James Barker Band wins Juno for best country music album, again
Group looks forward to a busy 2024, which kicked off with dream performance at the Grand Ole Opry
If the first three months of 2024 are any indication, the James Barker Band is in for one heck of a year.
Having ticked a major bucket list item off by taking the Grand Ole Opry stage Feb. 27, the foursome logged another major milestone Sunday with a Best Country Album Juno Award for “Ahead of Our Time.”
The award marks the second best album win for the “band of brothers from different mothers”; James Barker, Taylor Abram, Connor Stephen and Bobby Martin.
All of the members grew up within an hour of each other in rural towns surrounding Toronto, including Barker, who hails from Woodville.
“It felt really good when we won the first one. We were pretty green and it kind of caught us by surprise,” said Barker of the Juno nod for “Game On,” noting this year’s award holds a much deeper context.
“I think, this time, there’s more weight to it. It’s kind of a ‘pat on the back’ from the industry, telling us we’re still doing something right; that we’re still relevant.”
The James Barker Band has been on a wild and crazy musical journey since their single “Chills” soared to the top of Billboard’s Canadian Hot 100 chart in 2017.
The band went on to release a string of successful singles, including the gold-certified tracks “Wastin’ Whiskey,” “New Old Trucks,” “Over All Over Again,” “There’s A Drink For That,” “Just Sayin’”, “Lawn Chair Lazy” — the video for which was filmed at Barker’s childhood home — and the platinumcertified “Keep It Simple.”
The band has amassed hundreds of millions of global streams, headlined festivals and played stages across North America and Europe. It currently holds the title of the most No. 1’s for a Canadian country group in the BDS/Mediabase era.
Not too shabby for a band that was paying its dues a decade ago, opening for local bands at dive bars and community events.
Barker added the Juno win, hot on the heels of the Opry show, has really set the stage for an exciting — and busy — 2024.
“We’re still adding dates, but this summer, we’re flying all over the country,” said Barker.
At this point, the closest local show is Aug. 31 at the Tweed Stampede in Trudeau Park.
The band is also poised to release a new track on April 5.
Barker is extremely proud of the band’s progress so far.
“We’ve come into our stride. We know who we area. Our fans know who we are. We can now get down to making the kind of music we want to play,” said Barker.
For more on the band, their music and tour dates visit jamesbarkerband.com.