Q: How long have you been playing your Barcus-Berry violin?
BRENDON: I have been playing a Barcus-Berry violin for almost 10 years now. The first one I played was a 70's or early 80's model blue with the old style pickup and volume pot. I found it on Broadway in Nashville in a pawn shop window. I'd actually had the opportunity to experiment with one earlier that year at a show so I knew exactly what I'd found. The first time I plugged it in I knew that I'd found a really special sounding electric/acoustic violin.

Q: The Barcus-Berry violin you play has a unique color. Does it attract more attention?
BRENDON: For one reason or another I've always played a blue violin. It is recognizable to people who have been fans of our band for many years and often they ask that it be included in their picture. TV producers on more than one prominent show such as The Letterman Show and Austin City Limits have commented that the blue was a great focus point and in one's words I should "hang on to that thing forever". I played my old blue violin for years and kept it not because of the color but because of it's tone and reliability. One way or another I came to like being associated with it.

Q: Do you play the violin when you’re in the studio or just during your live performances?
BRENDON: Of course I enjoy playing the violin in both instances. The studio really lets you know how you're playing. It's a pretty big microscope, and instrument tone is very important. Stage performance takes getting used to for a beginner and you definitely have to start somewhere. I trust the instruments I play nightly and that gives me the confidence to have fun and get into the show. Finding a good consistent live sound is tough and it all starts with the instrument.

Q:  Do you have any specific memories associated with your blue violin?
BRENDON: I have more memories associated with playing my violin than I could possibly recount. Playing it alongside Willie Nelson at Farm Aid was a good one, or perhaps walking onstage holding it at Madison Square Garden. There are dozens more. In all honesty, some of the most exciting and memorable moments I have experienced have been shared with my bandmates and my blue violin.

Q: How does the performance and sound of the violin compare to other violins you have played?
BRENDON: Barcus-Berry violins sound like violins and that's about the biggest compliment that I can give an electric/acoustic instrument. I've used several different types of electric/acoustics and without a doubt the Barcus-Berry delivers the truest acoustic sound I've found yet. I've always come back to Barcus-Berry when it's time to make a violin sound like a violin. The Barcus-Berry instrument is really a plug in and play machine. The volume pot and the bridge are ready to go and will perform to high standards basically out of the case. The Barcus-Berry 3110 bridge pickup, which I use on my classical violin so that I don't have to adjust the bridge, installs in seconds and (more importantly) un-installs in seconds as well. It sounds incredible plugged in and when you're done being amplified simply remove the two fastening screws and you have an un-amplified classical violin again. This is the biggest problem with so many other acoustic violin pickups! They require having a new bridge cut and if you want to hear the true sound of the acoustic you have to switch out the bridges (which is a little more complicated than it sounds and requires keeping up with a delicate classical bridge as well).

Q: What kind of sound do you need from a violin when you are playing live?
BRENDON: When playing live, the G.I.G.O. (garbage in garbage out) rule definitely applies. It doesn't really matter how much you spend on gear such as pre-amps, amplifiers, effects, cabling, etc. if the instrument you're plugging in doesn't perform and sound good. A bad sounding violin played through $5,000 worth of tubes pedals and cables will still sound bad on the other end. Barcus-Berry violins are a great place to start. For the most part I'm called upon to send the sound-board a clean, strong, acoustic tone. With the minimum of gear, Barcus-Berry accomplishes that. If I'm called upon to play a more electric type show, the violin will perform at high volumes without feedback and sounds great with effects added.

Q: What are your overall impressions of Barcus-Berry?
BRENDON: Barcus-Berry is a company with which I am very thankful to be associated. I have always appreciated their products and am honored to be an endorsee of their violins and pickups. That's because I genuinely like playing Barcus Berry violins. I trust them to do what they're asked to do night after night after night after night, over 200 nights a year for over five years. They hold up to the intense travel, weather changes, crazy stage hands, baggage handlers, and unruly fans like no other violin I could imagine. After all of it, when I plug it in and get ready to play on a new stage in a new town after goodness-knows-what to get there, it sounds like my violin, and that has been an invaluable commodity for as long as I've played these instruments.

Q: Do you have any recommendations for those interested in buying a Barcus-Berry violin or pickups?
BRENDON: My recommendation would be to not wait. Compare it to the instrument you're playing right now and note the differences. Barcus-Berry violins are made to play onstage and will sound different than your classical violin you've been playing for years with a pickup. It will also sound different from your solid body electric that you can't quite get to sound real when you need it to. You'll be happy that you don't have to worry about having the jack ripped off of your classical violin in a rock performance and, when you need to play something a little more rootsy, the Barcus-Berry can do it when your solid body sounds like a blues kazoo. I have recommended the Barcus-Berry to all of my violin playing colleagues and some have made the switch already.

Do you have a question for this artist? Please email us your question and we will have an answer for you in an upcoming newsletter!



If you haven't already, sign up for the FREE Barcus-Berry enewsletter here!