James Barker Band’s Cover of ‘Sold’ Brings All the ’90s Vibes [Watch]
James Barker Band pay tribute to one of the great '90s country songs and artists with a spot-on cover of "Sold," as originally recorded by John Michael Montgomery.
The "Keep It Simple" singers visited with Taste of Country Nights earlier this year to talk about their brand of country and their new Singles Only EP, cheekily named to reference how music music seems to be recorded and released in 2019. The Canadian group of friends and musicians includes singer James Barker as well as Taylor Abram, Connor Stephen and Bobby Martin. At least half the band lives in Nashville, and while they're very committed to finding equal success in America, they haven't forgotten where they came from.
“It’s kind of neat when we go up to Canada because we show up to shows and we’ve got massive shows and we’ve got everything on our rider from humus to socks — it’s not a joke, we’ve got socks on our rider,” Barker says. “People are so diehard about country music in America. It’s the music here in America. Canada is 10 percent the population of America but I think the country music industry is like one percent.”
Sonically the music on Singles Only is most comparable to some of the more mainstream country coming from Texas. Fans of Granger Smith will dig James Barker Band — check out "Slow Down Town" to get a great feel of what they do on a record and on stage. The song has become such a fan favorite that they started closing shows with it in 2019.
A European tour closed their schedule in 2019, but the group hints at big plans in 2020, including an expansive Canadian tour and perhaps even a little time in Australia.
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