Gig of a lifetime

Musician Barrett Baber feted in LA as contest winner

By day, Barrett Baber teaches debate and forensics at Fayetteville High School. By night, he’s a singer/songwriter. And this week, he’s a star in Los Angeles as the winner of CBS Interactive’s Grammy Gig of a Lifetime contest.
By day, Barrett Baber teaches debate and forensics at Fayetteville High School. By night, he’s a singer/songwriter. And this week, he’s a star in Los Angeles as the winner of CBS Interactive’s Grammy Gig of a Lifetime contest.

It might seem that Barrett Baber skyrocketed to success.

Not entirely true, the Fayetteville musician said.

“I’ve been playing all over Northwest Arkansas for many years now,” the singer/songwriter explained. “It’s been a long, arduous road of good gigs and bad gigs and gigs that pay a little and gigs that don’t pay as much.”

It is true to say that Baber is over the moon about his current gig, however. On Friday, he was named the winner of CBS Interactive’s Grammy Gig of a Lifetime contest, and he’ll open for Los Angeles-based alt-rock quintet The Neighbourhood at a concert tonight at Club Nokia in Los Angeles. According to a news release, elements of the performances will also be broadcast during Grammy Live Sunday at cbs.com,part of online coverage of the 56th annual Grammy Awards.

When Baber called NWA Media Tuesday, he was cruising Los Angeles in a limousine with his band - bassist Greg Guillot, drummer Miguel Gamboa and keyboardist Aaron Schauer - posing for photos at Hollywood landmarks for CBS Interactive.

“We got here on Sunday night, and yesterday we spent all day at CBS Studios filming promos and interviews - hours and hours and hours of taping a music video and a million different things,” Baber said by phone. He is hoping the journey will end with a chance to see the Grammy Awards live and in person Sunday evening with his wife, Sarah, who was flying in from Fayetteville on Wednesday.

“I don’t know yet,” he said. “We’re staying ’til Monday, but they’re kind of not telling us everything.

I’m thinking we’ll get to go.”

Baber’s journey to the Grammys started in Marion 33 years ago.

“I grew up running around the streets of Memphis,” he said. “My dad was a Southern Baptist preacher at Marion First Baptist Church, and I went to college at Ouachita Baptist University. I started writing songs there.”

Baber worked in advertising at KNWA-TV after moving to Northwest Arkansas, but “I got tired of working for a big corporation, and my life still felt kind of empty,” he said.

“I’d always thought I might want to teach and work with young people, so I quit my job and went and got my nontraditional teaching license.”

For the past two years, Baber has taught debate and forensics at Fayetteville High School.

“He is a great role model for our kids at FHS,” said Warren Rosenaur, head of drama and theater at the high school. “Now the rest of the country can see how talented our faculty is at FHS. We are so proud.”

But it was a fan, Monica Reynolds, who prompted Baber to reach for the stars.

“I got a message on Facebook saying I should check out this contest,” he remembered. “I was a little skeptical - I’m skeptical of contests, in general, because we’re living in a world full of contests. So I just pretty much ignored it.

“A week passed, and she emailed me again, telling me, ‘All you have to do is upload a YouTube link.’”

Baber, who describes his “heartfelt music” as “roots soul - kind of country, kind of R&B, kind of singer/ songwriter,” had recorded one of his songs, “Drop Dead Red Head,” at Haxton Road Studios in Bentonville to promote his album “Battlefield Us.” He clicked and uploaded - and soon found himself one of the top 40 finalists out of more than2,000 entrants nationwide.

“That’s when the explosion of energy started to happen,” he said.

Fans took over, and between Dec. 23 and Jan. 17, Baber garnered enough votes to win.

“Thank you to the people of Arkansas, and Northwest Arkansas in particular,” he told The Idle Class, an online arts magazine, during voting. “This really is a humbling moment to realize that thousands of people are taking time out of their day to vote for you and help you with your dream. That’s something to really be in awe of, and I am.”

FAST FACTS Grammy Live Grammy Live will be available online on CBS.com and Grammy.com, and across the Grammy mobile applications, according to CBS Interactive spokeswoman Morgan Seal. “It will include exclusive coverage from Grammy Week events, live-streaming of the 56th Annual Grammy Awards pre-telecast red carpet, behind-the scenes access, and offer music fans second-screen features during the live telecast.” The Grammy Awards will air at 7 p.m. Sunday on CBS.

Style, Pages 32 on 01/23/2014

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