Work Sets You Free

David Barnett is an author, a lightning rod, and a man who has lived multiple lives within multiple worlds of chaos. After years defined by the jagged friction of the underground music scene and a scorched-earth lifestyle of indulgence and excess, Barnett eventually learned to transmute his demons and harness the power of his ghosts, channeling a legacy of reckless abandon and outlandish antics into the art that saved his life. Writing from the raw intersection of survival and an insatiable appetite for the next extreme, he navigates the beautiful and the brutal with unflinching honesty. A winner of the 2025 WriterCon First Place award for Memoir, Barnett writes not to seek absolution, but to expose the price of chasing dreams and the toll of trudging through the muck in search of the signal beneath the static. He resides in Austin, Texas, where he has served as a steward for misunderstood minds and disaffected souls, remaining a dedicated seeker of the next distorted, exquisite frequency.