Bobby Bare Jr. may have begun his career when he was eight years old by his father’s side, but as a grownup he’s carved out a respectable self-made spot with music that falls somewhere between hard rock, roots rock, indie rock, and country.

Bobby Bare Jr. was born on June 28, 1966 in Nashville, Tennessee. His father was the successful country singer Bobby Bare, who, In 1974, brought his son into the studio to record “Daddy, What If”, a Shel Silverstein tune that imagined a conversation between a father and son. The tune became a hit and went on to win a Grammy, and Bare Jr. became a regular presence at his father’s concerts, singing tunes with his dad.

Even if Bobby Bare Jr attended the University of Tennessee and received a degree in psychology, his declared goal was to “avoid working a real job at any cost”, and he began playing out and writing songs. In the mid-‘90s, Bare scored a deal with Immortal Records, a hard rock label. Bare Jr. released two albums for Immortal, 1998’s “Boo-Tay” and 2000’s “Brainwasher”, but neither connected commercially and the group split up. In 2002, Bare recorded a more personal album with a rotating cast of musicians named “Bobby Bare Jr.’s Young Criminals Starvation League”, released however by Bloodshot Records.