Killarney Guide

Lyle Baldwin to feature local songwriter’s work 

BY KIM LANGEN

A long-time local musician was recently caught by surprise in his kitchen, when a good friend broke into song over the coffee mugs last month, with lyrics that shook his winter socks off.

The singer was Kelly Johnston, and professional performer Lyle Baldwin said it was a remarkable moment.

“Kelly was sitting at my kitchen table, about a month ago, and he started singing this song, The Big Red Barn, acappella,”
said Baldwin. “It was very good. I thought, ‘Wow!’ Kelly is quite a secret in this town – I would call him a closet songwriter. People don’t know about his ability to sing, and write, and that is a shame.”

Johnston said he has been writing songs for decades, and used to perform with Garth Nichol and Ron Stewart, along with Glenda Archibald on keyboards, who he says was ‘inspirational’ in helping the group develop the melody and musical accompaniment to their vocals.

But it has been about 30 years since those singing days, he said, and a lot of life and events, both happy and sad, took place during the decades.

And then he discovered an old picture that stirred up his songwriter soul, and out came the lyrics that are now bringing people to tears. 

He wrote The Big Red Barn in January, and started singing again. 

“I found a picture of the old red barn on my family’s farm,” said Johnston. “The picture had been hidden away, and I was going through stuff and I found this painting. And it all came back. It was done by my cousin Evelyn Nielsen back in 1981, when she was 15. She sat on the tractor for a couple of days, and did ‘er.”

The hip roof barn was built by Johnston’s grandparents, John and Elsie Johnston, back in 1927, and is now nearly a hundred years old, he said. But it still stands beautifully, back on the old home place.

Good care and repairs over the years have allowed the big red barn to stand proud, and remain a testament to the generations who used it, and loved it. And that’s why Johnston wrote the song.

“The song means a lot to me,” he said. “It’s about where I grew up. And it’s not just my story; it’s for anyone who had a big red barn, or a grandfather with a barn.
Lots of kids moved to the city, and when the kids came back to visit, maybe with their own kids, they would play in there. We grew up in that barn. Mom would kick us out of the house, and we would go to the big red barn. We had a rope to swing on, and we would spend all day in there. We became stronger in this barn. We worked, and we played there. And there was a lot of love in those barns.”

Baldwin worked with Johnston to create the music to accompany the song, and then he laid down the backing tracks for the debut performance of the Big Red Barn, which is coming up this Saturday evening, February 24, at the Killarney Legion Club Room. 

Baldwin will sing it, but Johnston will introduce it, they said.

“This song has made people cry – happily cry,” said Johnston. “Getting these reactions to the song have been really cool.”

The event is free, said Baldwin, and all the revenues from the evening will go to benefit the Killarney Legion. 

“They will have the meat draw, with three rounds, at 4:45 p.m., and a 50:50 draw, and then they will have chili for sale for supper, made by Tana,” said Baldwin, who is not charging for his performance. “She does great chili. The music starts at 6 p.m., and I think we’ll do Kelly’s song around 6:30. All the money raised, from the meat draw, the chili, and the bar, will help the Legion, which is a not-for-profit group that helps so many people.”

THE BIG RED BARN – Built in 1927, the family’s big red barn (above, two miles west of Lena) featured in Kelly Johnston’s (left) new song, is still going strong. And the ballad he wrote for it is coming to life, thanks to Lyle Baldwin (right), who will be performing it live at the Killarney Legion clubroom on Saturday evening. Keep scrolling to share this story below.

CHILDHOOD MEMORIES – Evelyn Nielsen, at age 15, painted this beautiful portrait of the Johnston family’s big red barn way back in 1981. It inspired her cousin Kelly Johnston to recently write a song,
The Big Red Barn, a sentimental salute to days gone by. The 1927 barn is still being used today, for
sorting and treating cattle through chutes set up inside, via a yard outside.