Published: June 30, 2009 11:01 am      

Berea musician wins Telluride competition

BEREA — Berea singer/songwriter Mitch Barrett was named the Telluride Troubadour on June 19.

The troubadour competition, part of an annual bluegrass music festival in Telluride, Colo., drew more than 500 individual artists from across the county who write and perform original music but are not signed to a major recording and publishing contract.

In addition to national recognition and a chance to perform on the festival’s main stage, Barrett received cash and prizes, including a Custom Shanti guitar.

According to a release from the festival, contestants in the two-day troubadour competition were judged on the quality of their songs’ composition, their vocal delivery and overall performance.

Among headliners for the Telluride festival’s 36th edition were such legendary stars as Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, David Byrne and Bela Fleck.

The Telluride Troubadour is not the first nationally recognized musical honor Barrett has received.

He has won the Kerrville (Texas) New Folk award and The Folks Festival Songwriting Competition in Lyons, Colo., where he came out ahead of more than 900 competitors.

He also is the only songwriter to be a two-time winner of Wilkesboro (N.C.) Merlefest “Chris Austin Songwriting Competition.”

He has played festivals and concert halls from coast to coast and shared the billing with such notables as Arlo Guthrie, John Prine and Richie Havens, said Brenda Barkley of BMB Artist Management.

He is scheduled to sing at the Berea Crafts Fair, July 10-12, according to the Web site mitchbarrett.com.

The founder and lead-singer of the former Zoe Speaks Band, Barrett has been called “one of Kentucky’s most talented contemporary singer-songwriters,” Barkley said.

“Mitch has remained true to his traditional roots,” she said. “His original work has achieved a contemporary understanding that reaches beyond his Appalachian heritage to the music that today is being called ‘Americana.’”

In addition to his musical career, Barkley said Barrett has been active on behalf of such humanitarian causes as the Christian Appalachian Project and the drug and alcohol rehabilitation efforts of the Kentucky court system as well as the campaign to end mountaintop removal mining.



Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 624-6622.