For Fans Of: Tenille Townes, Michael Ray, Little Big Town
Multi-award-winning country collective James Barker Band have taken the Canadian scene by storm, and now they’re coming for the rest of the world.
Fronted by James Barker, joined by Taylor Abram, Bobby Martin, and Connor Stephen, the group from Ontario formed in 2013 and have been relentlessly breaking records and topping charts ever since. They burst onto the scene when they won the Boots & Hearts Emerging Artist Showcase in 2015, which resulted in a signing with Universal Music Canada.
They released their debut EP Game On in April 2017, which was later awarded Country Album of the Year at the 2018 Canadian JUNO awards! The 7-track release also features their record-breaking single ‘Chills’; an emotive, mellow track filled with passion.
The song reached #46 on the US country radio airplay chart in 2018 – the first time for a Canadian Country artist not signed to a domestic label to do so. This record-breaking single achieved Platinum certification and was also awarded Single of the Year and Best Selling Canadian Single at the 2018 Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) Awards. It was also the most streamed domestic country single in Canada in 2017, and was the first of three songs to be named the most spun song by a Canadian artist on Canadian country radio. It held the record for 2017, before ‘Good Together’ claimed it in 2018 then ‘Keep It Simple’ in 2019.
The melodic bop ‘Good Together’ was also featured on Spotify’s Hot Country (the world’s biggest country playlist) – capturing over 23 million streams and counting on Spotify alone. Following this success, in the autumn of 2018 they were selected by Spotify Canada to be their first ever Canadian-signed artist in any genre to be chosen to record a Spotify Single Session.
In January 2019, James Barker Band released their hit single ‘Keep It Simple’; their second #1 at Canadian country radio. With over 18 million global streams to date, this was their quickest single to achieved Gold certification (less than 6 months). They were also honoured in the spring of 2019 with being the first Canadian act ever to be a featured artist on the prestigious, sought-after cover of Spotify’s Hot Country playlist.
James Barker Band released their second EP Singles Only this May, which includes their summer hit single ‘There’s a Drink for That’ – the fastest JBB single yet to hit the 2 million total global streams mark, taking just four weeks. Discussing the EP, the band said “It feels like our sound has matured, but it still stays true to what we want. Whether it be our traditional country influences, our pop influences, or anything in between, it’s still just has that James Barker Band stamp on it that we hope all of our fans are gonna be really excited about.”
Holding over 110-million total global streams and continuing to smash records and top charts with every release, James Barker Band are proving to be unstoppable, so watch this space.
Website – jamesbarkerband.com
Facebook – /jamesbarkerband
Twitter – @jamesbarkerband