THE BARLOW (Denver, CO)
https://www.thebarlowband.com/
You’ve heard of Texas country and Oklahoma red dirt. No doubt you’re also familiar with outlaw country and Southern rock. Now take all those Americana music styles and change the scenery. How about Denver, Colorado? That’s exactly where you’ll find The Barlow, a rugged, four-piece band brewing its own mountain-high version of Colorado country. One listen to The Barlow’s third full-length album New Year, Old Me available June 24th, and you hear a fresh spin on a familiar sawdust-floor friend.
The Barlow – Shea Boynton on vocals, guitar, and banjo; Troy Scoope on bass; Ben Richter on drums; and Brad Johnson on guitar and vocals – consider New Year, Old Me a giant, boot-print step toward solidifying their sound. These four guys have no desire to blend into the background. They have something to say.
“New Year, Old Me is a nod to those who never change, for better or worse,” says Boynton. “While there’s a few narrative pieces, the songs are mostly based on personal experience. This record is a definite step towards our sound and what we do. Instead of comparing things to others’ sound or style, we aimed to make it our own.”
New Year, Old Me was recorded between December 2021 and March 2022 at Evergroove Studio, E Squared Studio, and Brogly Sound. The album is filled with songs written during an extensive 2021 tour that found The Barlow boys supporting their second effort, Horseshoe Lounge, by opening for Cody Canada and the Departed, Jaime Wyatt, Read Southall Band, and Micky and the Motorcars. The Barlow also gigged a four-night Colorado run with Austin’s neotraditional country outfit Mike and the Moonpies.
In fact, many of the tunes on New Year, Old Me were rehearsed during soundcheck for the Horseshoe Lounge tour performances. That’s why you hear such no-frills confidence in the chugging, banjo fortified “All My Days” and cool, guitar-fueled power in “Josephine” with its melodic chorus that wafts in the wind. “Heart in a Sling” has a neo-country flavor peppered by hard-twang guitar work and even a bluesy undertone. Then we have the title track, perhaps the most punk-rock inspired slice of Americana you’ve ever heard. Listen to that frenetic twang and galloping rhythm framing Boynton’s vocals. It’s like two-stepping on steroids.
During the recording sessions for New Year, Old Me, The Barlow welcomed musical guests Ben Waligoske on pedal steel, Andy Schneider on keyboards, and Dan Hochhalter on fiddle. On production New Year, Old Me has The Barlow and Brad Smalling. Boynton, Smalling, and Jason Brogly took the engineering reins.
“We leaned into the guitar work a lot more on this record,” says Boynton, “from riffs, dual harmonies, bottleneck slide, etc. The drums and bass were recorded at Evergroove and we tracked everything else at my house. It allowed us to have the time to work at our pace, try different things, rework parts, and throw stuff at the wall.”
So, now that New Year, Old Me is ready for its barroom spotlight, what’s next for The Barlow? Hitting the road, of course. The band has tour dates lined up through late September with plenty more on the way. When you make Colorado country, you prove your worth in front of an audience ready to ride with you through mountainous terrain and flat plains.
THE AMP – The Barlow – A Colorado Band Putting Their Own Mark on the Scene
https://turnuptheamp.com/home/2021/8/12/the-barlow-a-colorado-band-putting-their-own-mark-on-the-scene
“These four guys have a mission that drives every gig, every performance, and clearly, their first two albums. That mission: to demonstrate exactly how essential their take on Country-Rock is to the entire genre…”
AMERICANA HIGHWAYS – REVIEW: The Barlow “New Year, Old Me”
https://americanahighways.org/2022/06/23/review-the-barlow-new-year-old-me/
“There is absolutely nothing fancy about The Barlow, and that’s the way they like it. The Denver-based four-piece specializes in Coors-soaked Colorado country – songs about road woes and lost loves that sound just right on a lonely mountain drive or in a sweaty honky tonk (really, the two best places to listen to country music). The band’s third album, New Year, Old Me, finds the band looking at tradition, both in music and in life.”