Barney Cortez

Fresh off dazzling and wowing us and all of Musikfest on opening night, Barney Cortez kicks off our first interview post-fest as we get back in to our regular programming. And we are honored to bring his sound on the show, as it’s right up our alley, and we think you’ll love it too.

In addition to having him share his story and his music, we were lucky to catch some video of his performance during Musikfest where he broke not 1 but 2 strings during the song! Can’t wait to hear what was going through his head in that moment.

Sounds like he’ll be able to perform live during the show as well.

And a surprise guest co-host – all the way from Hong Kong: Dan Drago of 25 O’Clock Pod!! Which may not be a complete surprise since Barney is from Philly and Dan is in fact the person to first introduce me to his music.

Barney Cortez is a songwriter/producer hailing from Philadelphia. Along with Nick Bockrath (Cage The Elephant), he founded the band Nicos Gun and was their sole singer/songwriter. 2018 found him breaking off to make his own EP “Pretty Thin”, which introduced his unique brand of pop/rock sensibilities. After a steady release of four EP’s, a tour of Europe and a string of singles, he released his debut album “Hullabaloo” on La Reserve Records. The song “Shit River” with Rayland Baxter made its way onto Spotify’s “Fresh Folk” playlist amongst others. 

2025 finds him gearing up for the release of his second LP “Earth Station”, which was mixed by Jeff Lucci of Mo Lowda & the Humble. His most cohesive work to date, “Earth Station” shines a light on Cortez’ clever mix of psych rock, sonic experimentation and heartfelt, honest storytelling.  Don’t miss this one and be sure to catch Barney perform live when is plays nearby!