this week’s opener (8/9) is:

Sam Barber

🔮the vibe…

21 year old new-age country artist 🤠 with a powerful voice + something to say

(comps to Zach Bryan and Tyler Childers)

🏡the roots…

Frohna, Missouri📍

📖 the story…

• Born in a small Missouri town of less than 200 people

• Sam didn’t pick up a guitar until he was 16 years old (ie 5 years ago🤯), after he found out his great grandfather was a songwriter

• He started releasing videos of him doing covers on TikTok for fun, while he attended State Technical College of Missouri

• A pair of music managers contacted him and suggested he quit school, and move to Montana where they could help him pursue music

  • He was broke, and he decided to take their offer 🤝

  • “I didn’t have any money. I wasn’t doing well or anything. I couldn’t even buy a Pepsi”

• A year after moving to Montana, his rocket ship took off 🚀, with his TikTok viral hit: “Straight and Narrow”

  • “The timing was perfect for me. The whole Zach Bryan thing was happening and people were getting more into Tyler [Childers]. Just more raw, stripped-back music.”

  • The song now has ~200M streams on Spotify

• Since then, Sam has remained the authentic (and shy) artist that he started as (and remember…he’s 21).

• He has firmly rejected every major label trying to lure him to “Nashville Music Row” to become a mainstream country artist and appeal to radio

  • He’s going to stick to what he knows best: “People talking about their lives and stuff they’ve been through. That’s what people are trying to write now. They’re not trying to write about beer on a pickup bed.”

  • He hasn’t even released a full album yet - just singles and EPs

• Lots more to come from this kid⏳…

🎧 the 🔝 songs…

streetlight- spotify / apple music

tear us apart (twisters soundtrack) - spotify / apple music

🎙️ the 🔝 performance…

straight and narrow (the song that started it all) ⬇️

• its insane that this kid picked up a guitar 5 years ago, and this was the first song that he wrote 😅 

• he seems to have an old soul that is being channeled thru him

• side note: great scenery in this video

📇 the rest…

• currently on a limited tour (not really hitting the coasts)

• IG/TikTok

📩the word…

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