to his love of all-things-Bob Dylan,
Barnes continues to add current artists to his extensive
playlists who proudly cover songs from those bygone
days to make the whole rich experience more contemporary
and less a strict oldies format. The same themes and
messages that dominated much of soundtrack of the 60's
and 70's of protest and peace, of love and heartbreak,
of political disillusionment and social changes are
echoed by so many artists today and this is what his
new My Back Pages show is all about. To Barnes, it is
the spirit of that era that is both rock-solid and timeless.
Before his radio days, Barnes had a professional
career as a medical social worker working in a South
Shore area hospital. Then a career as a restaurant
owner/ operator followed, where he soon turned that
into a very successful musical venue called The Blackthorne
Tavern. This was followed by a brief career in retail
music sales at the same time Boston public radio beckoned.
He claims his favorite Christmas present was a small
transistor radio he got at age 11 which would be the
start of a lifelong love of pursuing his musical muses,
from the Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison, Del Shannon
and Elvis, to the likes of Fairport Convention, Richard
Thompson, Emmylou Harris, Gene Clark and The Byrds,
Buffalo Springfield on to newer artists such as Jimmy
LaFave, Steve Earle, and, Lucinda Williams. Then,
of course, there is Bob Dylan and his legion of followers
which will be the anchor of Barnes' show.
