Brian Marshall & The ROCK 108 Morning Show - "Don Barnes of .38 Special"

The conversation I had with the co-founder of this band, Don Barnes.

Such a fun conversation.

So take a listen to this now for New Music Monday.

Don Barnes on the Rock 108 Morning Show.

Hey, it's Don Barnes, 38 Special.

How you doing about

it?

Dude, I'm doing great.

It's great to talk to you.

You too.

I see you got a big reach.

You could carry us through all three cities there.

That's right.

We're going to feature so much so right.

Oh,

great.

Well, I want to tell you, we woke up this morning and found and made the Billboard charts, the top rock albums, the number five top 10 rock albums in America.

So that was really a special thing.

You know, first, first time we've entered in the charts after all these years.

Well, and my friends joining us right now on the Rock 108 morning show, Don Barnes, 38 special, the new album, Milestones feels like the perfect name for the brand new album, doesn't it?

Yeah, I couldn't think of anything else to call it.

It was the 50th anniversary, but it had been a long history.

And I thought, you know, it is a milestone.

So there was one word of the appropriate word, milestone.

So we were young boys with a dream and we had, we were influenced by the British invasion, the searchers and the Beatles and all that.

So we tried to put.

A style together is called a muscle and melody.

You know, you got that muscular guitar in the face and a good melody with good story.

We just felt like, hey, if any broke, don't fix it.

We were off to the races back there.

We changed our formula through the 80s back then, but this is a new updated version and 2025 version of 38 Special.

We've taken some artistic risks and gone outside of ourselves.

And so we're pretty, pretty proud of that.

The fact that we didn't

day with just the tried and true from way back in the 80s, you know, because people will tend to shrug their shoulders and and say, well, there's nothing new.

It sounds like just like they used to.

But then conversely, you do something that's angular and, you know, risky than some of those older fans are like, huh, this is 38 special.

But that's what it's all about is growth and, you know, taking some chances.

So it's worked out really well for us.

So, you know, it's we're happy to be here today.

And everybody's feeling good, feeling young, you know, you know, don't blink, you know, because that many years will go by.

You just don't realize how much time flows by so quickly, you know.

Recording now in today's day and age kind of seems like magic compared to when you got yourself started.

How is the recording process on milestones for you today?

You know, any challenges there or is that part of that artistic risk that you were talking about?

Yeah, you take, you know, everything's a push of a button.

You're looking at a monitor screen.

Back in those days, it was real to real, you know, multi-track tapes, two-inch tapes.

And the main thing back then was everybody's on their edge of the chair with clenching their teeth when the guy has to take a razor blade and cut your tape to edit it.

You know, you're like, man, don't screw this up, you know.

but uh technology has really helped all these years later you know even even in live music we've got

we

don't have to do sound checks anymore you have a digital and digital age you can you have your own digital monitor board and everything is set and uh you know you just walk up there you plug your your radio pack in and it's exact it sounds exactly like it did last night you know so everything is the same but it does eliminate all that

the hassle of getting over there in the afternoon and doing a sound check and get back to the hotel and all that stuff.

But there's a lot of advances in technology that have made it quicker.

So we got a new Music Monday here, Don Barnes 38 Special.

We heard this track and it was introduced to me without telling me who it was.

Take a listen.

What do you think of this?

And tell us about So Much, So Right.

That was just, that was kind of straight down mainstream.

You know, we had big guitars in your face, muscle and melody, you know, and it was just, but that one was about, you know, the point of passion, that intimacy, and it's also about having to find the right person in your life.

She makes everything, makes so much so right for your life, you know.

I've been through a lot of trials and tribulations and we all, you know, you finally get it right and you're happy about it.

So it was just, you know, describing those, those hot moments and everything, but mainly the guitar was the attitude, the aggression, but, you know, we've got a lot of different songs on the album.

They're real diverse.

I wanted to put, I wanted to put something for everybody on there, you know, so it's after all these years later, there's a little something if you didn't like that one, you'll like the next one, you know, so they're really different from each other.

That's what I put the point was, it's kind of taken for a ride.

Just like our live shows, we take them for a ride.

We unfold that history.

We put the songs from movies.

It's a big party.

It's everything you want to hear from the history of the band.

Don Barnes, 38 special on a new music Monday.

I didn't think in my career I'd be able to say new 38 special, but here we are today.

Don, thank you for the time.

That's been it's been a pleasure Brian.

Thanks for much for having me on and everybody could make it out.

We're gonna have a large time and look forward to it.

Thanks again

Brian.