Today we’d like to introduce you to Barney Willemse.
Hi Barney, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story probably starts before I was even born. My mother used to be a singer and my dad was a guitarplayer. I grew up on all sorts of music and when I was around 6 years old, my parents took me to a Country music festival. That’s where I fell in love with the music and guitarplaying. Not long after that my dad bought me my first guitar (which I still have), and I started learning chords.
It wasn’t until I was 11 when I started taking guitar lessons and really started digging into the music. A few years later a guitarplayer from a band my parents were always following told me about Brad Paisley, and showed me some videos of him performing. It was also around that time I was allowed to go on the internet on my own, so as you can expect I started exploring all of his music and found out about a lot of other country artists too. Before I was on the internet I only knew the songs, but not the artists as my dad used to burn CD’s for me!
A couple of years later I was still only a guitarplayer, but I loved music for the lyrics and was frustrated because I always thought I wasn’t a good singer. My cousin and I were having a few beers one day, and I started singing a song. He filmed it and people were actually quite enthousiastic about it, so I decided to focus on learning how to sing, getting the technique right and etcetera. I was 18 around that time and also started writing my own songs not long after that.
In the years after that I started playing some shows and worked on my skills. Then COVID hit and everything was shut down.
March 2022 our country came out of lockdown and since that time i played over 450 shows, wrote more songs, released music, worked on my craft and my skills and I can now call myself a ‘professional’ musician.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It sure hasn’t been a smooth road. my dad passed away when I was 13 years old and my mom died of cancer when I was just 19. Which resulted in me living on my own at a young age, while having this one big dream of becoming a touring artist.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
For me performing live in front of an audience is the best thing ever. When the crowd is right, my focus is right and the songs flow that’s where I feel truly alive. I think my live act is spot on, but also has plenty of room to grow even better.
Also writing a song is something truly magical. It’s like a painting, You start with an empty canvas, and after some time you end up with this thing that wasn’t there when you started.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Seeing a country band for the first time. That’s what shaped the rest of my life.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/barneywillemse
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/45ZWkw51XPriLSfGEwwxcA?si=CHjw5-bKSE-sY0Y34gWTEQ
