He has been a member of the bands Neutral Milk Hotel, Bablicon, Beirut, and A Hawk and a Hacksaw, and is a co-creator of the record label L.M.

[1] He joined Neutral Milk Hotel, which was a part of the Athens, Georgia-based Elephant 6 music collective.

Neutral Milk Hotel disbanded in 1998 and Barnes spent time traveling in Europe and working as a postman.

A Hawk and A Hacksaw's recording and touring line-up over the years has included Hungarian, Romanian, and English musicians, notably Fanfare Cioclaria, Ferenc Kovacs, Balász Unger, Chris Hladowski, and Kalman Balogh.

One recent touring iteration included Chicagoans Samuel Johnson, who played trumpet, and George Lawler on the doumbek.

In A Hawk and A Hacksaw, he plays vintage Da Vinci, Dallape and Weltmeister Supita Accordions and the Iranian santur.