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The title track to his highly anticipated Bonded Records debut--helmed by famed producer Stuart Brawley (Michael Jackson, Don Henley, Howie Day, Lenka)--is all about wasting time with distractions before ultimately realizing that we were meant for bigger things. The song, co-penned with Trina Harmon, perfectly captures the excitement surrounding his emergence as a recording artist after a lengthy musical journey that led him everywhere from Boston to Orlando (where he joined the popular Southern touring band Foundation), out to Oregon (for his Master’s at the University of Oregon), down to San Francisco and finally L.A., where he has lived for the past three years.

As well traveled as the singer is, his infectious first single “Day In Day Out” is taking him to new destinations via airplay and radio promo dates at Triple AAA stations throughout the country. He also did a 12 date California based tour this summer opening for Dishwalla frontman J.R. Richards. A mainstay on the L.A. club circuit, Barnhart has performed—usually solo, with simple keyboard accompaniment--at hotspots like Cinespace, Room 5, The Knitting Factory and The Derby. He currently has a Monday night residency the R Bar in Koreatown.

From the wistful and transcendent “Better Than Happiness” to the quirky and uplifting “Another Day” and heart-tugging piano and vocal closer “Slings and Arrows,” most of the songs on Missing Pieces are uniquely introspective portraits of an artist finally coming to terms with his creative destiny. The beautiful harmonic ballad “One More Second Chance” uses powerful imagery to convey a lover’s desire to work things out, while the moody and intimate “Water’s Edge” is garnering TV and film licensing attention for its firsthand experience through addiction and redemption.