Los Angeles is not the first city that comes to mind when I think of country music. I don’t often listen to the genre, yet I found myself in the Fonda Theatre in late August for Sam Barber’s country music show. I was excited to experience Barber’s melancholy songs with fresh ears through a live perspective. In somewhat of a role reversal, I discovered Barber because I was familiar with his opening artist, Ethan Regan, whose sound blends folk and acoustic styles.
Sam Barber is from a small town in Missouri, where he was raised on a family farm. Neither of his parents were involved in entertainment: his mother was a nurse, and his father was a mechanic. When Barber was 16 years old, he began playing his great grandfather’s old guitar and began his self-taught music practice. In 2021, Barber started posting videos of himself singing original music and covering songs and gained a large audience who supported his debut single, “Run Away High.” Barber then auditioned for the 20th season of the TV show American Idol, where he passed through the first audition round, although his performance was not aired. In 2022, Barber wrote and released “Straight and Narrow,” which gained popularity through social media in 2023 and ultimately reached platinum status. Barber’s song “Indigo” was his first to reach the Billboard Hot 100 charts, and peaked at spot number 40. Barber has performed at iconic venues such as the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, the same city where he performed his first headline show.
Barber’s style, although categorically country, also blends rock, folk, and alternative genres. His music involves a consistent element of introspection and storytelling that makes it easy to become a part of his lyrical world. His discography offers personal insights into his life while maintaining relatability and speaking to universal experiences, often those of melancholy or struggle.
As I waited for the show to begin from the photo pit, I began speaking with a few fans who stood front row in the audience. They asked about what had brought me to take photos of the show, and I inquired about what drew them to Barber’s music, the answer often being his lyricism. The crowd was not defined by any distinct age range, unlike many other standing-room shows I’ve been to in LA.
Sam Barber began his set with “Better Year” off of his 2024 album Restless Mind. The production of the show was incredible and emphasized Barber’s voice while incorporating strong guitar riffs. The crowd was impressively familiar with Barber’s lyrics; I’d estimate at least two-thirds of the room knew every line that was sung that night. Barber then moved into his song “Tear Us Apart,” which he wrote and recorded for the film Twisters. He followed this with “Run Away High,” which is an early one of Barber’s singles that brought the audience back to his first days of releasing music.
The setlist continued to bounce throughout Barber’s discography, ranging from his earliest releases to his newest EP. He performed “Thought of You” off Restless Mind, followed by “Man of the Year” and “Ain’t Dead Yet” from his latest EP, Music for the Soul. These songs carry a sense of reflection and hopefulness that unified the audience as they sang alongside Barber.
The next two songs performed moved backward in Barber’s releases to his 2024 releases “Different Kind of Pain” and “Main You Raised” off of Restless Mind. These songs quieted the crowd and brought about slower movement in the audience through Barber’s heartfelt storytelling. The two songs to follow were single releases. The first was one of Barber’s earliest songs, “Ramblin’ Man,” from the start of his career in 2022. The second was “Burn Me,” a 2025 single Barber released in collaboration with Jonah Kagen. The vulnerability cultivated through Barber’s performance began to reignite the audience’s energy until the crowd was singing along to his songs of heartbreak again. Barber bounced back and forth between songs off of Restless Mind and Music for the Soul, starting with the two title tracks and followed by “Cold, Dark Place” and “Home Tonight.” The set began to wind down with Barber’s 2024 single “Streetlight,” followed by a cover of Tyler Childers’ “Jersey Giant.” Barber ended his set with “S.O.B.” from Restless Mind and “Straight and Narrow” from Million Eyes. The final song of the night was a cover of Dani and Lizzy’s “Dancing in the Sky.”
Barber’s performance at the Fonda brought together Angelenos with a shared love for passionate lyrics and storytelling that Barber offers through his mellow and melodious vocals. Barber strung together a setlist that effortlessly combined his early releases with hits and familiar covers. His ability to flow between different emotional states throughout the set was reflected in the crowd over the course of the night. He has the rare ability to change the energy of a room through his voice, and I am so glad to have been introduced to the storytelling he offers through his music that night.
