Sara Evans Details ‘Barker Family Band’ Live Album
In May, country superstar Sara Evans joined her 19-year-old son Avery and 16-year-old daughter Olivia on the road for a mini-tour in support of an EP they had recorded. Billed as Sara Evans with the Barker Family Band, the Bloodline Tour emphasized family harmony, musical comradeship and an eclectic set of cover tunes along with compelling original tunes. Live From City Winery Nashville, an LP capturing the last of the tour’s dates, will be released August 30th.
Fueled by mother-daughter harmonies and Avery Barker’s guitar playing – which has also been a part of Evans’ solo shows – the album also features a guest appearance from California’s Fairground Saints on the closing cut, an update of Evans’ chart-topping “Born to Fly.” Other highlights include covers of tunes by Beyoncé (“XO”), Fleetwood Mac, (“Dreams”), Crosby, Stills & Nash (“Southern Cross”) and the Judds (“Why Not Me”). Olivia Barker takes the lead vocal on several tracks including the Chris Stapleton hit, “Tennessee Whiskey,” and a jazzy take on Stevie Wonder’s “As.”
With the release of this document of their live show, Evans and her Barker Family Band have, according to the singer, capped their short-lived career. “It’s just a one-time thing,” the singer told Rolling Stone Country last spring. “Olivia is in the process of starting her career and she’s already really busy. Avery, too. He won’t be playing guitar for me too much longer because he has his own stuff. But it’s been kind of funny. I keep saying that Olivia and I are the Judds and we’re all like the Partridge Family. But there will not be any sort of continuing of the Barker Family Band. We named it that to just to be funny, like the Carters, like Beyoncé and Jay-Z.”
Live From City Winery Nashville track list:
- “Southern Cross”
- “Four-Thirty”
- “XO” featuring Olivia Barker
- “Why Not Me”
- “(You Make Me Feel Like) a Natural Woman”
- “Dreams”
- “A Little Bit Stronger” featuring Sara Evans and Olivia Barker
- “Otis Redding”
- “Suds in the Bucket”
- “So Far Away” featuring Olivia Barker
- “Long Ride Home”
- “Long Way Down”
- “Not Over You”
- “As” featuring Olivia Barker
- “Tennessee Whiskey” featuring Olivia Barker
- “Born to Fly” with special guests Fairground Saints