Ham Bagby has reached his most honest, yet funniest and most talented self with the release of his latest album “All Filler”. The album continues Bagby’s unique blend of country music with pure rock moments and witty remarks throughout, but features the artist at a phase in life where he wants his lyrics to be direct and to the point. The approach works, and “All Filler” makes for an excellent second album in Bagby's planned audio trilogy and third record overall. Bagby’s path to album excellence may not have been conventional, but it makes for a good tune.
“I was born in Birmingham. My dad went to seminary when I was 9. He’s an Episcopal priest, and we moved around a lot,” the musician shares, “When I graduated high school I went to Montevallo, then I dropped out for a year and moved to Tuscaloosa and moved in with a friend of mine. We tried to start a band, and I worked in a factory. Then I went back to Montevallo and that’s when I tried to make music happen for real.”
In the time since, Ham Bagby has lived different versions of that same reality - pursuing musical ambitions while making life work. He had a son 15 years ago, and eventually moved to Birmingham. Bagby has intentionally made the decision to not hit the road too far from home since then, and focuses on his Southern base for the most part when it comes to playing live shows. Ham wasn’t searching to make an album when he released the first of his ongoing trilogy in 2020. He released “Trying Not to Die” because he was going through a divorce and the musicianship was ready to be elevated.
Bagby was approached by Tragic City bassist Cj Griffith, who owns Rocket No. 9 Records (the name is an ode to Sun Ra which Bagby always loved because he has the same birthday as Sun Ra), about making a record. Ham quickly accepted this offer and came together with some instrumentalists he knew from Tuscaloosa and Natalie Valentine on backing vocals. They recorded every track - minus background vocals - in one day, but the pandemic came and delayed the process for six months. “Trying Not to Die” was eventually released towards the end of 2020.
“All Filler” features a Ham Bagby that found plenty of time to write during the pandemic, and the musician enjoyed a more patient approach. The album was still recorded in two sessions, which Bagby believes contributes to the authenticity. “I think it’s great to do as much as you can in a day, then leave it all on the table. Then you have this product that is a real representation of the performance.” Bagby brought in two additional backing vocalists - Anna Hope and Holley Malone - to join Natalie Valentine this time.
“I’m proud of it. I like that I got a lot more honest on this one,” Ham Bagby reflects, “As a writer, I feel good about that type of writing. It’s humorous, it’s honest.” His three-piece country band with backing vocals is utilized more than ever to make tougher topics like mental illness and substance abuse sound like things you can relate to through the stereo. A truly tough feat to accomplish. “These straightforward sing-songy country songs are talking about depression, quarantine, and getting divorced and stuff like that.” There are genre changers like “Hard Fucking Drugs” which is an excuse for Bagby to get his rock on and the epic guitar solo that is the song “All Filler”.
Some songs will mean more to Alabamians, like “Take Me Down to Egans”. “I wrote the Egan’s song before they closed the first time. Egan’s closed twice,” Bagby shares of his tribute to the iconic Tuscaloosa bar, “I had an Egan’s song in the holster and then Egan’s reopened. I shared that (story) on Substrate, and I was thinking about how funny that was that I had the Egan’s song for a while before I had a chance to put it out.”
“I was a Tuscaloosa guy for a long time, and when I moved to Birmingham it was very open and accepting to a new musician in the fold. At least in the circles that I started running in. I was introduced to them by Adrian Marmolejo, who I played with in Tuscaloosa,” Ham Bagby explains, “I hope that we are able to build on that in years to come, because it’s hard to get friends to support you and it’s hard to get audiences to support you. So you’ve got to get out there and put on some shows and make art. The punk rock art shows by Brian Burx are a great testament to that. Just making shows happen. Comedy’s doing a really good job in Birmingham. I feel good about being a part of that fold.
“There’s a lot of people that I couldn’t do it without. Soapy Jones of Left Hand Soap. I couldn’t do it without Adrian Marmolego. I couldn't do it without Natalie Valentine and Anna Hope and my family. I do a lot of it because I want my kids to be proud of me. Your family is your family and you kind of find your people along the way, and I’m lucky to have found a lot of good people.”
We consider the city lucky for Ham Bagby and his circle of creatives, and thankful for the stream of honest, quality tunes that he creates.
Cover image by DSmithImages Photography
