American Aquarium at the Granada: photos and setlist

American Aquarium, with Jamie Lin Wilson

The Granada

Thursday, January 3

An advertisement for American Aquarium kept popping up on my Instagram feed ahead of the band’s show last night at the Granada. In it, the North Carolina-based act made mention of the fact that the last time it came to town, it competed with a Jayhawks basketball game and lost. This time, the band made sure to perform on a night when KU wasn’t playing, and it seems to have worked: the turnout was strong for AA’s set of raucous alt-country. Alternately mournful and rowdy, American Aquarium showed the crowd that you can be equal parts Wilco, Bruce Springsteen, and Waylon Jennings. 

I’ve seen quite a few “alt-country,” or “red-dirt,” or “new traditionalist” acts over the last few years. The crowd is usually the same: late-20s to mid-30s, plaid shirts, blue jeans. This Raleigh five-piece draws from beyond that demographic, though. A solid portion of the audience was in their late 40s to early 60s — no mean feat for a weeknight after the holidays. There were just as many grayhairs up at the front of the stage as there were young folks knocking back PBR tallboys. The older folks were snapping setlist photos before the band kicked off its set and cheered just as loudly after every song.

The set focused on tunes that represented a blue-collar view of society, but without the jingoism that tends to blight much of that lyrical style. Opening cut “The World Is On Fire” features the lines This ain’t the country my grandfather fought for/ But I still see the hate he fought against — a far cry from We’ll put a boot in your ass / It’s the American way. 

All photos by Nick Spacek

American Aquarium setlist

The World Is on Fire

Tough Folks

Casualties

St. Mary’s

Losing Side of Twenty-Five

Wolves

Hurricane

Rattlesnake

Man I’m Supposed to Be

Nothing to Lose

Wichita Falls

Good Fight

Crooked + Straight

Lonely Ain’t Easy

I Hope He Breaks Your Heart

Burn.Flicker.Die.

—

One Day At A Time

Katherine Belle

Rockingham

Opener Jamie Lin Wilson played a two-part set. The first was just her and pedal-steel player Adam Kurtz playing some quieter tunes; the second half saw her more foot-stomping cuts backed by the rest of American Aquarium, minus frontman B.J. Barham. Her stage banter was witty and warm, and she won over the early-arriving crowd with aplomb. Wilson’s songs are evocative of big sky nights in the back of a pickup truck, and her performance made the sometimes-cavernous Granada feel like a sitting on a front porch.