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Dove' Tale

Chris Azzopardi

Music is as much a part of Barb Barton as her surroundings on the cover of her sixth album. Nestled in a woodsy area with a guitar slung over her shoulder, the Lansing musician spends a lot of time there, among nature, recharging and finding solace.
As part of a yearly ritual, she celebrated winter solstice last month with birds, mice and a fox family in her backyard, right next to Bancroft Park, feeding them nuts and fruits. The title of her very DIY disc (she produced, engineered and mastered it) – "Turtle Dove," which can be purchased at a release party/show on Jan. 10 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lansing – is an extension of that gusto for nature, naming it after one of the most beautiful birds in existence. For Barton, the image, which also reflects peace, blossomed out of nowhere. Or maybe not so much as she thinks, considering nature's her indirect muse, as it's been since she launched her singer-songwriter career with her 1992 debut.
"It's always been such a part of me," says Barton, who works to protect endangered species with the Michigan Natural Features Inventory.
"What I'm inspired to write about are things that move me in some way, whether it's a personal experience or something I observe in other people; something I hear on the news or some kind of an injustice that people might want to learn about."
Acoustically driven, the album meshes the mellow, neo-folk of Mary Chapin Carpenter and the rhythmic sounds of the '60s. Apropos since Barton was raised with a rock 'n' roll foundation, eating up the music of Crosby, Stills & Nash, Led Zeppelin, The Monkees and Heart. The '70s post-drug era sound is infused through "Predator and Prey," a Celtic/East Indian-emitting ditty she calls "a smoking hash song." A remake of "Bus Stop" maintains some of its original semblance of the '60s, when it was a hit for the English rock group The Hollies.
Then, Barton was just a young girl, singing that song in elementary school and already playing guitar. She even tried cutting a multitrack recording with a few tape recorders. She'd sing into one, then layer harmonies and guitar parts over the playbacks.
"By the time you were done with it, you just sounded like static – but you could hear yourself in there somewhere," laughs Barton.
As the '80s rolled in, she advanced from the garage – where she'd play with her high school schoolmates – to the bar circuit, playing with a newly formed rock band. A few years later, she went solo and performed at gay coffeehouses and Michigan Pride.
She's been out since age 12, oblivious to society's ignorance. For her it was just a natural part of her being; for everyone else – including her family, school and small town of Edwardsburg, Mich. – it was a mental illness. She reflects on all of it without regret, but with curiosity: "I often wonder what life would've been like if it would've been a little different then," she says. "I look around today and I'm so grateful that gay and lesbian kids, at least in some areas, have social support systems."
Even the birds could sing to that.

Barb Barton
7 p.m. Jan. 10 (pre-show dinner at 5:30)
Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lansing
855 Grove St., East Lansing
Concert: $10 ($20 with dinner)
http://www.barbbarton.com

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