James Barker Band is Ready to Get ‘Lawn Chair Lazy’ at Boots & Hearts Festival

The James Barker Band went from playing their acoustic guitars at random campsites during the Boots & Hearts Festival to getting to rock the main stage this year after hard work and patience in their country music journey.

Written by Kelly Brickey
James Barker Band is Ready to Get ‘Lawn Chair Lazy’ at Boots & Hearts Festival
Photo by Lane Dorsey

It was only a few short years ago that the James Barker Band packed their acoustic guitars and played impromptu jam sessions at random campsites at the Boots & Hearts Festival for whoever wanted to hear them. Who knew that now they would end up taking their music to the main stage at that very festival this summer.

“There’s just an ambiance about festivals that is not like a normal concert, so we’re super excited to be playing Boots & Hearts,” said James Barker of the band.

The James Barker Band consists of Taylor Abram, Bobby Martin, Connor Stephen and of course, Barker. The four guys came from all different backgrounds to make up the rock-influenced country band. While they hail from the Great White North of Canada, they’ve gotten to know Nashville quite well and enjoy its country spirit every time they come to make music down South.

“The country music capital…it’s unbelievable. It’s inspiring more than anything. Aside from getting to actually write and work with other artists, the next best thing is just getting to go and see new artists you’ve never seen or never even heard of or just going to venues that you know have cool music or going with a buddy who recommends you to a place to see what’s out there. It’s the most diverse country market in the world. There’s so much going on and so many new ideas and cool venues there,” explained Barker to Sounds Like Nashville.

Those ideas and inspirations led them to their single, “Lawn Chair Lazy,” which incorporates the country vibes of summer with the guitar-driven sounds they are fans of. The single is the perfect summer anthem that epitomizes the best things of the summer: chillin’ out, sunshine and beer.

“I wrote it with a couple of buddies of mine that live in Toronto and we went in to sit down and do a writing session,” said Barker. “The one guy had a little musical idea that just screamed summertime and the ‘beer, beer, beer’ thing kinda fell out of nowhere. It was kinda built around that, the summertime lifestyle kind of thing. Just nice, hot summer days, chillin’ out in a lawn chair by the pool, drinking some cold beer.”

Taking the fun from that single and transferring it over to the sound of the EP they’re working on for the fall, Barker hopes that the band can show off all of the influences that make their music unique to the platform.

“We’re planning on releasing a six-song EP hopefully by September. So right now, we have a whole bunch of songs, a whole boatload that we’re trying to narrow down and try to get the right ones. Then we’ll get recording probably a few weeks into August, so planning to see that early to mid-September. Probably kind of modern country style, but a little more of that funk-pop-rock influence than a lot of people. There’s definitely traditional aspects in there too, especially in the writing part of it, like in the lyrical portions of it. But definitely heavy on rock influence there and a little bit of the pop thing as well,” said Barker.

Fans can keep up with the James Barker Band on their Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and can see them perform live at the Boots & Hearts Festival, taking place in Oro-Medonte, Ontario, Canada from August 4-7.