Talk:Max D. Barnes

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Max D. Barnes. Country Music Singer and songwriter. As a songwriter, Barnes composed many familiar songs of the '80s and '90s, receiving 42 songwriter awards in his career. Artists like George Jones ("Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes"), Waylon Jennings ("Drinkin' and Dreamin'"), Conway Twitty ("Red Neckin' Love Makin' Night"), Keith Whitley ("Ten Feet Away"), Randy Travis ("I Won't Need You Anymore [Forever and Always]"), Vern Godsin ("Way Down Deep," "Slow Burnin' Memory"), Pam Tillis ("Don't Tell Me What to Do"), and Vince Gill ("Look at Us") have recorded his songs, as have many others. Although he has had a couple of minor hits himself (most notably "Allegheny Lady" in the mid-'70s), his true legacy lies in his songs, not his records.

Barnes grew up in Iowa, receiving his first guitar from his sister Ruthie Barnes Steele at age 11. Shortly afterward, his parents were divorced. He moved to Omaha, NE, with his mother and two younger brothers. At 16, he dropped out of school and began singing in a local nightclub. During this time, he formed a band called the Golden Rockets, which featured his future wife, Patsy, as lead singer. Max and Patsy quit playing clubs after the birth of their son, Patrick. At first, Max worked for an Omaha concrete company, but the family soon moved to Long Beach, CA, where he was the foreman at a lamp factory. After a while, he quit, spending his summers in Omaha and his winters singing in California. By 1962, he saved up enough money to buy a nightclub near Lake Okiboji, IA, but he sold it after eight months. Again, the Barnes family moved back to Omaha, where Max spent nine years driving as a truck driver.

Barnes' musical career didn't really begin until 1971, when he recorded a single for Jed, "Ribbons of Steel"/"Hello Honky Tonk." He followed it with "You Gotta Be Putting Me On"/"Growing Old With Grace," which was released on Willex. Following some words of encouragement from songwriter Kent Westberry, Barnes moved to Nashville in 1973. Barnes became a staff writer for Roz-Tense Music, which led to Charley Pride recording two of his songs. Soon, he moved to Gary S. Paxman Music, then to Danor Music. While he was with Danor, Barnes wrote nearly 30 songs recorded by other artists, including several hit singles; on one occasion, he had five of his songs on the charts simultaneously. He also co-wrote many songs with Troy Seals, one of the co-owners of the publishing company. Sadly, tragedy befell the Barnes family, as the eldest son, Patrick, died in a car accident in 1975. Max wrote about the incident on "Chiseled in Stone," which was co-written with Vern Gosdin, who had a hit with the song in 1989.

In 1976, Barnes signed a publishing deal with Screen Gems EMI, which helped him secure a recording contract with Polydor. Released the following year, Rough Around the Edges spawned the minor hit "Allegheny Lady," which scraped the bottom of the charts. If he didn't have hits with his own records, he did have hits with his songs, as Conway Twitty brought several of Barnes' songs to the charts, including the Loretta Lynn duets "I Can't Love You Enough" and "From Seven Till Ten," and the solo "Don't Take It Away," which hit number one.

BMI Award-winning songwriter Max D. Barnes is one of Music City's most respected and honored writers - and a favorite writing partner of Harlan Howard, Merle Haggard, Vince Gill, Max T. Barnes, and Ruthie Barnes Steele - Barnes provided hits to country music legends like George Jones, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, Vern Gosdin, Randy Travis, Keith Whitley and Waylon Jennings, during a career that lasted nearly 40 years.

Born July 24, 1936, in Hardscratch, Iowa, Max Duane Barnes grew up in Nebraska. After leaving school at 16, he began singing in an Omaha nightclub. He later formed his own band, the Golden Rockets; their lead singer, Patsy, eventually became his wife and a songwriting collaborator.

His first songwriting success came in 1966 when Tree Music published his "Uncanny Connie From Calgary." He moved to Nashville in 1973 and saw his career take off in 1974 when Charley Pride recorded two of his songs.

At the 1992 BMI Country Awards presentation to "Look At Us": David Conrad, Vince Gill, Mary Del Scobey, Roger Sovine, Chris Oglesby, Max D. Barnes, Frances Preston, Lance Freed

In 1979, Conway Twitty delivered Barnes his first #1 with "Don't Take It Away." Other hits included "I Can't Love You Enough" (for Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty), "Red Neckin' Love Makin' Night" (Twitty), "Look at Us" (Vince Gill), "Thank God For the Radio" (The Kendalls), "Joe Knows How To Live" (Eddy Raven), "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes" (George Jones), "I Won't Need You Anymore" and "If I Didn't Have You" (Randy Travis), "Ten Feet Away" (Keith Whitley) "Don't Tell Me What to Do" (Pam Tillis), "I've Got It Made" (John Anderson), "Chiseled In Stone," "If You're Gonna Do Me Wrong (Do It Right)" and "This Ain't My First Rodeo" (Vern Gosdin).

He was a two-time winner of the Country Music Association's prestigious Song of the Year prize: in 1998 for "Chiseled In Stone," co-written with Gosdin and inspired by the death of Barnes' elder son, Duane, in 1975, and in 1992 for "Look At Us," co-written with Gill. He was inducted to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992 and AMERICAN OLD TIME COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME along with his sister Ruthie Barnes Steele in 2006.

Max D. Barnes died January 11 2004 of pneumonia at Baptist Hospital in Nashville. He was 67.

BMI Awards List

"Chiseled In Stone" - 1989 Country Award

"Don't Take It Away" - 1980 Country Award

"Don't Tell Me What To Do" - 1982 Country Award/Million-Air (2 million)

"Drinkin' And Dreamin'" - 1986 Country Award

"I Can t Love You Enough" - 1978 Country Award

"I've Got It Made" - 1995 Country Award/Million-Air

"I Won't Need You Anymore" - 1988 Country Award/Million-Air

"If I Didn't Have You" - 1993 Country Award/Million-Air (2 million)

"Joe Knows How To Live" - 1989 Country Award/Million-Air

"Let Go Of The Stone" - 1993 Country Award/Million-Air

"Look At Us" -- 1992 Country Award/Million-Air (2 million)

"Love Ten Feet Away" - 1987 Country Award

"Red Neckin' Love Makin' Night" -- 1982 Pop Award/1982 Country Award

"Thank God For The Radio" - 1985 Country Award

"That Just About Does It" - 1990 Country Award

"Way Down Deep" - 1984 Country Award

"Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes" - 1987 Country Award

"Do You Believe Me Now" - Million-Air

Happy Panda 25 (talk) 15:43, 30 July 2018 (UTC) New edits

I moved this: He was a two-time Country Music Award winner for Song of the Year, and won the BMI Songwriter Award 18 times. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Association's International Hall of Fame in 1992.

To awards since it seemed out of place in the first paragraph and caused the paragraph not to flow well. the other items I moved were trying to group things together as best I could.

Removed this: "In 1992, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame." because it was duplicated information. Other similar edits with duplicating information were made.

I tried to organize things in chronological order as well as group them better. I did not add any references since that area seemed strong already.

I really don't know what to do with the list of collaborating artist. A table? Happy Panda 25 (talk) 15:43, 30 July 2018 (UTC)

References