Max D. Barnes

b. Max Duane Barnes, 24 July 1936, Hardscratch, Iowa, USA, d. 11 January 2004, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. One of country music’s all-time most successful songwriters, Max Barnes is one of the few who gained real Nashville success later in life. Barnes, one of nine children, grew up with his mother in Omaha, quitting school early to sing in a club. He formed a band and soon married Patsy (b. 1936, d. 25 March 2004), its lead singer. After having two children, they relocated to California, where, for a time, he worked outside of music except for singing in clubs at weekends. For most of the 60s, he worked as a truck driver, but in 1971, he made his first visit to Nashville, where he recorded ‘Ribbon Of Steel’, a truck-driving song, for the Jed label. In 1972, he, Patsy and their son, Max Troy (b. 1962), headed for Music City, where he tried to find success as a songwriter. His first success came in 1973, when Charley Pride recorded two of his songs, ‘The Man I Used To Be’ and ‘I Don’t See How I Can Love You Any More’. He then met Troy Seals and the two began a highly successful writing partnership - at one time, five of their songs were in the charts at the same time. In 1975, Barnes’ other son Patrick was killed when hit by a car while hitchhiking to Omaha. It was a great shock to Barnes and later led him to co-write ‘Chiseled In Stone’ with Vern Gosdin, whose recording of the song became a number 6 hit in 1988; the song was voted CMA Song Of The Year in 1989. In 1976, Barnes recorded for Polydor Records, gaining his first chart success with ‘Allegheny Lady’. However, during the 70s, it was his writing that gained him his popularity. Conway Twitty’s recording of ‘Don’t Take It Away’, in 1979, gave him his first number 1 as a writer. During the 70s, recordings of Barnes’ songs appeared regularly, including Mel McDaniel’s ‘Bordertown Woman’, and Twitty and Loretta Lynn duetting on ‘I Can’t Love You Enough’ and ‘From Seven Till Ten’. In 1980, he gained four chart entries, including his ‘Dear Mr President’, a patriotic narration spoken over the ‘Battle Hymn Of The Republic’ melody, and the catchy ‘Heaven On A Freight Train’. During the 80s, the hits for other artists with songs that he wrote or co-wrote, sometimes with Patsy, are too numerous to mention, but some of the biggest include ‘Red Neck Love Makin’ Night’ (Conway Twitty), ‘Thank God For The Radio’ (Kendalls), ‘I Won’t Need You Anymore (Always And Forever)’ (Randy Travis) and ‘Joe Knows How To Live’ (Eddy Raven), all of which reached number 1, ‘Drinkin’ And Dreamin’’ (Waylon Jennings) and arguably the best song never to make number 1, ‘Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes’, a number 3 for George Jones in 1985. He also began to write with his son, Max Troy, and it has been claimed that their ‘Way Down Deep’, a hit for Vern Gosdin, can claim to be the first Top 5 country hit written by a father and son team. Barnes’ own 1984 recording of ‘Don’t Ever Leave Me Again’ was his last chart success as a singer but certainly not as a writer. In the 90s, the hits continued, including ‘Don’t Tell Me What To Do’ (Pam Tillis) and ‘Let Go Of The Stone’ (John Anderson). One of his biggest successes came in 1992 when ‘Look At Us’ (recorded by Vince Gill, who co-wrote it with Barnes) gave him his second CMA Song Of The Year award. Ricky Van Shelton sang ‘Hillbilly Heart’ inNext Of Kin and Barnes himself sang on the soundtracks of The China Syndrome and Tender Mercies. In 1992, Barnes was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters’ Hall Of Fame and he had almost 20 BMI awards. Many of his songs were about the working man, as witness ‘Let’s Hear It For The Working Man’, and he never become conceited about his success; he once ended an interview with the comment: ‘You know songwriting’s my life but I still consider myself a truck driver’.