American Aquarium

North Carolinian alt-country outfit American Aquarium rose to prominence in the late 2000s with a sound that mixed twang, grit, and some straight-ahead rock & roll. With a name plucked from a Wilco lyric, they picked up the trail blazed by bands like Whiskeytown and the Drive-By Truckers, adding their own distinctive palette and point of view. Focused around the songs of frontman B.J. Barham, the group already had four records and countless tours before finding more widespread acclaim with 2012's Burn.Flicker.Die. Over the years, Barham has retooled his lineup a number of times, and he became more politically outspoken on later releases like 2020's poetic Lamentations. In 2021, the band offered up a two-volume covers project of '90s/early-2000s country songs under the title Slappers, Bangers & Certified Twangers, and they returned to their original work with 2022's Chicamacomico.