Eye of the Music

Book excerpt: Sherry Rayn Barnett has been in the Eye of the Music since capturing, almost stealing, the most white-hot seconds onstage, the unguarded intimacies and the bolt of creativity, whether in the studio or at home. Beginning in New York City as a teenager, Sherry captured the artists redefining what pop music was as the '60s gave way to the '70s for various underground magazines. Early iconic images of Tina Turner, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, and Laura Nyro created trust and opened doors for revelatory images of Janis Joplin and Bonnie Raitt.By the time she arrived in Los Angeles, the Troubadour scene was full-force. Sherry, who plays a blue Fender Stratocaster, was on the frontlines of the rock, pop, folk and Laurel Canyon country-rock scenes-as much a fellow musician as a photographer documenting the music. Disappearing into the music, she caught a young Linda Ronstadt, an almost hippie angel Emmylou Harris, the already prolific Jackson Browne, and pop superstars The Carpenters before seeing the punk upheaval deliver the Go-Go's, Prince, and the Eurythmics. Barnett's gift is her ability to feel her surroundings, to recognize the perfect moments and create images that offer the essence of the artists she encounters. Again and again, she was there. Linda Ronstadt, Roy Orbison and k.d. lang, Nina Simone, Judy Collins all saw their best, most incandescent selves delivered through the lens of Sherry's camera.Now, for the first time, here is a comprehensive collection of all the images, all the moments, all the schools of music that have been part of the first two decades of one of the most far-reaching careers in modern rock photography. To Sherry, it's being where the truth meets the players; for the rest of us, it's a reason to celebrate how good music transforms everything. Exhaustively documenting the stars who marked generations, Eye of the Music offers a profound look into why some artists last-and some moments matter.