Warren Barfield Interview

Who Is Warren Barfield?
Worth Fighting For, Warren Barfield’s third record out May 20, 2008 on Essential Records, expresses a vulnerability and passion born out of the realization of how much life passes by without intentionally living, how little we invest in those we love, and how often we settle for the status quo.  Produced by Charlie Peacock (Switchfoot, Nichole Nordeman); Mark A. Miller (Casting Crowns); and Jason Ingram and Rusty Varenkamp (Bebo Norman, Rush of Fools), Worth Fighting For marks a decided return to Barfield’s own creative instincts.

KEY:
C> Chris
W> Warren Barfield

C> So we’re sitting here at GMA Week 2008 with Warren Barfield.  We know you just released a new album on Essential Records, Worth Fighting For.  Tell us what you’ve been doing to lead you up to this new album.

W> Well, this new album just came out of a season of my life where I had to sit down and just decide what was important to me and my life.  As life goes on, more and more things just get stripped away, certain things just stop mattering, and we just get down to the core of what really means the most to us.  I was going through a time where I just started to feel convicted - was I investing in the right things?  Do we spend enough time investing in the relationships with our families like we do our retirement plan and stuff like that, you know?  Do we spend as much time investing in our relationship with Christ as we do trying to get a bigger house to impress the people around us?  Or even, for me, am I invested in my wife and marriage as I am my career?  And all of these things just really started to pile up, so I just began to write songs about this time and my life and write songs about things that were important to me.  And, this record kind of came out of that.  It was really just kind of subconcious - I didn’t have a title for the record until it was done.  I went back through and found a line in the song “Love Is Not a Fight” - worth fighting for.  I really felt like all of these songs were things that I thought were worth fighting for.  They are things that I believed really mattered - things that I wake up everyday and fight for myself.  So we just decided to call the record Worth Fighitng For.

C> So, is there a song on this record that really stands out to you and means a lot to you?

W> Definitely, “Love Is Not a Fight” is probably my favorite song that I’ve ever written.  It’s the most convicting song that I’ve ever written.  It makes me realize that I don’t fight hard enough for the things I love.  A lot of times I just take those things for granted, and I think that they are always gonna be there.  It’s a song that really woke me up - saying “Warren, you’ve really got to wake up everyday and fight for what’s important to you.” And even though you may fight for it and lose it - it doesn’t mean that that fight wasn’t worth it in the long run.  It’s definitely one of my favorite songs.

C> I noticed, musically, that this record was a little bit different, stylistically, than the last record.  It’s really a cross between the first and second records.  Why did you go that route this time instead of staying on the current musical path you were already on?

W> You know, I write with my guitar in my lap.  Whatever emotion I’m feeling comes out in my guitar playing, then I write my lyrics around that musical element.  On the last record, the emotion of it was so much uncertainty.  I was asking a lot of questions and asking a lot of “whys?”.  So, my emotion was very moody, and therefore, musically, the album ended up sounding that way as well.  Almost dark somewhat.  This time around, there was a lot more clarity - there was a lot more “this is what I’m all about” and “this is what I want my life to be spent on, what I want to exhaust myself on.” With that being the mood and the feeling it just came out a lot more light and hopeful.

C> So when you’re approaching songwriting like that - obviously with just you and the guitar, does the musical aspect come from a specific idea that you want to focus on, or do you later attach an idea to a musical element that you worked on first?  How does that work for you?

W> Sometimes I have a musical idea that I have going in my mind, and then I’m like - “I have to write something to go along with that.” Then, I’ll sit down and it will just happen.  Sometimes I can’t get a song out fast enough.  By the time I find a pen to write it down with, it’s already written itself.  By the time it takes to sing the song, it’s already written.  Then, you have other moments where I’ll sit and stare at a blank sheet of paper for days on end and nothing happens.  Those are the days I dread and hate.  However, those are important days too.  It’s just a matter of being consistent in my writing.  I had a great friend tell me one time - “Songwriters have to climb a mountain.  Finally, we reach the top of that mountain and look over to the other side and we see what no one else can see.  Then, we have to climb down that mountain and proceed to tell everyone else what we saw.” Sometimes, when you’re climbing that mountain you start to feel distraught and think you’ll never finish that climb.  However, you just know you have to get to top of the mountain and see what’s on the other side.  You’ll never get to tell people what you saw if you never finish that journey up and down the mountain.  I always like to tell people that that is how I approach my songwriting.  It’s cool.

C> Do you ever do much cowriting?

W> You know, actually I did on this record a lot more than I ever have before - and that’s mainly because these topics are so important to me.  I wanted to make sure that these thoughts were coming out and being expressed in the best way possible.  A lot of times, when I’m sitting down and writing songs by myself, you know, I can read between the lines.  I know what I’m trying to say.  It makes complete sense to me.  But, I want to sit in a room with other people and make sure that it makes sense to them and that it is plain to them.  Otherwise, I’ve wasted the listener’s time if they’ve walked away thinking “what is he talking about?” With some other writer in the room - they can keep me in balance and tell me to explain something a little more - expound on what you’re saying - what do you mean?  So, there’s a lot more of that going on on this record.  I wanted to make the message as clear as possible for everyone who hears it.

C> So is there anyone you haven’t written with that you’d love to write with?

W> Sting!

C> That’s so funny, because everybody says Sting.

W> Yeah, man I’d write with Sting, Bono, that’d be awesome.  I like some of the current country stuff, not the real older stuff, but the current scene - stuff like Keith Urban and Rascal Flatts.

C> Yeah me too, all the pop/rock fluff of country is what I love.  I can’t get enough of it.

W> There’s definitely a lot of different and cool stuff out there that I like and people I’d love to work with eventually.

C> One of the main themes I want to talk about this year is the current landscape of the music industry.  We hear all these things about how it is basically collapsing all around us, and the current business model seems to be failing the market.  Where do you see yourself fitting into all of that?

W> You know, when I was 18 years old, even before that, I had this desire to just write songs well.  I’ve always done that.  I’ve just always written songs about how Christ is involved in my life.  I sing those to people, and I’ve been lucky that people have related to that and said, “yeah, I see how He’s involved in my life as well.” I did it long before I knew anything about how the current music industry works.  I did it for five years as an indie artist, and now I’ve done it for five years as a signed artist.  Tomorrow, if all the doors in the industry got locked up and the whole industry shut down - I would still take my guitar out there and sing to people about how God is involved in my life.  I write songs about how Christ is involved in my everyday life and how it affects my family and my everyday life, you know?  I travel and share those songs with people.  There will always be an audience out there that wants to hear that kind of music - life applicable stuff.  Of course, there’s always an audience out there that doesn’t want to here that kind of stuff too.  They don’t want to hear church things - stuff that doesn’t feel comfortable - they just want music that makes them feel good.  And, there are artists out there who make that kind of music and do it well, but that’s not the kind of artist I am or have been called to be.  I don’t feel like my music is meant to be some kind of entertainment for people.  I feel like it’s stuff that came out of conviction.  It may not always feel good, but it’s truth, and truth is good for us.  So, I’ll be doing my thing whether there’s a music industry or not. 

C> I do have one more question that is kind of a goofy one - What is your current musical guilty pleasure?

W> Good question!  It’s always been Michael Bolton!  I know - it’s always been one of those things that I wondered why everyone hated him so much.  I think he’s a great singer!

C> That’s totally awesome man!  Well thanks for taking the time to talk to me today!  It was great catching up and hearing about what inspired this latest record!

W> No problem - any time!

Warren Barfield’s latest record, Worth Fighting For is now available to purchase.  You can visit his webpage for more information, or check out his MySpace!

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