Graham Barham is having a moment thanks to the release of his new EP ‘Oil Money‘ and its accompanying title track.
The Louisiana singer-songwriter has been blazing his own path, blending hip-hop production with Country sensibilities to create what he calls ‘Club Country'. The end result is amassing millions of streams while causing plenty of controversy from the Country genre's gatekeepers.
Over the weekend Barham performed in UK at C2C in London, marking his first shows here. Before he performed, I sat down with him to talk about the controversy around his music, the importance of following your gut and his plans for new music…
I am absolutely obsessed with the ‘Oil Money' EP. I had it on repeat on my drive here to The O2 this morning. It's so cohesive…
Thank you so much. I really appreciate that.
The EP has had a strong reaction. Country music as a genre isn't known to be welcoming to innovators and disruptors. What has that been like for you?
I was talking to Tyler Hubbard the other day of Florida Georgia Line and he told me that the amount of hate they got when they were first starting out was just immense. The controversy (would result in) more and more people showing up to shows, and more and more people loving that I'm trying to pioneer something different. All the controversy now that I've seen is just a beautiful thing and it's just more eyes on what I'm trying to do.
People have really strong opinions, don't they?
Oh yeah! If you want to have a field day, or you want to have an entertainment evening, just go on my comment section. Thousands of people are just fighting.
Does it ever bother you?
At first… I'm a human being so read them and you're like ‘damn!'. I think for me it wasn't so much that it affects my day but I was like, ‘am I doing the right thing? Am I being a good person?' I think that's what I was thinking. ‘ Am I a bad person?' For 24 hours when the controversy broke, I just questioned if I was doing the right thing, I think, more so than anything else.
What I love about the EP is that if you take away the beats and the production, what you're left with is a collection of Country songs. It baffles me that that has bypassed people – they've heard beats and lost their minds…
It's crazy! People don't even know this, but I'm writing with some of the biggest country songwriters in the game. We're writing country songs. The ideas, the lyrics, the melodies; it's just the beats are different and I have a little more swag in the verses than a lot of country songs… a lot more speed. Other than that, they're just country songs with different beats not traditional beats. I think it's so fun and it's fresh.
It makes it interesting. There are so many artists, that you literally could swap in and out, and you would have no idea you were listening to somebody different. That is not the case with your music. As soon as you hear it, you know it's you. Your voice and your songwriting is distinctive. How did you develop that style?
Well actually, I was trying to do country rap before I even had an opportunity to sign a record deal, put out records or had any eyes on me. I was trying to be a hip- hop artist, doing essentially what I'm doing now but a lot more hip hop. I was writing a lot of country music at the same time so I was living two lives. I didn't want anybody to see that I was doing these hip hop records, but also writing country music with other country artists.
When I had the opportunity to start putting out my own music, I started putting out more down the middle country music because I felt like that would be better for me starting out. But then I had a moment in my life where I was like, ‘I'm not really cool with who I am right now. I feel like a fake.' I grew up in a town of a hundred people. My dad's a farmer. My mom's a schoolteacher. I'm so country, it's not even funny. I grew up in the middle of nowhere, but I love hip hop music and I was like, ‘ why am I trying to please all these other people in town or whatever it may be? I'm just going to start putting out what I think is country music to me.' That's when I took both of my worlds and put them together. I still get the fix of writing super country music for other artists so I still get to train that muscle but I'm getting to put out what we're calling ‘Club Country'; my version of Country music.
It's the perfect description…
Thank you. My manager came up with that actually. (It's mentioned in) a line in the song ‘ Old Money', my most recent song is. He was like, ‘dude, that's what it is. It's country music you listen to in the club when you're trying to have a good time.
I can confirm it's accurate given it turned my car into a club on the way here today. I had it on super loud and was vibing out…
(laughs) What's your favorite?
Half A Dozen Roses…
That's my favourite. That chorus has got crack in it. It's that note that Jessi Alexander, who I wrote it with, she was singing it like (sings) ‘broken' and I was like, ‘whoa. That is not traditional. That is not a country note.' She did that, and we were like, ‘wow, that is incredible.' We wrote this song with David Lee Murphy as well, actually (who did ‘Dust on the Bottle'). That's my favourite song and that's why I made the EP. When we were putting out the group of songs (we decided to) add a couple more tunes, not just making a collective without anything new. This (song) is my favourite one.
You mentioned having doubt about what you're doing but the reaction, especially to the song ‘Oil Money', has been huge. Does that feel validating to know that you've followed your gut and it's working out?
Yes, in short, yeah. I'm just blown away though that my gut feeling and what I love, is what other people love. It's cool. It's a crazy thing because you never really know. I have so many artists, friends that are so much more talented than I am that no one knows about so the fact that people are starting to find out about me and understand me, my journey and my creativity is a blessing. It's so cool.
Now the EP is out what are you planning next. Will we get a second part or maybe an album?
I don't know. Everybody's asking about an album. I think I'm just really still honing in everything. I've only been doing this for about a couple years now as an artist. I think an album definitely is going to come sooner than later, but for now we're just releasing a song every six weeks. Just continuing to feed the people and it's allowing me to really figure out exactly what I want to do and what my exact lane is.
The album is a moot point at the moment. Some artists still love them, some don't. What's your view?
To me, a lot of it feels like a giant waste of time and money but then at the same time, I want it. I want the collective work, which I think is why the EP was so important to me. It's just having everything in one place that people can go to and just listen to all of it, instead of having to go single to single to single to single. I'm definitely writing a lot of songs so I will say that much. I don't know when the album is going to be.
Speaking of songwriting, I know you've got a cut on Blake Shelton's new album that he's just announced. People probably won't expect that, like you said earlier. How do you decide when a song is for you and when it's right for another artist?
I go in and write songs pretty much every single day I'm home in Nashville with some of the greatest songwriters ever. I just get to be a part of what their creativity is, and if it ends up being something that I feel like is for me, then we'll keep it. If not, then we just pitch it to whoever we think is best for it. We didn't go in that day at all being like, ‘this is for Blake Shelton', or ‘this is for Graham Barham'. We just went in and tried to write the most badass song we could, and it felt like we did. Blake put a vocal on it, and then he cut it, and I can't believe it. I think it's so cool. He's a legendary artist. I can tell within the first 10 minutes of writing a song whether or not it's going to be a song for me or not. If it's got a bunch of 808s, it's probably for me.
So that's your test, the 808s?
(laughs) Yeah but if (they're) not (there), it's probably just for somebody else. A lot of times people will take away the beat. My publishers will be like, ‘hey, can you send us a version that's got real bass on it and not 808s and synths' you know, the stuff that I'm using. I've had some cuts that way as well.
Maybe this is your album plan? Do a double album with one side ‘Club Country' and the other the stripped back version without the beats?
Yeah, we've actually talked about that. I think that's 100 percent in the future. Hardy's one of my biggest influences with how he does the Mockingbird and the Crow where he has super rock stuff and then his country stuff. I'd like to do that as well.
Is this your first time in the UK?
I've been here before, but never for work, never for music.
You'll find across this weekend that music fans here like people who are doing something different and operating outside the norm. Is that exciting to you as an artist to get in front of music fans that are like that?
Yeah, it's awesome. Especially for somebody like me who's already controversial enough and people have enough opinions about me and what I do. To come over here and just have people that are just crazily open-minded, it's incredible. It's a blessing.
How has your time been here since you've arrived?
Great. The food's been incredible. The fans have been great. We finally are in one place for more than two days, which is awesome. I've really enjoyed it a lot. I think London is probably in my top three or four favourite cities in the world.
I've never heard anyone say the food is great here…
I mean, we're going to Nando's after this!
So you're familiar with a cheeky Nandos?
Yeah (laughs). We've been going to a lot of restaurants while we've been out here though. It's been incredible. We love food. It's been great.
What's the rest of your year looking like post-C2C? Are you hoping to come back and play your own shows?
I'd like to. We're going on tour with Dylan Scott about 20 shows and then we're doing some headlining stuff in the fall. I'm not sure when we're coming back here, but I'd like to as soon as possible. I don't want people to forget about me. You know?
There's so many people playing this weekend but your name is one I keep hearing a lot…
That's awesome.
I think that you will find you have a very willing fanbase here…
Wow! Well, that's awesome. I appreciate you telling me. I've really enjoyed it here. I can't wait to come back. It's so crazy to me getting to come over here and sing country music. It's nuts. It's wild. It's a dream come true.
Graham Barham's ‘Oil Money' EP is out now via Sony Music Entertainment/Disruptor Records.
