John Barile’s career as a musician has been all about going with the flow and letting things fall into place.
Originally from Cleveland, Barile visited Toledo in 1991, and ended up staying longer than he anticipated.
“I came up here to visit some friends, and I ended up playing at Frankie’s one night, and was offered [a gig] every Wednesday.”
Barile was introduced to the world of music by his father, playing druims at age 5.
One day he just decided to stop playing drums, and picked up the guitar.
The change has worked well for him since. Barile has been a Toledo regular along with his frequent musical collaborator, longtime Toledo musician Bobby May.
“Me and Bobby just take all the covers we know and make them our own,” Barile said. “Everything we do, we make our own.”
Barile added that he enjoys the wide range of songs that he is able to play with someone as experienced as May.
“It’s a joy and an honor to play with him. He’s forgotten more songs than I’ll ever know in my lifetime.”
Barile was first asked to join Acoustics for Autism by his friend and its founder, Nicole Khoury.
“Nicole and I did an acoustic duo for a while,” Barile said. “And me and Bobby have been doing [Acoustics for Autism] ever since it started.”
For the new Acoustics for Autism CD, Barile wrote a song, “Pitter Patter,” about his daughter.
“For the first 3 and a half years of her life, I would lay on the couch and always hear her little feet running up and down the hallways, and it would make this little ‘pitter-patter’ sound on the wood floors. It’s about the things we’ve done so far, and the things we’re going to do.”
Barile noted that he and May usually take most of the winter off, but play more frequently during the warmer months.
“It gets a little hectic.”
Despite the busy schedule, Barile is happy to be a musician in the Glass City, and content with his place in the musical universe.
“I’m not worried about 30,000 people and millions of dollars,” he said. I like doing what I’m doing now. I like walking into a bar, and being able to make one person’s night. It makes everything worth it.”
“People around here that come and listen to music are fantastic. They support it 100% in this city. The musicians in this city, I will put up against any musicians in the country.”
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