American Aquarium Delivers 'Vignettes of the American Experience' on “New Ways to Lose”, Their 20th Album in 20 Years (Exclusive)

Chris BarillaFri, June 26, 2026 at 1:00 PM UTC

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American AquariumCredit: Samantha Kniskern -

BJ Barham reflects on two decades of storytelling and small-town life in American Aquarium's 20th album, New Ways to Lose

The album critiques the evolving American landscape, inspired by Barham's roots and influences like Bruce Springsteen

Barham, now sober and a father, embraces growth and perspective while continuing to shape modern Americana music

For American Aquarium frontman BJ Barham, the one common thread that has remained in place over the years in his musical process is how an idea is born.

"Everything starts with a story," the singer-songwriter, 42, tells PEOPLE.

After spending two decades forging a career created on the foundation of thousands of miles on the road, countless stages and a catalog that documents every facet of the modern American experience, Barham still returns to his core tenet: that a song only matters if there is something real at its center.

That ethos is the driving factor behind New Ways to Lose, American Aquarium's 20th album in 20 years. Across its 10 tracks, Barham looks outward at the changing landscape of small-town living while also reflecting on everything it took to get to the point where he is able to offer conscious criticism of his surroundings' changes from the platform he has built.

"I think any time you write songs about understanding the world around you, you find a better understanding of yourself," he says.

'New Ways to Lose' by American AquariumCredit: Thirty Tigers

The album's title, like many of Barham's best ideas, started as something much lighter. Inspired by a phrase used in NC State football culture whenever the team experiences a heartbreaking loss, "new ways to lose" was originally just a joke. But as the songs came together, the meaning of the phrase shifted to the proud son of Reidsville, N.C.

"Once I started looking at it into the whole scope of the record, then it became a lot more sad," Barham says. "It became a lot more serious."

New Ways to Lose examines the things disappearing around Barham that he considers foundational aspects of his humanity. By addressing downtowns losing their identities, communities struggling to keep up and the growing distance between the people living those realities, Barham offers one of the most astute modern critiques of the evolving American landscape and its big city gaze wandering from the small towns that define it.

That awareness can be heard in the album's first track, "Dollar General," a heartland rock-tinged questioning of the resilience of small towns from coast to coast whose economics have faltered so much that they cannot even sustain the mega chain. The choice to shout out the national brand as opposed to his usual hyper-localized references was simple: Barham wanted a symbol that anyone could see and immediately understand the core of his reasoning through.

"When I make a reference to the Dollar General, they know exactly where I'm at, what I'm talking about, and the kind of people I'm talking about," he says. In crafting the track, Barham points to one of his biggest inspirations, Bruce Springsteen, whom he credits with helping him establish the idea of creating "these tiny three-to-five-minute vignettes of the American experience" through his own music.

Though the American Aquarium frontman has established clear differences between himself and the legendary New Jersey rocker, he admits that this record leaned heavily into the inspiration that The Boss has provided him over the years, thanks in part to encouragement from producer Shooter Jennings.

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"He was just kind of like, 'Hey, I know you guys are running from this Springsteen thing, but what if you just let the song dictate where it goes?' " Barham recalls of his conversation with Jennings.

But to dismiss any facet of what Barham and American Aquarium are doing as Springsteen derivative is to do a disservice to the unique perspective on life that the group brings to the table. On New Ways to Lose, American Aquarium reminds listeners just who they have always been: a southern rock band built around storytelling.

"We're very proud that we have a sound," Barham says. "We're a rock band with a pedal steel guitar, and we write a very specific way because there's one guy doing the writing and there's one through line."

American AquariumCredit: Samantha Kniskern

With 20 albums now under their belts, Barham and American Aquarium have parlayed their road-worn perspective into a permanence that many artists could only dream of reaching. And when the singer looks back at Burn.Flicker.Die., the group's 2012 breakthrough album, he recognizes a younger version of himself still trying to understand where he belonged.

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"The Burn.Flicker.Die BJ couldn't see past his own two feet in front of himself," he says.

Today, his perspective is entirely different. Barham is now sober, a fatherand widely considered a statesman of Americana who is cited by today's torchbearers as an influence on their own music. Additionally, as evidenced by the songs on New Ways to Lose, the songwriter who once made turning inward a hallmark of his work now spends more time looking around in an attempt to understand the world, and, in turn, create songs that might help someone else do the same.

"If you're not growing, you're doing something wrong," Barham says. "So much of my 40s has been looking back down the ladder and being like, 'Holy s---. Look at how far we've climbed up this thing.' "

And after 20 years in the game, he is still climbing with the same vigor.

"I know who I am," Barham says. "I'm thankful for knowing who I am, and I can only control what I can control."

New Ways to Lose is available on all major streaming platforms now.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”