RIP Max D Barnes

[tcb]

Songwriter extrodinaire passed away last night.

Birth Name: Max Duane Barnes
Induction Year: 1992
Date of Birth: 7/24/1936
Place of Birth: Hardscratch, IA

Former Occupations:

over the road truck driver
carpenter
deck hand
lathe operator
lamp factory foreman
farm worker
dispatcher
expeditor
construction worker
bartender
car salesman
carnival worker


Education:


Grade School--Logan (Omaha, NE) (from 1942-1948)
Grade School--Mason (Omaha, NE) (1948 & 1949)
High School--South High (Omaha, NE) (from 1950-1952)



Career Milestones:

1966--first song published by Tree in September, "Uncanny Connie From Calgary"


1971--first song recorded on Jed label (owned by John Denny), "Ribbons of Steel" (self-penned)


1973--moved to Nashville on May 1


1974--signed as staff writer for Roz-Tense Music


1974--two songs cut with Charley Pride


1979--first #1 song, "Don't Take It Away"



Awards:
1988--NSAI\Song of the Year\Chiseled in Stone

1989--CMA\Song of the Year\Chiseled in Stone

1992--CMA\Song of the Year\Look At Us

1992--Music City News\Best Song\Look At Us

Catalog Highlights:
If You're Gonna Do Me Wrong (Do It Right)

Co-writer: Vern Gosdin


Artists: Vern Gosdin (1983)

Way Down Deep

Co-writer: Max Troy Barnes


Artists: Vern Gosdin (1983)

Chiseled In Stone

Co-writer: Vern Gosdin


Artists: Vern Gosdin (1988)

Don't Tell Me What To Do

Co-Writer: Harlan Howard


Artists: Pam Tillis (1991)

Look At Us

Co-Writer: Vince Gill


Artists: Vince Gill (1991)

If I Didn't Have You

Co-Writer: Skip Ewing


Artists: Randy Travis (1992)

Don't Take It Away

Co-writer: Troy Seals


Artists: Conway Twitty (1978)

Can't Love You Enough

Co-writer: Troy Seals


Artists: Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn (1979)

Red Neckin' Love Makin' Night

Co-writer: Troy Seals


Artists: Conway Twitty (1981)

Thank God For the Radio

Co-writer: Robert John Jones


Artists: The Kendalls (1984)

Drinkin' and Dreamin'

Co-writer: Troy Seals


Artists: Waylon Jennings (1985)

Joe Knows How to Live

Co-writer: Troy Seals, Graham Lyle


Artists: Eddie Raven (1986)

Ten Feet Away

Co-writer: Troy Seals, Billy Sherrill


Artists: Keith Whitley (1986)

Do You Believe Me Now

Artists: Vern Gosdin (1986)

Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes

Co-writer: Troy Seals


Artists: George Jones (1986)

I Won't Need You Anymore

Co-writer: Troy Seals


Artists: Randy Travis

Let Go Of the Stone

Co-writer: Max T. Barnes


Artists: John Anderson (1993)

Storms of Life

Co-writer: Troy Seals


Artists: Randy Travis (1982)

This Ain't My First Rodeo

Co-writer: Vern Gosdin


Artists: Vern Gosdin (1991)

I've Got It Made

Artists: John Anderson (1994)

[Busgaljan]

Just found the news a few minetes ago
Another summery

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Max D. Barnes may not have released many records, but he left an important mark on contemporary country music. As a songwriter, Barnes composed many familiar songs of the '80s and '90s, receiving 42 songwriter awards in his career. Artists like George Jones ("Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes"), Waylon Jennings ("Drinkin' and Dreamin'"), Conway Twitty ("Red Neckin' Love Makin' Night"), Keith Whitley ("Ten Feet Away"), Randy Travis ("I Won't Need You Anymore [Forever and Always]"), Vern Godsin ("Way Down Deep," "Slow Burnin' Memory"), Pam Tillis ("Don't Tell Me What to Do"), and Vince Gill ("Look at Us") have recorded his songs, as have many others. Although he has had a couple of minor hits himself (most notably "Allegheny Lady" in the mid-'70s), his true legacy lies in his songs, not his records.
Barnes grew up in Iowa, receiving his first guitar from his sister Ruthie Steele at age 11. Shortly afterward, his parents were divorced. He moved to Omaha, NE, with his mother and two younger brothers. At 16, he dropped out of school and began singing in a local nightclub. During this time, he formed a band called the Golden Rockets, which featured his future wife, Patsy, as lead singer. Max and Patsy quit playing clubs after the birth of their son, Patrick. At first, Max worked for an Omaha concrete company, but the family soon moved to Long Beach, CA, where he was the foreman at a lamp factory. After a while, he quit, spending his summers in Omaha and his winters singing in California. By 1962, he saved up enough money to buy a nightclub near Lake Okiboji, IA, but he sold it after eight months. Again, the Barnes family moved back to Omaha, where Max spent nine years driving as a truck driver.

Barnes' musical career didn't really begin until 1971, when he recorded a single for Jed, "Ribbons of Steel"/"Hello Honky Tonk." He followed it with "You Gotta Be Putting Me On"/"Growing Old With Grace," which was released on Willex. Following some words of encouragement from songwriter Kent Westberry, Barnes moved to Nashville in 1973. Barnes became a staff writer for Roz-Tense Music, which led to Charley Pride recording two of his songs. Soon, he moved to Gary S. Paxman Music, then to Danor Music. While he was with Danor, Barnes wrote nearly 30 songs recorded by other artists, including several hit singles; on one occasion, he had five of his songs on the charts simultaneously. He also co-wrote many songs with Troy Seals, one of the co-owners of the publishing company. Sadly, tragedy befell the Barnes family, as the eldest son, Patrick, died in a car accident in 1975. Max wrote about the incident on "Chiseled in Stone," which was co-written with Vern Gosdin, who had a hit with the song in 1989.

In 1976, Barnes signed a publishing deal with Screen Gems EMI, which helped him secure a recording contract with Polydor. Released the following year, Rough Around the Edges spawned the minor hit "Allegheny Lady," which scraped the bottom of the charts. If he didn't have hits with his own records, he did have hits with his songs, as Conway Twitty brought several of Barnes' songs to the charts, including the Loretta Lynn duets "I Can't Love You Enough" and "From Seven Till Ten," and the solo "Don't Take It Away," which hit number one.

[tcb]

I immediately thought of the song he wrote for Ray Price - Time when I heard he'd passed....

Time is a monster
That lives in our clocks
It's heartless and shows no remorse
Consuming our future as we fight
That hundred year war

Time is a soldier
Steady and true
Relentlessly trudging along
And time takes no prisoners, nothing
But time marches on

Part of my conversation with Ray about that song....

Ray Price's career has been filled with one memorable song after another, but the undeniable highlight of this album is the title track, "Time" (written by Max D Barnes) which Ray refers to as a blessing, coming along just as they were bringing the project to a close. "That was when I had already recorded ten songs and we were looking for two more. The fella who wrote the song, I’d never met him, but I knew he wrote good songs, came to a session. He brought two songs with him. He played Time the first time and I said you don’t have to play it anymore, I love it. It was perfect in my mind."

The song's lyrics are stunning and compelling. "The message of the song is so true. The lyrics are deep, but not so deep that no one can understand it. Everyone’s getting older, time’s not waiting for anyone."

[Busgaljan]

I just passed the news to John Hughy
John played steel on Look at Us for Vince and some of the Conway material.

I also found John online to pass the news when Gary S died