Bridgetown's blues and root performer

Tracey Barnett is a very successful song writer and performer. She started out in 2007 when a friend persuaded her to busk on the street at a Blues at Bridgetown Festival. It was a shy beginning but her achievements came quickly when she came 2nd in the south west heat of the Next Big Thing competition in 2009. With the achievements that keep coming, her most recent one is being a nominee in the 2020 West Australian Blues Roots Song of the Year.

Tracey is working on her new album which is due for release in 2021. Two singles which have prior release in 2020 ‘Gotta Get Out’ and ‘Eyes Forward’ both well supported with air play on Triple J, reaching top 5 on the Triple J Unearthed Roots Charts and number 5 on the ‘AMRAP’ regional chart.

The recent release of ‘Darkness in The Light’ is the third single from the new album it also was on the AMRAP Regional charts topping at number 3.

‘Darkness in The Light’ delves into myriad genres, forging a flavour that is undeniably Tracey Barnett; alternative meets acoustic rock in this upbeat and powerful number about exposing a betrayer of innocence.

Tracey talks about her influences.

“A huge influence on my song writing is where I live, having grown up on a farm in Bridgetown.

“I love riding my horse, gardening and just living in the country.

I’m an outdoorsy person who is grounded in Bridgetown.

“I was brought up on country music, but the music I write and perform has become a fusion of soul, rock and blues.

“I write songs for myself, but of course I hope others get meaning, comfort or inspiration from my songs.

“My song writing comes from quiet moments, mostly when I’m home, horse riding, bush walking or even when I can’t sleep at 2am in the morning.

“My songs, the words, rhythm and music come to me all at once, I just need to write it down. Sometimes I feel my music has a divine construct and I’m the conduit that gets to call these songs mine.”

Because of Covid-19 restrictions Tracey hasn’t be able to tour, as often, a highlight from 2020 was her performance was at ‘Blues at Bridgetown’ in 2020, this has meant she is able to spend a lot more time on her other loves, her horses.

She has three horses; Mingy, a 29 year old mare, Shukran, a 25 year old gelding whose Arabic name translates into English as ‘thank you’ she calls her dear old friend; and a new horse ‘Aussie Sensation’, an eleven year old gelding and the new kid in the stables. ‘Aussie’ is a standardbred horse that was bred for harness racing.

Tracey talks about her best mates,

“I like to ride ‘Aussie’ around five days a week, he was bred to pull a sulky and is slowly adapting to ridden work.

“Horses are wonderful friends. Of course it can take a long while to develop a relationship with them, because of their size you have to be wary of them, but once you build trust, you are mates for life.

“Horse are a lot of work, but it’s work you like doing, caring for a horse has a huge reward, the reward of unconditional friendship.

“When I tour, I have to pass the care of my horses over to my husband and my dad, this is when I’m told it’s a lot of work.

“I’m working on my new album and it should be released this year, I do have music clips on my web page. Although musicians get a lot more exposure on the music streaming service web sites there is little reward financially for the less popular musicians from these platforms. I make most money from performing at shows and being able to sell merchandise after the shows.”

We look forward, hopefully sometime soon, to once again seeing Tracey as she comes armed with her acoustic guitar, harmonica and stomp box, paving her own way with a heady mix of sounds that merge effortlessly with traditional rock rhythms, blues licks and a dose of grunge, creating a fusion that’s impossible to resist.