Josh Abbott Band (Photo by Joseph Llanes)
The Josh Abbott Band released a holiday EP, Christmas Was, last year, and they hit the road for a tour that includes a stop at The Birchmere on Sunday, Jan. 23.
The band released Christmas Was, featuring their renditions of holiday classics, in November, about a year after publishing The Highway Kind, their most recent full-length album, via Pretty Damn Tough Records.
Frontman Josh Abbott said, “The Highway Kind is the album I wish we had put out seven years ago. The lyrics, the melodies, the subtle touches; this album is the very best effort from our group. These songs were brought to life and curated to reflect where my life is now: happy, fulfilled, blessed. From love songs to songs about friendship, from ballads to bangers, this album has it all. They’re true-life songs. I hope people listen to this record and go, ‘Man, Josh is in a really good place around now.’”
Watch a visualizer for “Real Damn Good” by Josh Abbott Band on YouTube:
A staple in the Texas music scene since forming in 2006 at Lubbock’s Texas Tech University, country fans have been singing JAB songs for more than a decade already. The seven-piece group’s relentless on-stage attitude quickly made it a successful touring act, building out from a Texas band to a regional act to a national crew with a devoted following from coast to coast. Concurrently, JAB developed its own label, Pretty Damn Tough Records, before that was an accepted practice in country circles.
Two of their projects, Small Town Family Dream and Front Row Seat, scored top 10 debuts on the Billboard country albums chart, while five titles cracked the Billboard country singles lists, including a pair — “Oh, Tonight” with Kacey Musgraves and “Wasn’t That Drunk” with Carly Pearce — that represented their first chart appearances.
Josh Abbott Band is Josh Abbott (vocals, guitar), Edward Villanueva (drums), Jimmy Hartman (bass), Caleb Keeter (electric guitar), Austin Davis (banjo), and David Fralin (keyboard).
Josh Abbott Band
The Birchmere
Sunday, Jan. 23
Show @ 7:30pm
$35
All ages