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RM talks Tweedy, writing and the scene with the Raleigh rock band.
When Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy penned “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” on acclaimed record Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, he unknowingly penned a Raleigh band into the city’s history books.
Alt-country group American Aquarium lifted their name from the opening line of the experimental rock track, launching a project that would eventually grow into a vast discography and 20+ years of live performances—garnering millions of ears, including the fans who now flock to the band’s annual Roadtrip to Raleigh, a three-night run at Lincoln Theatre kicking off Feb. 5.
“[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot] changed my life,” says frontman BJ Barham. “It changed how I viewed music and songwriting—it changed the way I viewed everything. It was a very easy decision to name the band American Aquarium—and, thankfully, 20 years later, Jeff Tweedy has not sued me, so I think he’s OK with it.”
Despite borrowing the Tweedy ref, the NC native doesn’t pursue the same abstract songwriting approach. While some American Aquarium tracks dip into conceptual narratives, Barham maintains their lyrics consistently draw from personal experience.
“If you put a piece of yourself in every song, every single time you sing it, you’re being honest with the audience,” Barham tells RM. “You can play it every night for 20 years and still have people believe you.” It’s an MO that serves the band well. Read: 16 albums in just two decades.
Still, the writing process doesn’t run on a fixed schedule—and results aren’t uniform. Barham says he will go a year without writing a song. “I make observations,” he explains. “I write down one-liners, songs and titles… nonsense I’ll overhear a couple talking about in Lincoln, Nebraska. Then I put all the observations down on the table and start drawing correlations. The songs present themselves.”
Barham isn’t sure a band like American Aquarium would find success in Raleigh today—and notes even they struggled in their own hometown early on.
“We’re not the math rock band, we’re not the indie punk band,” says the NC State grad. “We’re songwriters. For the first 10 years of our career, it was really hard to build something substantial in Raleigh—meaning bigger than The Pour House. We were selling out The Pour House every two months, but around the country, we were growing into larger theaters—we just weren’t growing in Raleigh.”
Enter Roadtrip to Raleigh. The band’s three-night run at Lincoln Theatre draws fans from all over the country for a hometown romp—and has consistently sold out over the decade.
“We take a lot of pride in where we’re from and where we got our start,” says Barham. “It’s always so nice to be able to come back home, bring all of our friends from around the country and show off how great Raleigh is.” So whether you’re a Raleigh native or Roadtrip regular, the road ends in the City of Oaks. lincolntheatre.com
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