Down By The River is a country/rock ballad that was written in 2000 by Indiana unsigned artist, Eric Barr. This is a solo studio project effort, with Eric performing each track himself.
I lived right by “Sugar Creek”, or as it was previously called, “Rock River” (A little over a century ago, local officials changed the name to make it sound more “appealing” to commercial navigators and tourists at the time.). I was just learning to play guitar and I would take my acoustic down by the river and practice where I wouldn’t bother anyone. I learned a lot of songs there. Then I started writing my own music there. DBTR was one of the first songs I wrote and actually completed. It captures a moment of reflection of a world gone by. At the time I wrote it, I was trying different styles of story telling. I put myself into the future and wrote about the days I was living right then. At the time, I didn’t realize the tragedies I would be looking back on in that future.
The song is actually about my guitar, which was one constant that never let me down. But in the video I tie in a tribute and memorial for two amazing women who were taken from this world way too young by cancer. My wife Susan Jean Barr who passed in 2007 from Merkel Cell Carcinoma, a rare form of cancer. I remarried 3 years later to an amazing woman who became my partner and soulmate, Megan O’Donnell Barr. Megan passed away in 2021 from an aggressive carcinoma (cancer) of unknown origin. It’s been difficult recovering from this, to say the very least. I lost my mom, Sherry Barr, in late 2020, just 4 months prior to losing Megan. She passed from complications from Parkinson’s Disease. It has indeed been a cycle of loss. And I have focused on my music to help me deal with it.
I have always liked this song. It was the title track for my very first original CD. The original mix was crude and made when I wasn’t near as experienced at mixing, and with less advanced equipment and software. I took those tracks into my current studio setup and remixed and remastered them into a more palatable mix. I added in some strings at the end to fill out the resolution of the tune.
I have wanted to make a video of this song ever since I wrote it. I even started filming with an old camcorder back then, with that in mind. A few of those clips are in the video. There is a shot of the very spot I used to go, where I wrote this and several other tunes. I interweave these old clips, along with new ones filmed in the summer of 2022. I wanted to make this a tribute to Susan and Megan. Two beautiful souls deserve a beautiful song.
In the main verse singing shots, I ended up using some test footage that was me unshaven and not “prepared” for actual filming of my face. I cleaned up for the planned singing verse shots, and filmed them in another sweet spot. But as I worked with that “cleaned up look” footage, it didn’t seem a genuine as that test footage. It really looked “cleaned up”. Too cleaned up. Sterile, even. Definitely not the genuine back-home real image I was going for. So I went back and used the footage that shows the real me as you might actually find me at the creek, singing with real emotion that reflects the power of the song. That guy you see right there on film is the real me..
Sequences were filmed along Sugar Creek in Montgomery County, Indiana in July and August of 2022. Many thanks to Andy Karle and the Karle Family for allowing me access to their property for some great sequences. Yountsville Falls is where the main singing videos used were shot. And the drone shots and a few others were filmed at the very spacious Offield Nature Preserve, known as “Spooky Hollow”, in rural Montgomery County. The older flashback footage was from down by the Jim Davis Bridge over Sugar Creek, near Shades State Park. The same spot where the song was written. Lastly some of the full moon sequences were shot at Shelton Farms, many thanks to Sam and Katherine Shelton for use of their park-like pond.
Equipment used: Main Camera was a Canon 90D, and Canon XF400, with a Canon T8i as a B Cam used to shoot the sunset time lapses. Sigma Art Lenses. Lighting was all natural. Drone footage was shot on a DJI Mavic Pro Zoom. Assembled on a Mac with Final Cut Pro X. Original audio tracks recorded with Steinberg Cubase LE 4 on an old Mac Cube. Current mix was made on Mac with Cubase Elements 11.
Lastly, I have to make the disclaimer. Everything you see and hear is my own effort. This was a solo project start to finish. From writing, to performing each track, mixing, mastering, and all video and graphic artwork. It is me checking off a bucket list item as I heal from devastating loss. I take great pride that no auto-tune or digitally produced harmonies were used in this production. All vocals, lead and harmonies, were personally tracked.
Thank-You so much for listening, and God bless you all.
