Song Review – American Aquarium’s “The Long Haul”
It’s from the same well of passion that allows music fans to feel such a deep affinity for their favorite artists that a converse reaction can be observed where they hate a particular artist so spectacularly, they lose touch with the important things in life. One favorite insult to hurl at a hated artist is to claim lost their fastball once they got sober. Though there’s ample evidence in the historical record of popular music to refute this—the output of songwriters such as Jason Isbell and American Aquarium frontman BJ Barham is a good place to start—it’s still barked out commonly, and callously.
BJ Barham has been counted out more than a few times throughout his career. Back in the earlier days of American Aquarium, it was due to substance abuse and burnout. Today, BJ’s sobriety is what is cited by some as his bane. Make no mistake, Barham can twist off at a moment’s notice about some trifle, and ruffle feathers either from the stage and on social media, while he’s run through a litany of bandmates over the years (he’s the only original member of American Aquarium left). But when he channels those passions and frustrations into the end of a writing implement, the results are hard to argue with.
Like we saw with American Aquarium’s last record, the very well-received Things Change, BJ Barham might perform best when his back is against the wall, folks are counting him out, and he’s got something to prove—his level of sobriety notwithstanding. He relishes the underdog position. There’s nothing really existential threatening American Aquarium at the moment. The band is actually doing as good or better than ever, getting ready to make a Grand Ole Opry debut on May 1st—the same day they will also release their latest record Lamentations via New West Records. But Barham draws from his hard-fought successes, and his hard-nosed, dogged spirit for the first song released from the record, “The Long Haul.”
This personal tale of being counted out, getting sober, persevering, and appreciating the woman standing by his side makes the story behind “The Long Haul” reverberate as soundly as the favorable melody. Similar to the style to the band’s previous record, “The Long Haul” finds a more country feel compared to the more alt-country sound of earlier American Aquarium records, helped along by ample steel guitar, and the latitude allotted to the lead players to noodle a little after the final chorus.
BJ’s story is all his own, but it’s also the story of many of us. Each day and week is filled with ups and downs, little victories, major defeats. But the ones who persevere and succeed are often those who can wrestle through adversity, naysayers, and self-doubt. They may not end up on top, but sometimes survival through heart and dedication is a victory in itself.
Like a new T-shirt from American Aquarium reads, “Quit Bitchin’, Work Harder.” Barham has certainly been afforded many reasons to quit over the years, working harder through all of them to prevail. But it might have been the self-destructive things he quit that allowed him to become the revered songwriter he is today.
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American Aquarium’s ‘Lamentations’ produced by Shooter Jennings is out May 1st. It is now available for pre-order.
Johnny Falcon
March 5, 2020 @ 7:34 pm
man this is a really good song but I really wanted a political battle cry that told me how I should write my songs :/
thegentile
March 6, 2020 @ 8:15 am
this place really is an echo chamber lately.
Travis Schumann
March 6, 2020 @ 7:53 pm
How have you still not covered The Panhandlers yet??
tatuaje
March 5, 2020 @ 7:37 pm
Sure do wish I could like this song and this band.
The closest I can get is that BJ tries too hard?
Tries too hard to be Ben Nichols maybe?
Don’t know, can’t quite put my finger on it.
B
March 5, 2020 @ 7:54 pm
Thankfully being wrong isn’t a crime.
tatuaje
March 5, 2020 @ 8:01 pm
hell, if being wrong was a crime if be in supermax
B
March 5, 2020 @ 8:04 pm
I believe it.
SG
March 5, 2020 @ 8:30 pm
These are pretty much my thoughts as well. I tried a couple times to get into them but found their songs to be pretty generic. Both in terms of lyrics and music. I’m glad the guy pulled his life together but there’s only so much I want to hear about it.
Uncle2Pillow
March 5, 2020 @ 7:49 pm
Enjoyable tune. Loved the outro of the song especially the pedal and guitar solos. Curious to see how the whole album shapes up.
tatuaje
March 5, 2020 @ 8:12 pm
BJ? That you bub?
You seem…. upset
Don’t forget, music is *subjective*. Ain’t no right or wrong, just opinions
And like my grandad always said, opinions are like a**holes… Everybody’s got one and they all stink
jb
March 5, 2020 @ 8:26 pm
I’ve seen BJ perform… mmm… four times as American Aquarium. I love his music and prepurchased Lamentations months ago. I’m planning on seeing the band perform on this tour.
The song… Oh yeah, the post is about the song. I liked The Long Haul.
James87
March 5, 2020 @ 8:33 pm
BJ Barham is a great singer and songwriter . He is authentic , works hard and is passionate about what he does. Long Haul is an excellent song that punches you right in the gut . I look forward to their Grand Ol Opry debut and new album Lamentations . Great review and love the new music that keeps flowing .
Cream Cheese Boy
March 5, 2020 @ 9:37 pm
Man, can you try actually reviewing songs in your song reviews? If I want ten stanzas of backstory stuffed around one paragraph addressing the topic at hand, I’ll just go to any random white girl’s recipe page.
Trigger
March 5, 2020 @ 9:58 pm
Backstory seemed important to giving context to the song. I focus on long form content here. If you want three paragraphs of regurgitated publicist copy, try Rolling Stone Country.
🙂
hoptowntiger94
March 6, 2020 @ 12:22 am
LIKE!
Cackalack
March 6, 2020 @ 6:32 am
I like this too.
Stringbuzz
March 5, 2020 @ 9:54 pm
Really sounds like Isbell to me idk also sounds a lot like song on last album
Cream Cheese Boy
March 5, 2020 @ 10:42 pm
The backstory or political moves (and subsequent commenter arguments) of the more well-known artists is what I can find other places. Lately it seems like some of these artists get a lot more words devoted to their story or recent actions than the music itself. Selfishly, I want to see more focus on critiquing the songs, because you’re really good at it and that’s what sets this place apart from Twitter or Rolling Stone in my opinion. I’m not saying you’re bad at writing about bands. It’s just that you’re really good at writing about their music, and it seems like the music is playing second fiddle in some of these posts. Take that for whatever it’s worth to you.
Cream Cheese Boy
March 5, 2020 @ 10:42 pm
Sorry, meant that to be a reply to my last post.
Trigger
March 6, 2020 @ 12:32 am
I appreciate the feedback. In this case, I thought the background information helped set the context for the narrative of the song. But I understand what you’re saying.
Blackh4t
March 5, 2020 @ 11:39 pm
I like backstory and context, but in this case I agree, there was no critique of the song.
Such as: sadly he is wrong and this is no Burn.Flicker.Die.
This sounds very sober to me. Not sure where the emotion is meant to come from, he isn’t angry, not sad, not happy.
Pleasant to listen to, but not something to compare to the awesome live album that has all the emotions together.
Trigger
March 6, 2020 @ 12:37 am
“The story behind “The Long Haul” reverberate as soundly as the favorable melody. Similar to the style to the band’s previous record, “The Long Haul” finds a more country feel compared to the more alt-country sound of earlier American Aquarium records, helped along by ample steel guitar, and the latitude allotted to the lead players to noodle a little after the final chorus.”
So there was some critique of the song itself.
Blackh4t
March 6, 2020 @ 1:08 am
Haha, ok, noted. Trigger, I love what you’re doing, I’ll admit that I was wrong if you admit that this particular review had a lot more backstory about the band and subject matter than backstory about style and critique of the song itself.
There, who said we can’t settle a disagreement like civilised gentlemen 🙂
Trigger
March 6, 2020 @ 10:57 am
Sure. I try to put the focus where I feel it needs to be. We can’t take it for granted that people know who BJ Barham and American Aquarium is, even if you and I do. I think delving into the struggles he’s gone through either with the band or substance abuse help explain why this song is more meaningful than it would be coming from someone else.
Nanette
July 13, 2021 @ 3:52 pm
I heard the song on the radio and liked it so I looked it up online to see who sung it. I don’t do that often. It was different and he is a good singer.
(Me and) Paul
March 6, 2020 @ 8:54 am
While there isn’t a ton of specific critique of the song itself, I feel like this is where the “album reviews” and “song reviews” diverge. I personally don’t mind the song reviews providing some backstory and the effort to contextualize them especially since it’s just some thoughts on a lead single; maybe “review” is more or less a misnomer in this case. But Trigger’s album reviews tend to be better deep dives into the music. Also because it’s more effective to review songs in the context of the album as a whole.
Trigger
March 6, 2020 @ 11:01 am
I rarely review songs, unless it’s something impacting mainstream radio or some other exceptional track. What I started out doing was writing an album announcement article, one where you lay out the track list, talk about who plays on it, the producer and label, blah blah blah, but then though focusing more on this song and soft peddling the album details was a better approach in this situation. Really this was just my way of getting people to pay attention to the fact that a new American Aquarium record is on the way, and highlighting what I thought was a good song.
THass
March 5, 2020 @ 11:45 pm
Pssst… pssssssst…… psssssssst!
Hey Evan, talk to BJ more.
hoptowntiger94
March 6, 2020 @ 12:37 am
After years of fandom, by 2018 I suffered from extreme BJ exhaust (probably much like his many band mates throughout the years) and didn’t give Things Change much of a chance. It might be time to come back, but despite Long Haul sounding pleasant (good job Shooter) the message is predictable and trite. Hopefully, the rest of the album is more engaging.
Nicolas
March 6, 2020 @ 4:34 am
Excellent review! This song is absolutely amazing. The songwriting of BJ Barham, the music, the production of Shooter Jennings… for me it’s just the perfect song, to have on repeat all next days. As he did with Jaime Wyatt’s amazing song, “Neon Cross”, that you also recently reviewed, Shooter Jennings produces this song perfectly. I’m quite sure that, with such quality, “Lamentations” can be one of the best albums of 2020. American Aquarium is a great band. “Things change” was an awesome album and this one can be ever better. I can’t wait!
OlaR
March 6, 2020 @ 4:59 am
Love the outro (& i like the first 3 minutes too).
But…i know…i know…OlaR & his “but”…
…the whole track sounds like an all-star charity project. “We are the world…lala…”.
thegentile
March 6, 2020 @ 8:14 am
guys, i found the song review!
“…the favorable melody. Similar to the style to the band’s previous record, “The Long Haul” finds a more country feel compared to the more alt-country sound of earlier American Aquarium records, helped along by ample steel guitar, and the latitude allotted to the lead players to noodle a little after the final chorus.”
SG
March 6, 2020 @ 9:39 am
guys and gals, I found the third person very cleverly expressing this not yet discussed enough, or addressed enough complaint!
Hank
March 6, 2020 @ 9:58 am
Cutting critique from a guy who can’t figure out how to respond to said comment.
SG
March 6, 2020 @ 12:02 pm
Nice assumption.
Di Harris
March 6, 2020 @ 9:47 am
This guy has a pretty powerful voice
Chris
March 6, 2020 @ 5:38 pm
I like BJ a lot.
I didn’t know he’s clean and sober
I can relate to that very well from personal experience
LarryR
March 6, 2020 @ 7:04 pm
Like the song a lot but the tale of the tape with this band is how it sounds live. We went down to Raleigh in January and saw them (and others, including Mike & The Moonpies) two nights in a row. Two Truly great shows. If you’ve never seen them you should.
Dirty Dave
March 6, 2020 @ 9:53 pm
This song is very vanilla in my opinion and actually validates what he’s trying to refute-that he has lost his ‘it’ since going sober.
Too bad. Burn. Flicker. Die. remains their peak, until Barham was so miserable that his whole band quit.
Ben Nichols he is not, nor ever will be.
618creekrat
March 7, 2020 @ 11:51 am
Cody Jinks has also addressed this phenomenon: “Some people only like me when I’m stoned.”
And, I remember back when Evan Felker’s marriage went aground there were some musing that it could benefit the art of those involved.
I think there is a subset of “fans” who would rather watch a train wreck than be bored.
Dirty Dave
March 9, 2020 @ 8:08 pm
I am all for people being sober. Isbell created Southeastern when getting clean and it was amazing.
But if the artists get sober and start singing about it and their music sucks kind of like this song does…then I will support their sobriety and internal contentment but won’t blindly support their music.
This song sucks and BJ Barham is an unlikeable ego maniac.
Slim
March 10, 2020 @ 6:05 am
Lotta fuckin’ bitchin’ in these comments. Its almost like people aren’t happy unless there’s something to bitch about, so they’ll just create something out of nothing. Thoroughly enjoyed the song and the more mellow direction.