By Stevie Connor.
Multi-platinum selling Country group James Barker Band is ready to make a splash this summer by teaming up with Dalton Dover for their refreshing new track, “On The Water”.
The boat-ready hit combines JBB’s toe-tapping melodies with rising Country artist Dover’s soulful vocals, coming together to transport you to a lakeside paradise. Kick back, let loose and embrace the long weekend with a cold beer in hand as Barker sings in the pre-chorus, “I’ve been on the clock on the grind / Everyday nine to five / And it’s ninety five outside / And I got 24 on ice.”
“Since day one of JBB, we’ve always loved good-time summer songs,” shares Barker. “We’ve released so many songs about beer that we figured maybe it was time to release a song about the second most important liquid of the summer – water. This song feels so cool because it touches on all the best parts of summer; fishing, swimming, chilling in a floaty, and most above all, doing anything but working.”
After joining forces with RECORDS Nashville this past January and releasing their label debut single, “Meet Your Mama,” JBB celebrated their fifth Canadian No.1 this past Mother’s Day. The record-breaking group will trek around their home country of Canada this summer with appearances at Calgary Stampede, LASSO Montreal, Kee to Bala and more. As JBB continues to make waves in the U.S. with more new music expected later this year.
James Barker Band have fueled an incredible story over the last eight years, largely on their own, from opening for local bands in dive bars to charting multiple No. 1 singles and hundreds of millions of global streams to headlining festivals and playing stages across North America and Europe. After landing their record-setting, GOLD-certified fourth No. 1 in Canada with “New Old Trucks” feat. 14x Grammy-nominated and multi-PLATINUM selling artist Dierks Bentley the group currently holds the title of the most No. 1’s for a Canadian country group in the BDS/Mediabase era. With this, the multi-award-winning four-piece is continuing their meteoric ascent in Nashville.
Made up of James Barker (lead vocals/guitar), Taylor Abram (guitar/background vocals), Connor Stephen (drums), and Bobby Martin (bass), the members of James Barker Band grew up within an hour of each other in rural towns surrounding Toronto. In 2017 these best friends saw their hard work pay off when they sent their single “Chills” straight to the top of Billboard’s Canadian Hot 100 chart. From there, James Barker Band released a string of successful singles, including the Gold-certified tracks “Wastin’ Whiskey,” “New Old Trucks,” “Over All Over Again,” “There’s A Drink For That,” “Just Sayin’,” “It’s Working,” “Lawn Chair Lazy,” “Good Together,” “Summertime,” as well as Platinum-certified songs “Keep It Simple” and “Chills” and a GOLD-certified EP (Game On). Now, as the unstoppable group continues to trailblaze, many miles from their hometowns, the opportunities are limitless – but the band remains grounded in their small-town roots.
Lauded by MusicRow as a “master country talent,” Dalton Dover’s current single “Giving Up On That” via UMG Nashville/Mercury Records was the most-added track at Country Radio upon its debut with 60 first week adds and garnered over 1 million streams in the first two weeks of its release. His latest release “I Wouldn’t Be Here” is available everywhere now. Named a Pandora 2023 Artist to Watch, an Amazon Music 2023 Breakthrough Artist to Watch: Country Class and a member of CMT’s LISTEN UP 2023 Class, he made his international debut at C2C: Country to Country Festival’s CMA Songwriters Series before joining Chase Rice on the Way Down Yonder Tour.
This summer, the Georgia native will perform at the Nissan Stadium Platform and Chevy Vibes stages at CMA Fest, along with opening for Luke Combs at his Gillette Stadium stop in July and supporting dates with Parker McCollum. Dover first started singing at church as a kid, winning his fifth-grade school talent show performing Justin Bieber’s “Baby.” In that moment Dover’s love of performing was born. By the age of 16 he had picked up a guitar and started teaching himself to play, yet it was his grandfather who turned him on to country music and artists such as Keith Whitley, Rhett Akins, Joe Diffie and Steve Wariner.
Performances at local bars soon followed along with sharing covers of some of his favorite songs on TikTok. It was there he caught the ear of producer Matt McV and A&R veteran and founder of Droptine, Jim Catino, who quickly signed Dover. His debut track “You Got a Small Town,” produced by McV, quickly garnered critical acclaim from Billboard, MusicRow, Country Now and Wide Open Country. With his debut and his follow-up “Baby I Am” earning notable playlisting, Dover was named a Spotify Hot Country 2022 Artist to Watch along with a spotlight as Billboard’s February Country Rookie of the Month and a nod for MusicRow’s 2022 Discovery Artist of the Year. After opening for Luke Comb’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium show in Atlanta, Ga., Dover set out on a seven-date run of his own headlining shows, performing across multiple locations of Blake Shelton’s Ole Red, followed by Priscilla Block’s Welcome To The Block Party and his debut at the Grand Ole Opry.
Photo Credit: Starseed Entertainment
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