Residents of Maury County are likely familiar with Paul Marino’s restaurant businesses, which include the pizza eatery Red 7 Pizza and Barino Italian Southern Eatery. While Marino has spent years in the restaurant business, he has spent even more working as a singer, songwriter and producer.
For the past 12 years, Marino has been writing the Vacation Bible School songs (VBS) for Lifeway, the publishing division of the Southern Baptist Convention. Through Lifeway, VBS reaches around 2.5 million children a year in 25,000-30,000 churches all over the world.
This month, LifeWays 2022 VBS album "Spark Studios" reached number one in the children's music album genre on Apple Music. The album also reached the 63rd spot among all genres. All six tracks recorded on the album were written by Marino and his writing partner Jeremy Johnson.
Marino’s experience in music dates back to his childhood years. Originally from Minnesota, Marino said he picked up guitar and piano in junior high. During this time, he also wrote songs for his high school choir and was involved in the jingle business. In college, he was the founding member of the vocal trio “River.” His work with River led to many top national radio hits. He has also penned chart-topping hits, including eight top-five and three top-10 national radio singles. His songs have been recorded by artists such as Scotty McCreery, Steve Green, Michael English and Point of Grace.
In 2003, Marino moved to Nashville to continue his career in music. In 2005, he signed a song publishing deal with Lifeway. After writing and producing songs for several years, Lifeway asked Marino to write for VBS.
Twelve years ago, he drove down to Columbia, a city he ended up falling in love with. “I just like to travel around and check out different towns,” he said. “I discovered Columbia and really fell in love with it.”
Marino said he bought commercial property in the area seven years ago. In 2016, soon after Red 7 was built, he purchased a home.
“I just love the way the community feels,” he said.
Marino’s second restaurant, Barino Italian Southern Eatery, opened in July 2020. The restaurant combines two favorite cuisines: Southern and Italian food. Menu options include lasagna and pasta with options to add brisket, shrimp, smoked pork and more.
Marino said his interest in both writing and producing music is similar to creating food recipes.
“Music is built from putting melody, lyrics, and sounds together to create a song,” he said. “Coming up with recipes is similar in that you put different ingredients together to create a flavor. It all works out of the same type of creativity.”
Red 7 Pizza is open Tuesday-Thursday from 11 a.m.-8 p.m. and Friday-Saturday from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Barino, which opened two years ago, is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 4:30-8:30 p.m. and Friday-Saturday from 4:30-9:30 p.m.
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