Oct 10, 2023
9 Things Working Musicians Want Live Music Fans to Know
Feb 16, 2022
Country Singer/Professional Wrestler Equivalents 5
Stoner? Probably. Beast? Definitely.
Large. Does the same thing over and over but still very popular.
Loves playing the heel. Very talented. Will talk shit at a moment’s notice.
Awesome. Takes up for herself. Most people don’t know who she is yet, but they will.
Tall. Annoyingly positive to the point of ‘go away’ heat.* Old.
Awesomely talented, but not as ‘over’** as they should be.
Not very good at anything, but always seems to be hanging around.
*Go away heat - when fans are legitimately not entertained and want the performer to stop it.
**Over - generating a large reaction from the fans.
Oct 15, 2021
Aldean Welcomes Thousands of New Fans Who Think He Sucks
Country superstar Jason Aldean is used to the adoration of throngs of pop-country fans across the country who dig his brand of rocked-up twangy bravado, but in recent weeks he’s experiencing something new altogether: new fans who can’t stand his music.
“I’ve never even considered listening to Jason Allen [sic] before I heard he had expressed beliefs publicly that aligned with my own,” said Tara McAllen of Gore Springs, MS. “Now I’m thinking about giving him a shot.” She went on to say that despite being a fan of traditional country and Americana, she was open to seeing the error of her ways.
Many people across social media shared similar thoughts throughout the week. When country satire site Farce the Music shared a non-political but negative meme about Aldean, dozens of previous non-Aldean-fans expressed their disdain. “I always new you was a damn liberal…unfollowed!” replied Instagram user effyoubrandon, despite the meme having not even a whiff of partisanship. “Effyoubrandon” also added a photo of himself proudly wearing some of Aldean’s “Anti Biden Social Club” gear.
The trend of music fans putting ideology over art isn’t a recent one (think Dixie Chicks), but has grown as Americans split into camps over issues such as vaccines, gender, and Machine Gun Kelly. It seems many would rather listen to an artist devoid of any depth, talent, or uniqueness simply to “own the libs/repubs.”
When reminded that he’d frequently told outspoken artists Jason Isbell and BJ Barham to “shut up and sing” in the past, Brad Harbor of Panama City, FL retorted “Yeah, but they hate America. Jason Aldean may be a philandering, bloated, mediocre, angry meathead, but at least he knows the damned election was stolen! I can’t wait to go to one of his shows and get drunk enough to tolerate him!”
At press time, Luke Bryan was attempting to formulate a mildly controversial opinion.
Aug 26, 2021
Country Facebook Awareness Profile Frames
Many people use social messaging frames around their profile pics on Facebook to promote political, medical, charitable, social justice and other causes. What if these country singers had frames around their profile pics? What would they say?
College Football Country Reaction Gifs
When a 90s country song comes on and you realize it’s the dance remix
Back when BJ Barham was a bit heavier but just as wild a Wolfpack fan
Jul 7, 2020
Still More Male Country Singers as Women
BJ Barham (American Aquarium) |
Tyler Childers |
Jason Aldean |
Jesse Daniel |
Mitchell Tenpenny |
Cody Canada |
Merle Haggard. Forgive me, Merle. |
Jun 1, 2020
BJ Barham Performs "Brightleaf + Burley"
Apr 19, 2020
Sunday Mornin' Music / SUSTO & BJ Barham / "I'll Fly Away"
Mar 25, 2020
BJ Barham Covers "I Saw a Tiger" (Joe Exotic / Tiger King)
View this post on InstagramA post shared by BJ Barham (@americanaquarium) on
Jun 4, 2018
Album Review / American Aquarium / Things Change
Jan 23, 2017
BJ Barham Covers Guy Clark
Recorded by Trailer
Dec 9, 2016
Live Review: BJ Barham at Jammin' Java
By Matthew Martin
If you don't know who BJ Barham is, I'll go ahead and get that out of the way. He's the frontman of longtime, hard-working band, American Aquarium out of Raleigh, NC. His debut solo album, Rockingham, is something else and I highly recommend it. If there's one thing that I don't like about the album it's that it is a short album at only 8 songs. But, that's unfair. Many great albums contain 8 songs- both Japandroids albums, Led Zeppelin's IV, Metallica's Master of Puppets, etc. The album doesn't contain a blemish. It's the work of a determined man with stories to get out. For those that don't know the story- Barham and band were overseas when the Paris attacks occurred and the band was put up in a hotel for three days where Barham felt isolated and anxious, and wrote songs to deal with his situation.
With that said, BJ is a showman and live is the best way to experience these songs. I've seen American Aquarium play somewhere around 10 times, I believe. Hell, my dad has had the guys play in our front yard out in my hometown of Pulaski, TN. But I'd never seen a BJ solo show. Seeing him sing and play these songs live with only his guitar as accompaniment is a treat. I'll also go ahead and get it out of the way that it was a hell of an evening with about an hour and a half of music and stories in between.
BJ played all the songs off the solo album plus a few American Aquarium songs that really benefited from the solo setting. One such song was "Man I'm Supposed to Be." The song is already pretty minimal on the album Wolves but seeing it with just BJ and his guitar was really more of a punch to the gut than I had been ready for. Maybe it was the coupling with touching songs off the solo album, but it was quite a song to hear in that setting.
The solo songs were the real winners here, though, and the song "Unfortunate Kind" was the most effective. With the lines, "Do you remember that first week?/When you burnt that pecan pie/And I ate the whole damn thing/I couldn't stand to see you cry," you could hear the crowd nearly gasp. It's a simple statement filled with so many different emotions. It's a case-in-point of what makes BJ such an affecting and clever songwriter. The ability to take a mundane situation and make it into a moment with much more gravity – it's not something just any songwriter can do.
There isn't much more I can say about BJ or the show. If you get a chance to go see American Aquarium, go do so. But, if you get a chance to see BJ play a solo show, drop what you're doing and do it. He doesn't play as many solo shows as he does with the band and you need to see these songs played this way. So, go see him as soon as you can, and until then go buy Rockingham wherever it is you buy music. Support these artists so they'll continue doing these things that bring us so much joy.
Nov 8, 2016
Farce the Music Election Day!
Don't forget to vote today! And here are some random polls about country music. Write-ins go in the comments.