So I’m putting in the work / I’m digging in the dirt / I’m replanting my Southern roots.
Having southern roots is first and foremost a matter of growing up in a deeply conflicted region and yet finding it somehow impossible to either resolve or leave. It has to do with seeing clearly the failures of both home and the individual, yet nevertheless clinging to this identity. You see it in William Faulkner’s South, where the past is always present and constantly in states of revision by the people who tell and retell the stories over time, never questioning their truths.
It can be seen in Mark Kelly, the teenager who loves music, one of the main characters in Carson McCullers’ “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.” This novel revolves around southern culture and conflict by presenting individuals and families deeply affected and marred by the consequences of their town’s history. In the end, they have to stay connected to the town despite its flaws, observing and recording and believing that one day it will live up to the promise of its future. B.J. Barnham has brought American Aquarium to this point, where the band is ready to support his exploration of what it means to be a husband, father, musician and sober man with southern roots.
Scanning the audience that had packed the Greenfield Lake Amphitheater, you could sense an emotional attachment to Barnham’s penchant for baring his soul by way of his music and the lengthy rambling monologues he serves at just about every show. He speaks of past misdeeds and epic battles with addiction that have afflicted he and his family, so much that they refer to it as “the family problem.” Many of American Aquarium’s songs have to do with conflict and redemption. Having a Southern identity comes with the territory.
They start with ‘Crier,’ the opening track from their just released 10th album, “The Fear of Standing Still.” Barnham spits out the gritty lyrics as the band roars into action, sounding like something you might have heard from Ed Kowalczyk when the band Live was active. “The first thing we do when we’re born, So quickly from our weary Mother’s arms we are torn.” The point is that boys aren’t supposed to cry except when the doctor induces the newborn to draw its first breath. The rousing energy is maintained through the next two songs, exploding into the excitement of ‘Casualties,’ a constant in every set since the 2012 “Burn, Flicker, Die” album. Fists are pumping everywhere you look while fiery barbs crackle from the guitar of Shane Boeker. The crowd shouts the hook: “I’m just a casualty of rock and roll.” This leads into ‘St. Mary’s,’ also from their breakout album, where small town heroes dance to songs on the radio: “Like Wilson Pickett we were moving and shaking, little house of cards in a hurricane.” Neil Jones supplies the plaintive pedal steel for the city boys singing hymns to the girls of summer.
There’s a run of songs from the new album, starting with the indie rock of ‘Cherokee Purples’ to ‘The Getting Home’ and ‘The Curse of Growing Old.’ Barnham worries what life holds in store while remembering his father watching the Daytona 500 on the day Dale Earnhardt was killed in a crash. and his grandmother telling him what it’s like to see everyone around you pass away.
The current incarnation of American Aquarium is totally different from those that have played Barnham’s songs before. In addition to Boeker and Jones, bassist Alden Hedges and drummer Ryan Van Fleet provide a sturdy rhythm section and Rhett Huffman rounds out the unit on keys. Barnham interjects numerous anecdotes relatable to people from the South who, like him, did their shopping at Food Lion, ate burgers at Hardees and were excited at the prospect of vacationing in Myrtle Beach. “Anywhere else in the country, I’d have to explain what Myrtle Beach is. Not here. You’re my people. Myrtle Beach is not where you go to find everlasting love. Saltwater taffy, yes, calabash shrimp, yes, 350 with a hot tub in the back, hell yeah.
Over feedback-drenched chords, he sings the signature line to ‘Wolves,’ “There’s a southern sadness that won’t let go of this heart of mine.” Two more follow from the new album, produced by Shooter Jennings: ‘Messy as a Magnolia’ compares yard work to relationship maintenance, “So, honey take my hand, What part of ‘I ain’t leaving’ don’t you understand?” Acoustic guitar and tinkling keys on ‘Southern Roots’ portend conversing with ghosts. “You can only change the words you choose.”
The main set closes with Burnham again alluding to addictions (“When you turn us on we stay up all night”) and the fist-pumping resumes as the crowd chants the extended outro: “We burn too long, we flicker and die.”
Burnham’s monologue precedes the encore. He lost his mom on New Year’s Eve in 2019, another statistic in the war on drugs that isn’t being fought. She was his best friend and “always supported my music, even when I sucked.” Even when he became an alcoholic, though the day after this show will mark his 10th year of sobriety. So many in the family died from drug or alcohol abuse, they began calling it “the family problem.” His mother was injured at work and one back surgery led to another and nothing worked until the doctor wrote a prescription for oxys, and that led to her long decline. After she passed, Burnham went home to stay with his father on July 3rd, the night before his parents’ anniversary. The next morning was the only time he saw his father cry because “for the first time in 43 years he woke up and didn’t see his wife in bed next to him.”
To begin the encore, Burnham is alone on stage with just an acoustic guitar and his heart on his sleeve as he plays ‘The First Year,’ his sonorous vocals melding with the soft chords. That dynamic voice is also capable of powering through the tumultuous rendition of ‘Katherine Belle,’ “the wolf in thrift-store clothing, till that sheepish smile ran over her face.” She’s the kind of girl you don’t bring home to meet your mama. Another lesson learned brings the show to an end.
The Watson Twins who have been opening on several dates of the tour, appear in their usual matching vintage outfits, candy-striped on this night. They brought a peppy energy, delightful harmonies and good time stage presence that comes through clearly on energetic songs like the foot-stompin’ ‘Sissy Said,’ ‘Honky-Tonk Heart’ and the title song to their 2023 album, “Holler,” featuring some spicy slide guitar by Stephen Cooper.
Chandra and Leigh Watson are identical twins and share an unbounded enthusiasm for performing, alternately swapping lead vocals or combining their voices in pitch perfect harmonies. This was strikingly apparent when they eased off the gas and blended with the ringing guitar tones on ‘Love You Best,’ a dreamy dollop of pop candy that stirs faint echoes of The Shirelles’ glorious hits. Chandra showed off her harmonica chops nearing the end of the set as a shy girl tries finding a way to a man’s heart through his stomach on ‘Southern Manners.’ “And my southern manners do oblige, Won’t you come on over for a slice of pie?”
Their approach to entertainment isn’t complicated. “‘Hustle & Shake,’ that’s what we do,” and they’ve got that down pat. Whether it’s offering harmonies for hire as they provided Jenny Lewis or being out front and personable with their own band, you know they mean what they sing. ‘I want it all, I want it now, anyway, anyhow.’
