After eight years away from releasing music, veteran singer-songwriter Barth Beasley is stepping back into the spotlight with a deeply personal new chapter. His latest single, “I Used To Be,” marks his return to music and serves as the first introduction to his forthcoming 15-song album, Welcome To Studio B.
But this is not simply a comeback. For Beasley, returning to music became part of a much deeper process of grief, faith, reflection, and rediscovering a gift he had once stepped away from.
From his beginnings singing in church in Battle Creek, Michigan, to international stages, television, film, and years of songwriting, Beasley has spent a lifetime understanding the power of music to connect people. Now, with Welcome To Studio B, he is bringing that experience into a body of work built around hope, survival, love, vulnerability, and the lessons that come with living.
We spoke with Beasley about what brought him back, the story behind “I Used To Be,” his Rock-n-Soul Pop identity, and why his newest chapter is ultimately about serving others through music.
Q: You’ve been away from releasing music for eight years. What made this the right moment to return?
B. Beasley: It was all divine timing. One of my backup singers asked me to write music to four sets of lyrics she had written while going through relationship issues. I had only played the piano for a total of one hour over an eight-year period.
She flew in to do the final run-through of the songs, and when she left, I felt a calling to start writing and singing again. I was playing voicings of chords I had never played before. My gibberish turned into melodies provoking thoughts.
The numbness from my mother’s passing turned into reflection. God repurposed assuredness through my downfalls, opened my heart and mind, and reminded me that the gift of words and music is a privilege.
I was finally, and overwhelmingly, inspired to return to my Rock-n-Soul Pop roots where I grew up back in Michigan.
T. S. Eliot said it best: “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”
Q: “I Used To Be” tells a story about two friends discovering something deeper. What inspired you to tell this particular story now?
B. Beasley: I felt the need to talk about the “I wish I could have, would have” stages of regret.
Someone is going through exactly what you went through. To me, “no” is a time saver, so why not face your fear and speak up to the person and be there for that person?
Vulnerability will lead you in grace and recognition. So embrace it, and don’t doubt the hope that letting go and revealing yourself will eventually lead to love’s victory in your life.
Q: You describe your sound as “Rock-n-Soul Pop.” When did you realize that was the sound you wanted to call your own?
B. Beasley: It was definitely when I first started doing shows back in Los Angeles and an A&R executive asked me how I would describe my sound.
“Rock-n-Soul Pop” means to me that I embrace who I am and have not sold out to sign with a label as an R&B artist just because I’m Black.
My dad played an eclectic mix of music in the house when I was growing up. Those nights are some of my fondest, priceless memories. My friends are multicultural, and it taught me that friendship and musical oneness are a colorful, emotional, and prolific crayon box.
Q: Your musical journey began in church and eventually took you from Michigan to international stages. How did those early experiences shape the artist you became?
B. Beasley: When I was four years old, I started performing as a soloist in church. One Sunday I had traveled to a different church and gave a halfway effort because there was a very small audience.
My mother, on the drive home, told me, “If you are gonna perform, I don’t care if there are four people in the audience, you need to sing and perform like there are millions. You never know what someone is going through.”
That lesson and expectation has continued to evolve in me my whole life as a piano player, musician, and songwriter as well.
Be a blessing.
Q: You’ve performed everywhere from Europe to the Super Bowl and SeaWorld. What did performing in those environments teach you about connecting with an audience?
B. Beasley: The connection with the cast and crew is the oneness that makes it “fire” when you enter the stage.
Always leave your personal mess off the stage. Project your love, joy, inspiration, and passion to everyone. When people see the connections on stage, it becomes contagious in any language.
Q: You stepped away from music to raise your children, care for your mother, and grieve your father. What did that chapter teach you about life and creativity?
B. Beasley: I got to see joy and heartbreak stacked in my days.
I got to reminisce and go to therapy to sort out my new chapter away from music. It motivated and taught me to rediscover and explore my curiosity and thirst to not keep my life and memories in solitary confinement.
It was freeing to not be selfish with an experience others could also learn and heal through.
Q: Returning to songwriting in 2016 eventually led to Welcome To Studio B. What changed inside you when you started creating music again?
B. Beasley: The joy and my will and determination to pray to God to be better than I am as a person, musician, lyricist, and singer-songwriter.
Q: What can listeners expect from Welcome To Studio B, and how personal is this 15-song collection to you?
B. Beasley: Welcome To Studio B is an album that embraces hope moving forward, survival, good times, reflection, and love. It is very personal.
Listeners can expect real musicians and no cookie-cutter jams.
I hope they hear that my will to succeed is not just to be a star. Victory buds a new soul when you reflect on your growth and don’t dwell within emotional, temporary deficits.
The man behind the music and the things we share in common are there whether we are Black, white, yellow, red, or brown. I want them to learn that they are beautifully and wonderfully made. I want them to know that they are more than conquerors.
Exhale negativity and embrace life’s journey by receiving love, growing in courage, and understanding that beautiful mistakes open doors to unrelenting wisdom.
LIVE!!!
Q: You’ve said, “I’m a messenger. I’m a servant.” What does that mean to you as an artist today?
B. Beasley: Earlier in my career, I was laser-focused on writing more uptempo songs than ballads because ballads were in my wheelhouse.
Since then, I have focused on my spiritual walk and a quest to grow over the years. It is the same in my songwriting and in what I feel needs to be said through vulnerability, rebellion, and fun.
Q: After everything you’ve experienced, what do you hope people feel when they hear your music?
B. Beasley: That they are on that perfect journey where they hit on every emotion, similar memories, and want to come back again and again to embrace their heart and soul destinations.
We will meet each other where we are at.
A Return Rooted in Purpose
Barth Beasley’s return does not feel like an attempt to recreate the past. Welcome To Studio B comes from having lived through enough chapters to understand that music can carry more than melody. It can carry memory, grief, faith, mistakes, relationships, growth, and the possibility of starting again.
“I Used To Be” opens that door with a story about friendship, vulnerability, and the courage to acknowledge what has been sitting beneath the surface.
For Beasley, the destination is not simply another album or another stage. It is the opportunity to use what he has learned to connect with people.
After decades of performing and songwriting, his message remains remarkably simple: show up, feel deeply, embrace the journey, and be a blessing.
