Bio
Mitch Barrett is one of Kentucky’s most sought-after and talented singer songwriter sons. His approach to lyrical storytelling is true ‘Americana,’ rooted in authentic experience, not just a record label’s genre. Mitch’s music draws from his Appalachian heritage and the values it instilled: agrarian work ethic, simple living, the importance of family and celebrating the joys and the struggles of everyday life through music and song.
A keen life observer and riveting performer, Mitch Barrett deftly laces thought-provoking subject matter with a satirist’s sense of wit and irony. Whether he’s leading a workshop, headlining a Performing Arts Center, or playing a large festival, Mitch takes his audience on an engaging journey, channeling the inner voice of a truck-stop waitress, a mountain boy seeking spirituality or a socially and environmentally-charged activist.
Mitch has won several songwriting competitions, most recently the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival in Lyons, CO; the Merlefest Chris Austin Songwriting Competition (twice awarded); and the prestigious Kerrville NewFolk Competition.
Potential Residency Project
The residency would consist of Mitch working with small groups of no more than 30 children at a time.
He will do a performance of several of his original songs as an intro to songwriting.
He will then break these songs down, sharing with the students the initial inspiration for each song. Then he'll show them how a song is built, from inspiration to the telling of the story, to basic verse, verse, chorus, verse, verse, bridge, last verse, last chorus, song structure.
This simple, effective structure works for any style of song and is adaptable for 4th through 12th grade students.
Goals:
To involve students in the process of writing a song.
To show students how songwriting is an extension of storytelling/story writing.
To share with the students the experience of communicating through music, songwriting, and storytelling and how important it is to clearly communicate our emotions, ideas and beliefs.
To introduce the students to basic elements of harmony, melody, and time structure.