DAVENPORT - While his friends in the Rock Island High School Class of 2005 were into the latest Top 40 music, Matt Barber was grooving to Frank Sinatra, Barry Manilow and the Righteous Brothers.

"We weren't really on the same wavelength," Barber said with a laugh.

Now, though, Barber is the one who's performing and selling albums. His fourth CD, "Romancing Nashville," was released last month.

The 20-year-old said it was natural for him to appreciate a certain style of music. His father, Mark Barber, was an on-air host at radio station KUUL-FM for 10 years.

"I like music with romantic lyrics, songs from a simpler era," he said. "I've just grown up with it."

Although he favors the older music, he still enjoys newer songs by the likes of Ben Folds and Dave Matthews, as well as the music of Sting, Phil Collins and Elton John.

"Romancing Nashville" was recorded in the Tennessee city, and it includes music originally recorded from the 1940s through today, including songs first made famous by Sinatra, Manilow, the Righteous Brothers, Glen Campbell, Michael Buble and others.

"On the new album, it was kind of fun going back and doing these standards by Sinatra and different artists like that, and kind of getting to do your own version of these classic songs," he said. "It was a good experience."

The success of Buble - a Canadian crooner whose style harkens back to the Rat Pack - shows there is a younger audience for an earlier generation of music, Barber said.

"It shows that it's the music that has stood the test of time," he said. "It's kind of fun because I've been doing Barry Manilow and Michael Buble, and kind of doing my interpretation of their hits."

Barber said he considered doing an album completely of original songs, but he wanted to give listeners a bit of something they already knew.

"If you do something that people are familiar with, songs that they know and songs that they like, I think it's easier to market your CD," he said. "At least for now."

Barber, who splits his time between Peoria and the Quad-Cities, has logged more than 600 performances, everywhere from bars to coffeehouses to retirement communities.

An experienced arranger and producer in Nashville were the reasons Barber recorded his album in the Tennessee city. He has high hopes for the CD's possibilities.

"I hope it does open some doors. I'm really confident it's my best album so far," he said. "I took kind of a step by going to Nashville to record with a guy that I knew, but I knew I was in good hands."

The CD will be available at Co-Op Records stores around the Quad-Cities, the Borders bookstore in Davenport and at cdbaby.com on the Web.

Even if he doesn't get to play on a national stage or get signed by a major label, Barber said he still considers himself successful because he's able to do what he enjoys.

"I'm just doing it out of the fact that I love doing it," he said. "If something happens with a label, that'd be great. But if it doesn't, I'll still be doing it.

"You hear about all these big names and how they'd keep performing even if they never got paid, and I guess I'm like them."