About The Western Decline

The Western Decline is a somewhat fictional band playing a genre of music we describe as “Trash Country” to capture the dichotomy between abrasive garage rock and southern-inspired somber reflection. We say The Western Decline is fictional mainly because the music is real, but the band ain’t.

Where real bands have talented and capable musicians, The Western Decline has only James Lawson Barnes, who struggles to operate a guitar on his best days. Hand him a mandolin, banjo, or dobro, and he’ll spend days trying to nail the simplest melody you could imagine, but I digress. This is a model formed of availability and necessity, not intent, and may be subject to change in the future as winds change.

James is also the drummer in the band Lacklustre, the only non-dad in the predominantly dad-oriented Northern Virginia rock and roll outfit. When not playing music, he likes to draw, cook, enjoy a craft beer, and hang out with his wife Gretchen and their two dogs.