Abe Barrett is a Bar Harbor-born singer-songwriter and guitarist known for his percussive acoustic style, open tunings, and deeply personal songwriting. Largely self-taught, he developed his sound through years of lived experience, blending folk, acoustic rock, and alternative influences into music that feels raw and honest. After spending years performing and living in Hawaii, he returned to Maine and reconnected with the local music scene through performances at the Ivy Manor Inn. His songs often draw from real moments in his life, including building an off-grid home by hand and using music as a source of healing and stability.
Abram “Abe” Eagle Barrett has spent most of his life chasing something honest through music. Born and raised in Bar Harbor, Maine, Abe picked up his first guitar around the age of 12. His family was musical, and there always seemed to be an acoustic guitar nearby, especially one belonging to his father. But for Abe, the instrument quickly became more than background noise or a hobby. It became an outlet. A lifeline.
By the time he was older, music had become deeply tied to survival and self-expression. Abe openly describes songwriting and guitar playing as “medicinal.” Through difficult stretches of life, the guitar became the thing he turned to instead of destructive habits. He credits music with helping save his life more than once. That emotional honesty runs through nearly everything he writes and performs.
Abe briefly attended the University of Maine at Augusta’s jazz program when he was 18, but the experience was short-lived. He lasted about a month before realizing he wasn’t ready for it. Instead of formal training, he continued teaching himself. Over time, he developed a distinctive style rooted in acoustic rock, alternative influences, and intricate open tunings. He especially gravitated toward DADGAD tuning and the kinds of textured acoustic sounds heard on records like Led Zeppelin. His playing became highly rhythmic and percussive, layered with gritty but smooth vocals that carry equal parts weariness and warmth.
His influences are wide-ranging. Artists like Stevie Wonder, Joe Cocker, Michael Hedges, Steven Stills, Radiohead, Galactic, G. Love, and Ray LaMontagne all helped shape the sound he eventually carved out for himself. But more than anything, Abe’s songs come directly from lived experience. He writes about real events, struggles, healing, and the strange beauty that can come from hard times.
For a period of his life, Abe disappeared from the Maine music scene almost entirely. He moved to Hawaii and spent about five years there, living and working on farms while performing music around Kona and Maui. During that time, he stayed mostly disconnected from social media and the online world, making him hard to track down back home. Eventually, a chance gig at the Black Moon Café in Ellsworth led to reconnecting with old friends and ultimately brought him back into the local Bar Harbor music community.
In recent years, Abe has become a regular performer at the Ivy Manor Inn, where the outdoor setting and open-air crowds fit perfectly with his style. He loves the unpredictability of the space. People hear the music drifting down Main Street, wander in off the sidewalk, grab a drink, and stay for a while. For Abe, that immediate connection is what performing is all about. He talks about chasing the feeling certain songs give him — goosebumps, tears, a sense that something real has connected. That’s the kind of music he hopes to create for others.
One of the clearest examples of that personal storytelling appears in a song inspired by building his off-grid home in Sullivan, Maine. Roughly seven years ago, Abe took a piece of land he had owned for decades and, with very little money, cut down trees on the property himself. Using a chainsaw mill, he turned those trees into lumber and built a 16-by-16 cabin almost entirely by hand. For two years, he and his wife lived in a tarp tent through Maine winters while finishing the structure. During that same period, his wife suffered a serious heart episode. The experience pushed him emotionally and physically, but it also became the inspiration for some of his most personal songs. Today, the cabin remains largely off-grid, without full electricity or running water, but to Abe it represents resilience, simplicity, and gratitude.
Outside of music, Abe is also an artist and sculptor who recently illustrated and wrote a children’s book. Though his online presence remains relatively small, he continues writing constantly and estimates he has dozens of original songs waiting to be recorded.
At the center of everything Abe Barrett creates is authenticity. His songs are not polished stories invented for effect. They are lived-in experiences shaped into music — raw at times, hopeful at others, but always honest.
More from Abe Barrett
- Spotify: Abram Eagle Barrett
- Apple Music: Abram Eagle Barrett
- Youtube Music: Abe Eagle Barrett
- Ivy Manor Music Show Podcast: Abe Barrett
- Ivy Afternoons: concert series
More Maine Musicians
Ivy Afternoons
Ivy Afternoons logo music of Bar Harbor Every afternoon from May through October, musicians from Mount Desert Island and abroad gather at the Ivy Manor Inn’s garden in Bar Harbor, Maine for good drinks, great music, and some outside goodness.
Ivy Afternoons is a 6 part documentary series.
Leirigh Films LLC
A small film and video production studio focused on creating inspiring, meaningful, and enlightening films and stories.