American Aquarium Drops Lead Single, “All I Needed,” From Forthcoming Album, ‘Chicamacomico’

Joey Wharton

New Music Friday is always better with some new American Aquarium tunes.

Frontman BJ Barham announced just a couple days ago that their 9th studio album, Chicamacomicowill be released this summer on June 10th.

And today, they dropped the lead single, called “All I Needed”.

Written by BJ along with Carl Anderson, BJ explained the meaning behind the song in a lengthy caption on Instagram, noting that this is one of the more upbeat songs on the tracklist.

He also noted that the new song will feature vocals from Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers, which is pretty cool.

If you’ve ever had a song serendipitously come on the radio just when you needed to hear it that stopped you in your tracks, and I think we’ve all been there a time or two, you’ll love this new one from AA:

“All I Needed,” the first single from our ninth studio album CHICAMACOMICO, is now available wherever you consume music. I wrote this song with my buddy Carl Anderson during the pandemic and spent months humming it to myself before deciding to put it on the record.

It’s about hearing a random song on the radio and the positive change it can bring to a bad day. We have all had that feeling of driving around, feeling down and then out of nowhere a song comes on the radio that grabs you and wont let go. Almost as if the universe saw you struggling and personally hand delivered a 3.5 minute message to get you out of that rut.

The kind of song that makes you pull over and call a loved one. The kind of song that reaches deep down into your belly and pulls something out of you. A laugh. A cry. A scream. This is a simple song about the universally healing power of music. Our producer Bradley Cook had the idea for Patterson Hood to sing the high harmony and we were overjoyed when he said yes.

The Drive By Truckers were one of those bands that stopped me in my tracks the first time I heard them, so it was a full circle moment for me when Patterson Hood agreed to sing on the record. This record does not have many ‘feel good moments’ but this serves as an emotional high point for the record and one of the reasons we chose it to close out the record.

We wanted this collection of songs to go out on a high note. An upbeat reminder that no matter how dark life gets, sometimes all it takes to turn the moment around is a song. Turn it up loud, tag a few friends and thanks for listening!

Photo taken outside of Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, TX by a the incredible Joey Wharton during the recording of CHICAMACOMICO.”

Although, I’m anxiously awaiting all the good (and sad) music we’ll get on this record, “All I Needed” is definitely a drive around with your windows down, fun summer song.

BJ and the boys just do not miss:

Chicamocomico tracklist:

1. Chicamocomico
2. Little Things
3. Just Close Enough
4. The First Year
5. Built to Last
6. Wildfire
7. The Things We Lost Along the Way
8. Waking Up the Echoes
9. The Hardest Thing
10. All I Needed

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