Every year the first weekend of February B. J. Barham hosts American Aquarium’s Road Trip to Raleigh. In fact, this year was the Tenth anniversary of Road Trip. As usual it was held at Lincoln Theater in downtown Raleigh. It was the second time I attended, with last year being my first. One thing for certain, this is more than a gathering of fans. It is a festival. Less than 1,000 people attend each night, yet over 40 states and several foreign countries are represented. Barham also gets into his rolodex of contacts and brings in top notch talent, many acts have as big of a following as American Aquarium. In all there are six acts that open across the three nights.
Night one was on Thursday. The Wilder Blue got things started. I have only recently found them and was looking forward to this set. How would their smooth harmonies translate from album to live performance? Seamlessly! Multi-part harmony is not easy to pull off in the studio, much less live. The Wilder Blue absolutely killed it. Their vocals were sharp and crisp as if they had been scrubbed in a studio mix. Next up was The Lone Bellow doing an acoustic set. Like the opener they also had sharp harmonies. Their set was highly energetic. A highlight of their performance was actually a fun cover of “Islands in the Stream” that had the whole audience singing along. Dolly and Kenny would have been proud. As expected American Aquarium put on their usual great show. The first night was special though. This is the tenth anniversary of their album Wolves. They started by playing the album start to finish. It is one of my favorite American Aquarium albums and was a nice touch to their set.
Night two kicked off with Taylor Hunnicut and her excellent band. I have seen Hunnicut live a few times in the last year. Every time she has been a bundle of energy onstage and this was no exception. She is such an entertainer and great vocalist, it has been fun to see her escalating to bigger festival lineups. She is a Country queen in the making. Catch her if she comes your way. Her set tied the Wilder Woods for my favorite of the openers for the weekend. Shovels and Rope followed. I have been a long time fan. However, in a weekend of high energy sets, their performance came off a little flat. American Aquarium put on another raucous concert. The thing about road trip is we are the diehard fans. Knowing this, Barham plays deep cuts. Outside of a few live standards, there are no repeats across three nights of two hour sets.
Saturday morning has a special treat on road trip weekend. Barham does a solo acoustic show at a small local venue. If you have ever seem him solo, you know what a great storyteller he is. The interaction and intimacy of the event is an important part of the weekend for those of us willing to get up on a Saturday after a late night of revelry. Saturday night’s opener was a new found band for me, The Droptines. They have a sound that hearkens back to the alt-country sound prevalent in the late 90’s. Barham said they were a recent discovery of his when he and his daughter Pearl introduced the band. Yes, road trip is a family affair. Pearl introduced all of the artists during the weekend. After The Droptines entertaining set was Maggie Rose. She was fresh off of her Grammy nomination. She is currently pregnant and Kudos to her for not letting that slow her down. She and her band put on a show that upped the tempo from her album and was full of steam. American Aquarium came out put the bow on the weekend with another two hour banger of a set. This is clearly a weekend Barham looks forward too, and he provides his core fanbase with three days of appreciation. I am looking forward to next year.
About the author: Chip and his family live in Birmingham, AL. Roll Tide!