His television scores include True Blood,[1] The Americans, Carnival Row, and The Great.

He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music in 2020 for his work on the miniseries Hollywood.

In 1996, Barr moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in composing film and television scores.

One of his first jobs was working under the tutelage of Hans Zimmer on the films As Good as It Gets and The Prince of Egypt.

In 2009, Barr co-wrote and produced a song with Pete Townshend for FX's The Americans called "It Must Be Done" and in 2005 Barr hired Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top to play guitar on his score for The Dukes Of Hazzard.