Sam Barber

One Liner: Funny to think that Zach Bryan has been around long enough to have artists following in his footsteps, but this guy is right there.

Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but I'll say Country, Americana, Folk
Home: Southeast Missouri

Saturday

Thoughts: Wikipedia is unhelpful, in that "Sam Barber" there is this: "Samuel Barber (September 17, 1919 – April 18, 1999) was an American baseball pitcher in the Negro leagues. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Barber played with the Birmingham Black Barons in 1940, and served in the US Army during World War II. He died in Birmingham in 1999 at age 79."

But I will tell you, even without a detailed background, the comparison to an early Zach Bryan is a quick and easy one to make.  Some of these songs have a touch of production going on, but moth of them are super stripped down tunes with this kid singing over his acoustic, and nothing else going on.  His very limited bio on his own website says that he was an athlete first, and only picked up music when he was 16 and started messing around with his grandfather's guitar.  But his rise has been ridiculously fast - he played the Grand Ole Opry just three months after his first official headlining concert.  He started releasing music in 2021, while still a student at something called State Technical College in Linn, Missouri.  "Straight and Narrow" took off, and that remains his top track by a lot.  87.5 million streams.

I love that location - can I please go there right now?  Super simple tune, but a powerful message about overcoming setbacks.  Wild to think he wrote that while still a teenager.  And by the way, in one interview, he admits that he first learned the guitar by playing Zach Bryan covers.  He gives a shout out to Tyler Childers, saying that Bottles and Bibles is his favorite album ever.  He also includes ZB and Stapleton as his other inspirations.

Just one EP to his name so far - 2023's Millon Eyes.  In an interview, he said that his favorite track from the album is "Save Me," which is funny because it is in the bottom two for streams for the disc.  His second-most streamed tune on the EP is a cover - "Dancing in the Sky," originally by something called Dani & Lizzy.  20.5 million streams.

Definitely the track on here with the most production - he leaves behind the stripped-down sound in favor of drums, bass, organ, etc. and it almost actually sounds like he might be somewhere other than his bedroom.

I'm excited to play some of these songs for my girls.  They are obsessive about Bryan, so I'd love to see if they react the same way about this fella.  I'd go see him play.