I don’t listen to a lot of modern country music, so was not as familiar with The James Barker Band as the sold out crowd at Average Joes on a blizzardy, cold wintery, Feb. 3.
I unfortunately missed opening acts JoJo Mason and Meghan Patrick, but arrived about midway through a hot set by the gleeful James Barker band, who were digging into a cover of country classic “Hey Good Looking,” which should have been dedicated to all of the beautiful ladies singing along right at front of the stage.
Frontman James Barker exchanged his Stratocaster for his rhythm guitarist’s acoustic for a spirited version of Corb Lund’s “Truck Got Stuck” which hit the enthusiastic crowd’s resonant frequency, as he explained even though he lives in Welland , Ontario, he was a huge fan of Lethbridge’s own Lund.
He followed it up with a cover of John Michael Montgomery’s “ Sold (Grundy County Auction),” and brought up a single young man onto the stage with the band to be “auctioned off” to the young ladies in the crowd, but cracked up and couldn’t go through with it. He returned the acoustic “ before I can do any more damage with it,” and continued on with the hits, though they slowed down and sat on stools for some slower tunes.
“Living the Dream” had everybody singing along with the chorus of “I Drink Beer, I smoke pot, I throw punches in the parking lot” and showed their hip hop/ pop side on “Chills.”
He also tried out a few new songs on the receptive crowd.
They were called back for an encore around 11 p.m.
