Article: Kim Carnes has friends in high places

With a career that began in the mid-1960s, hit records as both a performer and a songwriter to this day, and a host of inventive collaborators eager to work with her, the music business has been very good to Kim Carnes.

But really, music is much more than a business to her.

"In my own life, music has been the great healer," says Carnes, who visits the Rialto Room on Friday for her debut performance in Athens. "That was put to the test a few years ago when my mother died. I was traveling back and forth from Nashville to California to take care of her, and it was so sad.

Then when I got back to Nashville, I'd go into the studio with my band, and it was invaluable to make music.

"My mother died on a Friday, and we had a charity show the next day in Sister, Ore., that we'd been doing for years. To be able to play that day with my band and with some friends who were also on the bill couldn't have been more perfect. It showed me how music has healing powers for me and everybody I know."

Carnes, whose "Bette Davis Eyes" was the biggest radio hit of 1981, has concentrated in recent years on writing for other artists - Tim McGraw, Sawyer Brown, Tanya Tucker, Suzy Bogguss and Deanna Carter among them - but she's maintained a keen interest in performing, often appearing at informal shows with her fellow tunesmiths, sharing songs in her well-known raspy, smoky vocal style.

She recently returned from a brief tour of South America and visits Europe at least once a year.

And Carnes, whose most recent album, 2005's "Chasin' Wild Trains," featured tunes penned with the likes of Angelo, Kim Richey, Chuck Prophet, Matraca Berg and NRBQ's Al Anderson, admits she doesn't favor one aspect of music over another.

"People ask me, 'Which do you prefer - writing, recording or performing?' " she says. "There really isn't a choice; it all goes together, and each step is as important as the next. There's a joy in writing a song and being all excited about it. Then there's the recording, where you're getting it how you want it to sound. And then there's performing, when you hope people love the song as much as you do."

One of Carnes' favorite songwriters is Greg Barnhill, who also happens to be a member of her band.
"I always have Greg do two or three songs in the show," says Carnes, who points out that Barnhill is the author of such country-tinged hits as "Walkaway Joe" (recorded by Trisha Yearwood) and "House of Love" (Vince Gill and Amy Grant). "He's amazingly talented, and if people don't know about Greg, they'll love him when they hear him."

Carnes adds that while she'll play several songs from "Chasin' Wild Trains," she won't deprive her fans of hearing their favorites.

"For songwriters, the fun of a live show is playing your newest stuff," she says. "But we can't do that, because people want to hear the hits. So we like to mix it up. ... It's a very loose show. It's kind of like 'Welcome to my living room.' We have a set list, but we usually stray from it, depending on the audience. I've had this band for 14 years, so if I screw something up, the guys are there to bail me out. We're like family."

The creator of hits with Kenny Rogers and Barbra Streisand (as well as having a prominent role in the 1985 all-star recording of "We Are The World"), Carnes may have Nashville's most impressive Rolodex.

"Whether it's music, visual art or whatever, (artists) are a different breed and really enjoy hanging with each other," she says. "A lot of artistic folks look at the world in a similar way and more than anything really appreciate each other's talents. It never ceases to amaze me at the talent in my band and in the friends that I have. I feel fortunate that I not only work with these people, but that they're also great pals."

When asked about her dream collaborator, Carnes is quick to respond: "I'd love to work with Mark Knopfler, like Emmylou Harris did, and I'd love to sing with Tom Petty. I used to say I'd give up being me to be a Heartbreaker. As for the right now, I'd love to get together and write with a couple of artists from the United Kingdom, Duffy and Adele. Rhythm and blues has always been a strong influence, and they do a great job mixing Motown with modern sounds."

Carnes says she has a 22-year-old son who recently graduated from college and is trying to figure out what to do with his life. She had no such roadblock in her way, knowing at an early age she wanted to carry a tune.

"I knew from the time I was 3 years old that I'd write songs and sing, and I never wavered from that for one second," she says. "I never, ever had any thought about doing anything but music, which made things easy. How did I know? I didn't know because I certainly wasn't born into a musical family. My mother didn't get my career, and my father, who was an attorney, didn't think singing and writing was even a job. But music has gotten me through everything."

Chris Starrs, Athens Banner-Herald, November 5, 2009.