After high school and in his early twenties, Barfield began playing for various youth groups and church events, eventually recording two indie projects that caught the attention of Nashville executives. In 2003, when he was 23, Barfield made a big splash with his self-titled debut on Creative Trust Workshop, a boutique label created by the management team behind CCM staples Steven Curtis Chapman and Third Day. Boasting a clean guitar pop sound similar to Chapman's, the album sold moderately well and yielded two Top Ten singles, "My Heart Goes Out" and "Mistaken," but the singer was left without a label home when his record company folded as he was prepping for his sophomore release. The loss of a family friend and other personal circumstances led Barfield to take a break from recording for a season, finally returning in 2006 with Reach, his first album for Essential Records. As produced by Marshall Altman, the disc saw Barfield venturing out into soulful blue-eyed pop territory, but the stylistic shift was only temporary, as his third disc, 2008's Worth Fighting For, found him going back to the AC-styled pop/rock of his debut. ~ Andree Farias