Kolt Barber: real cowboy country artist
Combining love of music and rodeo
By Mike and Preshias Harris for Country Music News International Magazine & Radio Show
Many country artists wear cowboy hats and
sing songs that evoke visions of ranches, horses and cowboys, but Kolt Barber
has lived that life and has the bruises and broken bones to prove it.
I caught up with Kolt at the Country Radio
Seminar in Nashville to hear about his new single, two albums and a unique tour
that combines music and rodeo.
Kolt recorded the new single at Square One
Studios in Franklin, Tennessee, where Kolt was able to really develop the song
organically.
“The new single is titled ‘Set the Night on
Fire,’” said Kolt. “I went into the
studio without a demo. I’d written the song and we started creating it, in the
studio, from scratch. We were able to take our time. If I liked something we
went with it, if I didn’t like something we took it away. It was really cool; instead of the normal,
fast-paced way of ‘you have a demo, you cut it, you’re done,’ we were able to
sit and create. It was a really cool experience and I really enjoyed it.
“Typically now, it’s really fast and they
piece it together, because everyone can record now, in their home or garage or
wherever,” he continued. “So it was cool
to be able to go in and just take an idea and run with it. If it worked, it was
good, if it didn’t, then try this guitar, try this effect, try this sound. We
were really thankful we had the time to do that. We were in the studio for days.
Normally it’s so fast, but we took our time and we’re real excited to see what
comes out of it.”
“Set the Night on Fire,” will be part of
Kolt’s upcoming album of new material, but he also has another album titled Replay.
Kolt explained the story behind that album, due for release March 30, 2020.
“We had a lot of people asking for some of
our old songs that they can’t find, so we decided we would re-package many of
the old tunes and we called it Replay, because it’s the second time
around. People can purchase those now as
they’ll be online. All of that is a
lead-up to the release of the brand-new album that will be coming out this
summer.”
As for the title of that album of new songs,
Kolt smiled and said, “We’ll see what rises to the top. We have a few tracks
cut and we’re working on those; still taking some and looking at what I’ve
written and see if we want to put them on the album. You’ll never know what will end up on the
album ‘til the last minute. We’ll keep everyone in suspense!”
Kolt is combining his two passions – rodeo
and music – in his upcoming tour.
“We’re going out on the American Cowboy
Tour. In that, we are going to have
the American Cowboy Showdown, which is a fully-sanctioned rodeo. It will be happening all over the United
States. Rodeo riders will be coming in and participating in the event. There’ll be prize money and there will be
awards at the end of the year. We’ll
have a rodeo and a concert all on one night. It’s going to be a great time.
We’re really excited and we’re getting a lot of really great feedback on it.”
Kolt revealed that the American Cowboy
Tour kicks off on April 01, 2020. “We’re going to be in Georgia, Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana. We’ll be in Texas, Arizona and we’ll be out in
California, the Dakotas, Colorado, Oklahoma… Yeah, it’s going to be a great
year!”
The rodeo is in Kolt’s blood, and some of
that blood has been spilled on the sawdust of the rodeo arena.
“I grew up with horses my whole life. I
love horses and cattle,” he said. “I
fell off a horse many a time and have several injuries, old injuries and broken
bones to go along with that, but that’s the case when you’re riding. There’s a
lot of guys out there, in the rodeo, that have a lot of broken bones and stuff
that’s tore up, but it’s just part of life.”
Kolt has even endured heart injuries as the
result of his rodeo riding, but as he says, “I’m just thankful to the Good Lord
that everything has worked out so far and we’re still truckin’ along.”
Kolt Barber is a real-life cowboy country
artist, equally at home on his ranch or on stage from honky-tonks to arenas,
playing more that 70 shows a year. Find out more about Kolt, his music and
check out his upcoming tour dates at his website https://www.koltbarber.com/
Follow Kolt on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/koltbarberofficial/
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