Tucson Local Spotlight - Barnaby and the Butcher
- leslie051
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Barnaby and the Butcher play the broad genres of Alt-Country and Americana. Their music runs the gamut of classic country, dark country, blues, and rock. Damon Barnaby’s highly skilled and hard-hitting heritage electric guitar magnifies Joshua Butcher’s powerfully rich and soulful vocals.
Backed by the incredible Doug “Hurricane” Floyd on electric guitar and mandolin, the scintillating Brian Green on bass, and the dazzling John “The Monkey” McIntyre on drums; Barnaby and the Butcher performs originals and uniquely-chosen covers with a style that evokes deep nostalgia while feeling entirely new. They are serious music by not-so-serious musicians.
We asked Barnaby and the Butcher 5 questions about their experiences as musicians in Tucson. Here's what they said:
What's your favorite venue to play in Tucson?
We love a secret-feeling venue: the ones that are lesser-known, kinda dark, with a speakeasy feel. Places that likely have a history and a story to be uncovered (we like to wander and if there’s a door, well, we’re likely to go through it).
We love Tucson venues that have an organized and communicative bookers/managers, and a bar staff that is excited to see us. Any venue with built-in sound (and a sound engineer!), lighting and a stage is a plus for musicians who are constantly packing and unpacking and checking and sound checking and… we’d rather schmooze with fans and drink at the bar.
But across the board and without a doubt, we like the venues that love what they do and are actively cultivating community spaces that are fun, accessible, and creative.
What's the funniest thing that's happened during a performance?
We have a stage prop that sets the scene for our “brand,” if you will. It’s a small side table set with vintage bar items including lace table cloth, an ice bucket we use for a tip jar, a heavy glass ashtray, two tumblers, and a half-full whiskey decanter. At one show a very exuberant, and very drunk patron came up to the stage, dropped a $20 in the tip bucket, and attempted to pour himself a glass of whiskey.
The look on his face when he discovered the stopper was glued on and the “whiskey” was actually dyed resin… “I thought I was buying myself a shot!” He proceeded to raise a toast to the crowd, laughing uproariously at himself; all while the band played on. He left the $20 in the tip jar and just walked away shaking his head and chuckling.
What's your first memory as a musician?
Let’s call this section, “best childhood memory shared by a band member’s parent.” Damon Barnaby’s parents were in town from the Pacific Northwest, and the Manager insisted we invite them over for rehearsal.
After his mother regaled us with tales of his begging to play the guitar (“When you can reach all six strings,” was her reply) as well as her own award-winning piano playing; and his father helped the Manager drain her gin collection, there was a lull in the conversation.
Then Dad spoke up, “I’ll tell you one thing. In high school Damon said he’d cut off his right arm before he’d play country.” Damon’s response to his alt-country bandmates? “I have no defense.”
What's your favorite song to perform:
We love our originals. Nothing beats having the muse bring a song, craft it out with bandmates, and perform it in the wild to see if it flies. The evolution a song experiences over time in different venues in front of different audiences is a pretty cool thing to watch. But there’s one song we can’t quite shake. We only know the first 16 bars, but that’s enough (seriously, quite enough). At this point we’ve played it so often during rehearsal we almost can’t hear our own songs without immediately transitioning into this one. That’s right, it’s Jimi Hendrick’s “Foxy Lady.”
What's the best advice you've ever received?
Joshua often speaks of the fear of missing the muse. But he heard a story about Tom Waits who was driving his truck when the muse came to him with a song idea. He got angry and said, “Can’t you see I’m driving?! Why don’t you go bother Leonard Cohen.” Humor aside, the takeaway is that the gift of the muse is a reciprocal one. If you can’t accept it right now, send it on for someone else to receive.
BONUS: Best Piece of Advice We Would Give: Deadlines are imaginary. Joshua and Manager, Andrea are in almost constant project management mode for the band. The drive to answer the creative call of each of the band projects, and fill the in-between with more projects for the fun of it, often results in a sense of falling behind. It’s a huge endeavor but it’s also quite imaginary as far as how much and when and how fast. Sure, there are business models to study if you want to be a professional, or even a serious hobbiest (or make serious music by not-so serious musicians). But in the end, *Deadlines are Imaginary*.
We do the project work because we love it. Because we’re called to make the best, fullest, most filled-out project possible. After that we do it because our musicians deserve to see their music, hard work, creative sweat, and tender-heart egos honored and presented to the people. Equally, we do it for those people who love the music, who are moved by it, who say then waited all week for the relief of it, for those who send us emails saying they’re sorry they missed it but they’ll be out next time. We’re all anxious for the next project, but the deadlines are self-created so it’s ok to change them.
For more information about their music, upcoming shows, or booking inquiries, you can visit their website at https://barnabyandthebutcher.com/
Know a Tucson musician you'd like us to choose for our Local Spotlight?
Curious about local shows? Browse upcoming events with our Tucson Music Calendar