The talented, Austin multi-instrumentalist PATTERSON BARRETT steps forward with his first, solo, singer-songwriter effort---I MUST BE DREAMING---giving voice to a more intimate face than the one that his fans have seen in his long eclectic career. This stellar debut is an introspective contemplation of life’s more melancholy themes  [loss, change, and transformation], but is one that handles them with a delicate restraint and experienced insight. Bittersweet is tempered by optimism and hope, and occasionally by some unabashedly joyous, rocking. Barrett exploits his impressive multi-instrument virtuosity and producer/arranger instincts to produce a polished, musically-complex production that enhances the pleasure of listening.  As an added bonus, long-time friends and musical colleagues Buddy Miller, Julie Miller, and Deborah Holland join him on harmony on several cuts, and the matchless Tommy Taylor contributes drum tracks. 

A trio of heartfelt laments—--CONCRETE & STEEL (with Julie Miller’s  plaintiff vocal counterpoints); the sweeping, mystical SOMEWHERE FAR AWAY; and a soulful pedal steel laced I DON'T WANT TO DREAM ABOUT YOU ANYMORE---pay tribute to lost love. The unadorned but elegant, DANA'S SONG expands the vocabulary of love with its tender expression of parental devotion. LEAP OF FAITH mischievously reinterprets Gurf Morlix’s wonderful, but more understated, original as a frisky, accordion-flavored two-step. In TAKE THE STAGE Buddy Miller joins Barrett in a rocking duet commentary on the careers of two wily music veterans. Powerful piano work punctuated with poignant vocals in Barrett’s rendition of The Band’s, SLEEPING, reframes this cut as a moving elegy to Richard Manual, one of his musical inspirations.
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