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In the years after he received his degree in Music Production and Engineering from the prestigious Berklee School of Music, singer/songwriter Aaron Barnhart padded an enviable behind the scenes resume applying his expertise in MIDI and Pro Tools to numerous behind the scenes gigs: teaching at Full Sail University, working for KORG keyboards, and going on the road with Mary J. Blige and Fleetwood Mac as a tech. Along the way, realizing the difference between having a great job and a passionate career, the multi-talented performer returned to his first love of songwriting and discovered the Missing Pieces of his musical life.
The title track to his highly anticipated Bonded Records debut--helmed by famed producer Stuart Brawley (Michael Jackson, Don Henley, Howie Day, Lenka)--is all about wasting time with distractions before ultimately realizing that we were meant for bigger things. The song, co-penned with Trina Harmon, perfectly captures the excitement surrounding his emergence as a recording artist after a lengthy musical journey that led him everywhere from Boston to Orlando (where he joined the popular Southern touring band Foundation), out to Oregon (for his Master’s at the University of Oregon), down to San Francisco and finally L.A., where he has lived for the past three years.

As well traveled as the singer is, his infectious first single “Day In Day Out” is taking him to new destinations via airplay and radio promo dates at Triple A stations throughout the country. He also did a 12 date California based tour this summer opening for Dishwalla frontman J.R. Richards. A mainstay on the L.A. club circuit, Barnhart has performed—usually solo, with simple keyboard accompaniment--at hotspots like Cinespace, Room 5, The Knitting Factory and The Derby. He currently has a Monday night residency the R Bar in Koreatown.

From the wistful and transcendent “Better Than Happiness” to the quirky and uplifting “Another Day” and heart-tugging piano and vocal closer “Slings and Arrows,” most of the songs on Missing Pieces are uniquely introspective portraits of an artist finally coming to terms with his creative destiny. The beautiful harmonic ballad “One More Second Chance” uses powerful imagery to convey a lover’s desire to work things out, while the moody and intimate “Water’s Edge” is garnering TV and film licensing attention for its firsthand experience through addiction and redemption.

“Thoughout the album,” the 31-year old Barnhart says, “there’s this sense that I’m looking back on those years when I was trying to figure out what works for me and what doesn’t. I’m recognizing that there will always be spaces that need to be filled. I always worked in music, but for years I was scattered and didn’t really have the proper work ethic that it takes to commit to a successful career as a songwriter and artist.

“At 21,” he adds, “I was playing in rock bands, having a good time, and no one could tell me what to do and how I should sound. Now, fully engaged in the business of developing my solo career, I can appreciate how much work and how many hours of refinement it takes for artists like John Mayer and Coldplay to sound as great as they do. I understand the road to building and sustaining success as a ladder that never ends. It would be easy to look back and say, wow, I wish I would have achieved this when I was 21, but I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and feel that the timing is just right for me. I have so many more experiences to draw from as a songwriter.”

Throughout these formative years, Barnhart enjoyed the ongoing encouragement of David McKenna, his manager and President of Bonded Records, which is distributed by Fontana/Universal; the two have been friends since Barnhart’s days in Orlando, when McKenna was the singer’s student and Barnhart jammed at night with Foundation, which headlined such places as the Hard Rock and House of Blues. Once McKenna signed Barnhart to the label, the two tried out a handful of producers before choosing to work with Brawley at his Los Angeles based The Backyard Studio. Brawley heard the original demo for “Missing Pieces” and got excited about the possibility of furthering Barnhart’s development as an artist. “Stu responded to the same thing a lot of people do, the performance aspect of what I do, the fact that it’s not contrived,” says Barnhart. “When I sit down and play, there’s a necessity and reality to it. Stu is a producer in the true sense in that he was involved in shaping the entire sound of the record and its songcraft.”

Growing up in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, Barnhart developed a deep love for nature and the outdoors at the same time his musical parents—dad was a pianist and drummer, mom a singer and radio personality—introduced him to a wide musical palette full of everything from Pink Floyd and Dan Fogelberg to Miles Davis, Mozart and Benny Goodman. Barnhart began playing piano at age five and studied classical music until his teens when Led Zeppelin and Nirvana began quickening his pulse. Developing a charismatic presence as a singer and performer, he played in several popular high school bands (some of which recorded original music) before focusing on his passions for electronic music and music technology as a student at Berklee.

After developing his skills as an engineer and teacher while at Full Sail in Orlando, he moved out West to pursue a Master’s Degree in electro acoustic composition at the University of Oregon. Barnhart worked closely with the dance department there, creating several engaging and unique works that incorporated movement, video, live performance and electronic music. After a subsequent move to San Francisco, he settled down in Los Angeles, where he began working for the keyboard manufacturer KORG, traveling throughout the West Coast demonstrating and teaching people how to use their instruments.

“I learned so much about performing when I started playing clubs in L.A.,” he says. “That’s when I realized that becoming a successful artist isn’t just about making a good album but creating a strong and engaging live performance. It’s about rising to the challenge of making that 45 minutes to an hour stretch interesting so that people will come back to see you again and again. It’s been so exciting having the opportunity to play more of my own live dates, sharing what I do with new audiences. But the most rewarding thing has been to have finally achieved my lifelong dream of recording my own album. It was great to work with some real pros in the studio, but the big moment came when I opened the box, pulled out the CDs of Missing Pieces and realized what I had accomplished. The metaphor of the album title took on a deeper meaning than ever before.”

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