Warren Barfield, a 24-year-old North Carolina native, began playing the guitar at age eight. His family was always involved in leading worship at their church, and Barfield continued to develop in his late teens and early 20s while playing for youth groups and worship events, putting out two independent albums. Now he's signed with Creative Trust Workshop, and his music now reaches a national audience through hit songs like, "My Heart Goes Out." We talked with Barfield about life with a record label, how God continues to develop him, and what we might expect from his new album, due this fall.

What's happening in your life on the music side of things?

Warren Barfield: I've been writing for the next record, playing a few scattered dates, and meeting with A&R people, producers, and other people from the label. Then I start a tour in March with FFH and Big Daddy Weave, then I'll touring with Third Day and tobyMac in April and May.

I'll start recording my second record at the end of May. Hopefully we'll be able to turn that in by late June. Then it's the summer festivals, and hopefully by September I'll be out doing my own tour.

Tell me more about meeting with label people and how that's part of making a new album.

Barfield: I'll meet with Creative Trust Workshop, my label, and I'll play some songs—actually just ideas, themes, that kind of stuff. We'll start talking about producers. There's that whole process of deciding, Who we're going to use? Where we're going to do it at? Will it all be done in Nashville or in L.A.? A lot of the details are first worked out in these meetings—logistical and otherwise.

It's exciting, though. We'll get to see what happens in this new cycle of creativity. We want to try some different and interesting things. We'll dream a little and see how many of those ideas can become reality. We don't want to do the typical thing, but at the same time, it has to be relevant. We don't want to be creative just for the sake of being creative. We'll all throw our thoughts into the discussions. Some of us will be a little more liberal than others, but there are enough conservative people in the office to pull us back to reality when we need it (laughs). That's the good thing about having a team of people around you that you trust. Hopefully the best of everyone's opinions will come together and be able to agree upon one thing and we'll go for it.

What do you like about Creative Trust?

Barfield: Creative Trust Management and Creative Trust Workshop have been involved in the whole recording process, and I'm very grateful for that. There were about 20 people from the office giving input on my first album with the label. I'd write a song, and the next day I'd record it on a MP3 player and burn a CD. They'd all get my demos. Every person's opinion mattered.

Usually I discuss the songs with the A&R guy and the producer—not 25 people! But I liked that. It's such an opinion thing. You give one person too much power—even me as the person who wrote the song—and there will be songs that I'm passionate about. That doesn't mean it's a great song or that it deserves to be on the 10 slots on the CD. I need other people's opinions so we can create an album that's truly the best that it can be.

But there has to be some extra weight on your opinion, because you're going to play those songs for years to come.

Barfield: Definitely. At the end of the day, it's my decision. I have to want to play it and I have to be passionate about the song. But it'd be foolish to say, This is my decision and it's my song and I don't care if everyone else hates it—I'm gonna have it! I feel that just goes a little far in the wrong direction. There's a reason these people around me are in the positions they're in. Most of them have been doing this longer than I've been alive. So, if I just got arrogant and thought their opinion was way off, I think I'd make a big mistake.

There was one song on the last record that a couple people were really passionate about and I wasn't. There was one last slot to fill on the CD with three songs to choose from—two that I liked and one that I didn't like. I was kind of being pushed to do the one I didn't like. So, it came down to me say, "I don't want to do this song. If everybody says it's a great song and it needs to be on the record, I'll think twice about it. But I really don't want to do it."

Finally, Dan—the leader, if you will, at Creative Trust—said that he'd never made an artist record a song he didn't like and he wasn't going to start then. Another song was closer to my heart, so we left that other song off the record and I'm glad we did.

Were you happy with the end result?

Barfield: I hate the word "proud," as in saying that I'm proud of the first record. But in a God-honoring way, I'm proud of what happened. I'm pleased with it—not to say it's the best thing that ever happened to music. But it was really a dream.

There are a million 24-year-old guys who play guitar better than me, sing better than me, and write songs better than me that would gladly take my spot. I've been given this opportunity from God to share my music on a national level, and that's such an honor. I gave it my best with this first 11-song try. I worked hard and stretched myself, knowing it was important—because some 12– or 15-year-old I would never meet could listen to this record and get something from it.

When will the next album come out?

Barfield: Hopefully around October—if we can get everything finished by then. I have about seven songs I like right now, and a nice goal would be to have 15 or 20 songs to choose from by the time we're recording. If we're able to have the songs ready by that time, we'll have a good chance of hitting that October timeframe.

The thing is, I'd be happy if I could record two of the seven songs I've written now. If we could have those completely recorded , I'd be happy—even if we just trashed those other six or eight songs. That would be a good start for me. There's still plenty of time to write while being out on tour so much. Plus, we can still write up through the last day in the studio. That really does give me plenty of time.

Is there something you'd like your second album to accomplish that your first one didn't?

Barfield: I think growth would be a good thing. I want to grow and write about what's relevant to me now—not just the same things that worked on the last record, or even necessarily what's working in Christian music right now. The only thing I have to write about and offer is my relationship with Christ, and my perspective as a believer. No one else can say how I feel. I can write about who Christ is to me. I can put that in a way that will hopefully catch someone's musical attention for three or four minutes and share with them the truth of the gospel.

I'm currently focused on figuring out what that looks like. If there is a way to build God a house, something that honors him, with 10 songs on this album, then that's what I'm working toward. That's my goal, and I plan to work as hard as I can. By God's grace and by his will, I'll do it.

For more information on Warren Barfield, including a biography and a review of his self-titled debut, visit his artist page on our site. Go to Christianbook.com to listen to sound clips and buy his music.

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