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The Legend of Doc
Barker
by
Doug Jones
Leburn, Kentucky
Wednesday Morning, 2 AM, 10.03.04
Doc Barker really lived. Everything you’ve heard about him
is true. I know. I knew him almost all of his days. He was a rare bird
indeed, and truly one of kind.
At the time of this writing, Doc is easily one of the world’s best
practicing singer-songwriters and Doctors of Medical Dentistry. I’ll leave
his readers, his listeners, and his patients plenty of room to decide what
was his talent and what was his passionate hobby.
He’s a friend to many and has been a close friend of mine for a long time.
You may have just heard of him recently on account of his first CD of
original songs. He might also have had his hands in your mouth for years.
Like an old west gunslinger, he picks up his guitar (or puts on his
gloves) and gets right down to business. His generosity and talent in
dentistry are widely known, but the songs I’ve heard him write and sing
all these years are just now finally coming to light. Whether he’s filling
a tooth at the office or filling in a line or chord in a song, he takes
his time with the details until he gets it just right. After all, there’s
good work and there’s fast work. He’s still got a good eye and ear, and
I’m proud to know him.
Doc and I come from a little town back in the hills of Eastern Kentucky at
the forks of Troublesome Creek, in the County Seat of Knott County, a
place called Hindman. The area was so isolated back before the coming of
the roads that Knott County was one of Kentucky’s last to be pieced
together and formed from its neighbors. Just recently the government had
to lock up the County Judge for vote buying up here where we were raised.
"Knott County Mounties", Doc’s ode to our past local lawmen, is 100% true
to life. The names have not been changed to protect the innocent.
Three different rivers originate together in Knott County and roll down to
feed the whole eastern third of Kentucky. Some things, like the soul of
the music, have been slow to change back in these hills. The late, great
Gary Stewart, sweet Patty Loveless, “Picky” Ricky Skaggs and Dwight Yoakam
are a few of those who carried the sound of genuine mountain soul to the
flat country. Lots of folks off from here in the big world learned to
imitate it, but to some folks, it’s just flat-natural born; folks like Doc
Barker.
Dr. Mark Barker was born November 20, 1953, the third child and the
younger of two sons born of Dr. Denzil G. & Gladys M. “Mickie” Barker of
Cowtown, West End, Hindman. He was birthed in Perry County, near his
father’s homeplace in Hazard. Back in those days it really was a long way
to Harlan, just like the Merle Travis song said.
Doc remembers hearing music all the time in his family. One of his
earliest musical memories was burned when he was visiting his grandparents
in Hazard as a very young boy:
“A distant cousin and his wife were passing through and had this little
duet worked up. I remember them singing ‘Freight Train’ and my cousin
Jerry finger picking that flat top guitar behind their vocals. I think I
knew right then and there that I wanted to play and sing. I remember the
sound of that acoustic guitar in the same room with me. I thought it was
the coolest thing in the world for him to be picking that guitar and them
singing together.”
His older brother’s early foray into music only fueled young Doc’s
imagination.
“When I was about 7 or 8 years old, my parents bought a mail order Kay
guitar for my older brother Greg. He was sure he wanted to learn how to
play. He got a chord book and everything. Soon, he even got together with
a couple of other guys and they started a little combo with guitar, sax
and drums. They would practice at our house. They were pretty bad, but the
possibility of playing guitar in a band intrigued me. I knew I had to
learn how to play. I started learning chords when my brother wasn’t
around. I’d play that Kay with the action so high off the neck that my
fingers felt like they would bleed. I never let that stop me. I learned
everything from ‘Wildwood Flower’ to ‘Walk, Don’t Run’.”
Around the same time he spotted his first guitar in the window at Bill
Cornett’s Western Auto Store in town. That really did the trick.
“I spotted a little red Truetone acoustic hanging on the wall in the local
Western Auto. At the time, my weekly allowance was one dollar. The
Truetone was $15. I remember first asking my folks if they would buy me
that guitar, because I wanted my own guitar. Plus, the action was much
lower on it, making it much easier to play than the Kay. They said “No!”,
and that I could just play my brother’s guitar. I remember I saved for 15
weeks for the Truetone, which I still have to this day. The neck was once
painted black, but there’s hardly any paint left on the fretboard now. I
played it for years, even when I formed my first band. I wrote my first
song with that band. We were playing birthday parties. The song was an
instrumental called “In The Mood”. The chord progression was E, G, A, and
B,..over and over with two alternating distinct riffs for the trumpet.
Little did I know there was already a classic song written by the same
name. My band consisted of Lee Thompson on trumpet and Ronnie Napier on
snare drum and cymbals, and me on vocals with my Truetone. I remember
arranging Lee’s trumpet on the song by singing his parts to him. Not a bad
song. Soon after, I wrote my first ballad called ‘Werewolf’s Bride’, and
actually used it in a play I wrote around the song for a grade school
talent show. Some of that was not half bad for an 8 or 9 year old. Then
maybe my third original was “Billy Paul”, which I still sing sometimes.”
Entering his teens, Doc soon learned the power of music:
“I was singing and playing pretty regularly in various situations…talent
shows, beauty pageants and coffee houses. I played guitar and sang in a
gospel trio at church for many years. During that period, I wasn’t
writing, but I was learning harmony. I was listening to R&B and Soul
singers like Otis Redding and Curtis Mayfield and to Country singers like
Jerry Lee Lewis , Tammy Wynette, Conway Twitty, Sammi Smith, etc.”
The Big World beckoned:
“I went to college at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. I spent the
summer before I left for school with my brother who was attending
Vanderbilt in Nashville. That summer forever changed my life. I was
introduced to the music of singer-songwriters like Kris Kristofferson, Jay
Bolotin, John Hiatt, etc. I even got a little job playing at a club close
to our apartment called “The House”. I thought I was ‘big time’ then. I
knew what I wanted in life. My passion for music grew.”
“While attending undergrad and later in Dental School at UK, my first wife
and I played lots of clubs around town. Our first gig was at a little
pizza place called “La Rosa’s”. Doug Jones, my oldest and dearest buddy,
was working with us in a trio. It wasn’t long before we were packing the
place on weekends. “Outlaw” music was just beginning at the time and we
covered Waylon & Willie, Kris & Rita, Cash and Coe songs galore, along
with many other artists who were influencing us during those years; real
heavyweights like Townes Van Zandt, Mickey Newbury, John Prine, Steve
Young, Dave Olney, and Billy Joe Shaver.”
“I began writing again; not very good songs, though we would perform them
onstage. We had a little fan base that we could depend on to show up
wherever we played. Some of our friends would always be there to enforce a
respectful listening environment, “shushing” the rowdier crowds. We
partied hearty during those days."
“Our best gig ended up being over in Winchester, a place called The Steak
House. It was a good paying job and we got our meals free. I remember,
their steaks were awesome! We played there for years with a fairly
consistent audience. In the summers we would do an early cocktail hour gig
at a place called Flaherty’s on Southland Drive, then move over to
Winchester for the evening Steak House shows. We were making good money at
the time,..so good that I almost dropped out of Dental School to devote
full time to my music. I knew that music was a lucrative vocation, but I
also knew that my heart was trying to over rule my logic at that point in
my life. My parents wouldn’t bless that decision anyhow, so I came up with
a plan. I would go ahead and finish school and become a dentist. Then,
when I was financially able, I’d return to the music. That way I would
never have to rely fully on music for money and my music could always be
totally free.”
“Through the years I’ve continued to play. In fact I often tell people my
vocation is music and my hobby is dentistry. I started writing songs
seriously only about ten years ago. I stumbled onto a few good songs,
which re-launched my musical career. Of course, I’ve been singing in
churches since I was young and I have continued to do that.”
Doc Barker has also used his dental practice and Christian heart to
befriend, assist and generally “hang” with a handful of the world’s great
singer-songwriters.
“Over the last two decades, I’ve become good friends with several of my
heroes,... living legends like Mac Gayden, Steve Young, Lee Clayton, Tom
Pacheco, Mickey Newbury, Dave Olney, Mark Germino, Michael Smith, Chris
Gantry, Richard Dobson, Vince Bell and others.”
As he has aspired, Doc Barker has become.
At knife-point, I’d describe him as a mixture of “Doc” Holliday, the Rev.
Billy Graham and Cowboy Jack Clement. Like those other singular
characters, his legend will only grow with the passage of time.
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