Looking Back, Moving Forward: Local Music Heals, Inspires

Barrett Baber’s plans for next year revolve around playing as many shows as he can to get people familiar with his
music and to show them “there’s so much more to me than what was on ‘The Voice.’”
Barrett Baber’s plans for next year revolve around playing as many shows as he can to get people familiar with his music and to show them “there’s so much more to me than what was on ‘The Voice.’”

As the year comes to a close, we take a look back at two of the biggest local music acts and the (sound) waves they made on the country music scene in 2016.

Backroad Anthem

FYI

Musical Notes

Barrett Baber will bring his “Room Full of Fighters Tour” to Fort Smith and Marion in Crittenden County in January. barrettbaber.com.

Fans can expect Backroad Anthem to get back to touring after the first of the year as well. facebook.com/Backro….

2016 began on a tragic note for the Arkansas-based country rockers Backroad Anthem. After he'd been missing for more than a week, the body of Craig Strickland, the band's lead singer and acoustic guitar player, was found Jan. 4 near the lake in Oklahoma where he'd been hunting with a friend. His bandmates Toby Freeman (lead vocals/electric guitar), Eric Dysart (fiddle), Josh Bryant (lead electric), Brandon Robold (bass/vocals) and Isaac Senty (drums) spoke with What's Up! just days after the discovery of their friend, sharing their sadness but also their fond memories of Strickland's passionate spirit.

"That's part of the reason we're continuing -- [we're] carrying on the passion and energy he put in to us. We know that's what he would want," Bryant said.

Freeman says despite the difficult moments they've endured this year, the five men are still continuing with the dream Strickland was so much a part of.

"I don't think we've ever had more drive," he says. "I think we realize this tragedy only gave us more opportunities to not only carry on his name, but also the Backroad Anthem name."

For that reason, the group will release a new five-song EP in the spring. Taking a break from writing, they have spent this year figuring our their new sound and their rhythm on stage as a five-piece. Although they are in the process of relocating to Nashville, Freeman says Arkansas will always be their home and fans should expect plenty of appearances in Northwest Arkansas as they continue hitting the road on tour.

Barrett Baber

Arkansas is losing another local celebrity to the Tennessee home of country music. Barrett Baber says he'll be starting the new year in Nashville to take that next step in his career.

"It breaks my heart to cross that state line, but you've got to be where the conversations are happening," Baber says.

After spending much of this year traveling between Northwest Arkansas and Nashville -- when he wasn't touring or opening for the Rascal Flatts at their Las Vegas residency -- hopefully this move will give Baber more time with his family while putting him in the middle of the music action.

Not that he hasn't had plenty of excitement this year. When season 9 of NBC's "The Voice" ended in December of last year, Baber returned to Arkansas as the third runner-up in the singing competition show. That momentum carried him through a year of playing venues thousands of miles from his home -- "To be in a city where I don't know anybody and go up on a stage and have people rock out to original music has been a humbling experience" -- to having his lyrics on a national Coca-Cola bottle campaign, to releasing his latest album "A Room Full of Fighters," which landed in the Top 10 on the Country iTunes Charts.

"To feel that success and know that I willed it to happened and it wasn't handed to me -- that's a really special feeling."

-- Jocelyn Murphy

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NAN What's Up on 12/30/2016

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