I’ll always remember where I was and what I was doing on my 21st birthday—performing onstage at the Armadillo World Headquarters. I’ve done a whole lot since then, playing and singing with the famous and not so famous, and loved every bit of it.
Along the way, a wise woman once pulled me aside and with a low voice, as if revealing some secret of the universe, said, “I know what your gift is.”
I leaned in a bit, ready to receive the sage’s message as she shared, “you make other people sound better.”
Well, at the time, I perceived this as somewhat of a left-handed compliment, hoping that some of my own songs might have an impact on audiences. I have since come to embrace the ability to lift up the efforts of others as one of my gifts. But I still enjoy singing my songs to listeners, hoping, as all artists do, to make a connection, to find that person who might somehow benefit, or perhaps find some part of a song that makes them think, “I know how that feels.”
So I relish the times I get a chance to share a few songs with folks. The title song from my most recent record pretty much says where I’m at these days, confiding, “Well, I sure can’t sing like I used to, but I can still sort of carry a tune” and concludes, “I can’t call it quits…yet” Yeah, I know how that feels.
-- Patterson Barrett
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