Now that Sam Barber has your attention, he's looking forward to holding onto it a while.
"I love making anything that can affect someone emotionally," Barber says.
The 21-year old singer-songwriter from Southeast Missouri has already seen his career begin on a meteoric rise, and his upcoming debut album, Restless Mind, is set to send him into orbit. The accompanying Restless Mind Tour in fall 2024, which features Barber's Ryman Auditorium debut and showcase slots at the Giddy Up Festival and GoldenSky Festival, will introduce tens of thousands of new fans to Barber's energetic and emotional live show as well.
Recorded in Nashville and in Barber's bedroom in Montana during breaks in his hectic 2024 touring schedule, Restless Mind will feature music that dates to the first songs Barber ever wrote. "It sums up my whole music career, and everything I've done," he says of the record. The album ranges from stripped-down acoustic to fill-the-room melodies, so he tapped multiple producers, including Eddie Spear (Zach Bryan's American Heartbreak as well as Barber's 2023 EP, Million Eyes) to create the album, as Barber wanted to bring multiple perspectives to his sound.
The first single off of Restless Mind is "Better Year," which Barber is set to release on August 23.
"It's kind of about my life," Barber says, "leaving home and struggling at the start, like anybody does. And I'm just hoping that next year's a better year, that it's all going to be worth it."
But it is the album's title track that Barber holds dearest to his heart and believes fans will feel the same way.
"'Restless Mind' is my personal favorite song. It means the most to me. It's a very raw song, and I just love the absolute world out of it," Barber says. "As soon as I found it, I knew that I wanted it to be the album title."
Barber grew up in a town of 200 people, on a 400-acre farm, surrounded by a supportive family and grandparents in the next house over from his. His youth was spent playing baseball, football, basketball, or hunting and fishing. He recalls a ton of Steel Drivers and early Chris Stapleton being played around the house. Eventually, an old Gibson guitar in his parents' home struck Barber's fancy.
"My great-grandpa used to play guitar, and my parents kept it in the house like a showpiece," Barber says. "One day when they weren't home, I just thought, 'It would be fun to play guitar.' So, I just picked it up with no clue how to play it, started strumming, trying my hardest at it."
Not long after, his mother caught him singing in the living room, and she told him it wasn't half bad. Barber took that as a compliment and decided to give music a go. While enrolled in a technical college, a friend suggested he post some music to TikTok. Barber caught on: "After like a month, one video just took off. Playing for a living was never even a possible thing in my mind, I was just doing it for fun."
He began releasing original music in 2022, including "Straight and Narrow," a bedroom recording of a song he'd written when he was just 16. A powerful acoustic track about overcoming life's countless hurdles, "Straight and Narrow" proved an RIAA PLATINUM-certified sensation, reaching #1 on viral charts worldwide while landing on such multi-format Billboard charts as "Hot Rock Songs," "Hot Rock & Alternative Songs," and "Hot Country Songs."
"It's done everything for my career. It's the whole reason that I'm here," Barber says of the song.
In the three years since, a lot has happened. He just missed the cut for the 20th season of American Idol in early 2022. He made his live debut in June 2023 at The Basement in Nashville -- which sold out. Three months later, he made his Grand Ole Opry debut. In between, he played at Bruce Springsteen's BST Hyde Park series. Million Eyes followed in October 2023, and Barber found himself in nearly every conversation about Country music's next big thing.
"In my mind, people still don't know who I am," he says. "It's still weird when people walk up to me and go, 'Oh, you're Sam Barber!' I still don't think about myself like that."
For now, he's just enjoying the ride and the thrill of sharing his music with fans.
"I'm looking forward to meeting more fans, and pushing my career," Barber says of his tour plans. "Playing live is one of the coolest things. It's a feeling you can't really replicate or explain, but being on stage with a crowd screaming back to you your own music is a feeling that will definitely never get old.
"I'm getting better every show. So that means that every person who comes to a show right now, is going to get my best show."