Meet the Barlow, Colorado's Outlaw Country Band

The Barlow is proud to be from Arvada. And with its latest album release, High Spirits, the country band is taking its Colorado pride along on tour, which will see the members performing around the Southwest as well as at several shows in the state, including at the Buffalo Rose in Golden on May 16 and Surfside 7 in Fort Collins on June 6.

"We're proud to be from Colorado. "We tell people everywhere we go, we claim Arvada as our hometown," says Shea Boynton, the Barlow's lead vocalist and guitarist.

"Most audiences go, 'Where the fuck is Arvada?'" he adds.

"We were raised there, we went to high school there," he says. "It's a pride thing, you know?"
While drummer Ben Richter, guitarist Brad Johnson and Boynton are still based in Arvada, where they went to high school together, bassist Jason Berner lives in Cheyenne. You'd think that would make practicing difficult, but it hasn't been an issue. "Humble brag, but we don't practice," Boynton says. "We just go play the show that's prepared."

The Barlow got started in late 2017, while Boynton was working at an oil field in northeastern Colorado. "The schedule was super demanding," he recalls, but when a friend named Andy Schneider asked if Boynton would be interested in starting a band, he was game. "We recruited Brad and Ben," he says, and the Barlow was born. Not long after, Schneider moved to Phoenix and was replaced by Berner, although he still shows up when he can and provides the keys in High Spirits.

"We didn't have any intention of taking it very far," Boynton says of the Barlow, which released its self-titled debut album in 2019. "I guess our expectations were low. We were just playing breweries and whoever would have us around Denver. And then COVID happened."

During the pandemic, the band released its sophomore record, Horseshoe Lounge, which wrangles country and rock for a high-energy, outlaw sound. While the Barlow couldn't play any shows, the record did exceedingly well. Boynton is bashful when discussing the band's successes: "I'm more of the self-deprecating type," he admits.

"But the record did pretty well...put us on the map a little bit," he continues. "From there, we just started touring. We work Colorado a lot, and all the surrounding states. We've done California and Wisconsin, Texas a bunch. That's just our thing, touring; that's what we do. Since '21, we've been at it...and we've all dedicated ourselves to it."
That dedication earned the band opening slots for Colorado blues-rock legends Big Head Todd & the Monsters, and such artists as Whitey Morgan and Steel Woods. Big Head Todd's drummer, Brian Nevin, "stumbled upon us," according to Boylan. "He showed up to one of our shows, and he was singing all the songs, he knew all the lyrics. We exchanged numbers, and he's been kind of a mentor to us."

As the band was working through the mixing and mastering of its latest album, Boynton would send Nevin versions of the songs. "With his forty-plus years of experience doing this, he was able to give us advice," Boynton says. "And [Big Head Todd & the Monsters] will throw us on shows whenever they can; they've been super cool to us, and they really don't have to be."

High Spirits has been in the works since 2023, when the band was writing songs and beginning to record them at Evergroove Studios in Evergreen. The result is a showcase of rugged musicians who have seen a lot and mastered their instruments. It also maintains the rock-and-roll, bluesy inflections of past outputs. "Turn Tail and Run" is a fast-paced, honky-tonk tune that deserves its own signature line dance, and Boynton's husky voice lends an outlaw cowboy vibe to the scene-setting lyrics of "Lost Angel Saloon." That song is the only one on High Spirits that Boynton didn't write, and it has some epic Colorado music-insider history. "It's a nod to Drag the River; they were from Fort Collins. A lot of punk-rock royalty goes into that band. They had John Snodgrass, who came from Armchair Martian, and Chad Price, who came from ALL, which was basically Descendents with a different singer," Boynton explains. "They had an alt-country band for years. Casey Prestwood played pedal steel for 'em. They're one of my favorite bands, and they just happen to be from Colorado, and so I really wanted to do a Drag the River song, just a nod to a great Colorado band that's not around anymore."

But it's not all rockin' country songs: "Backwater" is more of a ballad, for example, reflecting the passing of time and nostalgia. Striking a keen balance between tones and beats, High Spirits is the type of album country or rock fans can listen to from beginning to end without one skip — preferably on long drives through the mountains. "We really tried to focus on — especially in the songwriting — living in the country world, Red Dirt, outlaw-country stuff," Boynton says. "It's no secret that the songwriting is a different caliber."

The music is, too. While it's undoubtedly country, the Barlow has its own flavor. That comes from what could almost be the band's mantra: "We just try to be our own thing," Boynton says.

"We're not reinventing the wheel; it's all been done," he concludes, "but we still try and do things our way."

And it works. While some may think that the Barlow is destined for Nashville, the destination for many rising country acts, the members aren't planning to leave their beloved home state to chase fame.

"There's so many different shades to this genre and approaches — you could move to Nashville and get a bunch of songwriters and do it that way. But we've always lived by the gospel of Sturgill Simpson," Boynton says. "There was an interview he did years ago, basically saying you don't need to go to Nashville; you can get in your van and tour where you're from and do it there. And I've always lived by that. We've never considered uprooting the band.

"We'd rather stay in Colorado, where we're from, and do it here."

High Spirits is available to stream on all platforms. The Barlow plays Buffalo Rose, 1119 Washington Avenue, Golden, at 8 p.m. Friday, May 16, and Surfside 7, 238 Linden Street, Fort Collins, at 8 p.m. Friday, June 6. Visit thebarlowband.com for tickets.