Avail / Tim Barry "Lost & Rootless"

The first time one of his friend's fathers saw singer/songwriter Tim Barry perform, he summed up his thoughts with a Yogi Berra-worthy declaration: “You're old-timey in a modern way.”

That's a near perfect description for the artist who sums up his latest solo release, Lost & Rootless in a single word: WOODEN. “That's the feel that I was going for when I picked the songs,” says Barry. “There's violin, voice, a wooden resonator guitar...there's a very subtle electric bass on one track, but otherwise I wanted to do a wooden record.”

To create that stripped-down, earthy sound, Barry (along with sometime accompanists Josh Small and sister Caitlin Hunt) selected an equally wooden venue: his own shed, mic'd up and MacGyvered with blankets, bits of carpet, and pallets for soundproofing. This gave Tim an opportunity musicians are rarely afforded: the ability to record any moment that inspiration struck, without racing the clock or pulling out the wallet. “It's not always relaxing in the studio unless you have so much loot you don't care how much time you spend in there. To be able to go into my shivering cold shed and play music whenever it hit me was pretty awesome,” he says.