GRAHAM BARHAM - Shoot The Lock - Sony Music Nashville/Disrupter Records

Graham Barham has continued to cement the path of his next chapter since the start of 2024, using the previous success of “Break It In A Bar” and “Beer By My Bed” as foundational launching pads toward landing intrigue with each next release; “Lights On Nobody’s Home,” “Bayou Boy,” “Straight To The Heart,” and most recently, “Whiskey Whiskey.”

He now returns with his 5^th new song of the year, “Shoot The Lock.”

Lacing the intro with unexpected strings immediately perks your ears as it gives way to hip-hop infused backbeats, encapsulating his edgy, ultra-modern flares as he travels the edges of his drawl over a last call run back to the familiarity of an on again/off again.

Painting the neon lit scene with how he knows her so well like the back of his hand, Barham highlights her predictable nature when he opens the song, “Somewhere in a neon blue smoke-filled room, you’re shooting Reposado like you always do,” setting the tone on the idea that he knows them both well enough to know where a night like this is always headed.

Encouraging her to not waste any time getting to him when that last call finally arrives, he strikes the vibey and catchy chorus:

“Downtown shutdown, you know where to go

It’s the same damn numbers on the curve on the road

Better run every red on your way to me

I’ll be sitting here sippin’ on Tennessee

If I ain’t there by the second knock

Woah, forget about the key

Baby, shoot the lock”

Showcasing her teasing nature in the second half of the song, Barham spells out exactly how she’s managed to get him so revved up and salivating for more of her when he tells of the picture that she texted him of her night on the town dress and his yearning desire to get her out of it.

With each next piece of the puzzle that Graham Barham has unveiled throughout the first half of this year, he raises an intrigued eyebrow, rattling the cages of the traditionalists as his swerves deeper into hip hop beats and dubs while masterfully attracting the core demographic of today’s modern era.

With other artists recently starting to utilize a similar approach stylistically, some to great accolades while others are still navigating the underground, the key to Barham’s success will be within him finding his unique place to stand out from the familiar pack; something that his several millions of streams are signaling that he has a firm grip on achieving.   

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)