We have a track premiere from BJ Barham, the front man of the increasingly popular US Americana band American Aquarium. O’ Lover, which can be heard below, is taken from his forthcoming debut solo effort Rockingham. Rockingham will be released in the UK on the 22nd July via At The Helm Records. Barham is also in the UK completing his first UK tour to support the release of the album.
We spoke to BJ regarding the track,
O’ Lover is ultimately a song about desperation. What happens when good people are forced to do bad things in order to stay alive. Growing up in the south, poverty was a real thing. The common misconception in the States is that if you’re poor, it’s because you didn’t work hard enough. In rural NC that couldn’t be further from the truth. Hard working, good hearted people spend most of their lives trying to figure out how to keep it all together for another month.
This is a song about what happens when a farmer is pushed to his breaking point. He doesn’t want to hold up a convenience store, but he just can’t figure out any other way to keep his head above water. Desperation is a recurring theme on Rockingham, but this song definitely puts it front and centre.
Catch BJ Barham at Truck Festival (tomorrow), London, Norwich, Brighton, Manchester & Swansea over the coming week (see tour poster below). The album is available to pre-order from At The Helm Records here.
Find BJ Barham here: bjbarham.com