Khamari Barnes started on violin at four, then picked up clarinet, flute, French horn, and guitar after his jazz-obsessed grandfather gave him a keyboard — a genuinely comprehensive classical training for someone who'd go on to make post-Frank Ocean R&B.
A short stint at Berklee came before he decided to pursue music as an artist rather than a student, debuting in 2020 with the Eldorado EP and scoring an Usher placement not long after.
A Brief Nirvana, his 2023 RCA debut album, announced him as a real new voice in the genre, but he and RCA parted over creative differences not long after, and To Dry a Tear, the album that followed on the independent label Encore Recordings, took more than two years to finish — grief, hope, and self-discovery worked out in real time rather than on a label's schedule.