Barnaby and the Butcher write and perform across the broadly defined genres of Alt Country and Americana. Damon Barnaby’s madly skilled heritage electric guitar is magnified by Joshua Butcher’s powerfully rich and welcoming vocals. Their sound is complex and fervent, vacillating between mystical Dark Country and bittersweet honeyed ballads; all of which is enhanced by Butcher’s clever, often heartbreaking lyrics. It is a style that evokes the dusty nostalgia of Arizona's desert country while feeling entirely new, with performances that feel less like concerts and more like gatherings. Their catalogue of originals is ever-expanding, and their uniquely-chosen covers include artists as wide ranging as Chris Stapleton, The Tragically Hip, Bonnie Raitt, John Hiatt, and Indigo Girls.

Barnaby and the Butcher is the partnership between a Louisiana Cottonmouth and an Arizona Songbird. Since their start as a duo in 2021, they have evolved into a four-piece band, making their home, and their music in Tucson, Arizona. As of December 2025, they have released three studio albums, four live music videos with corresponding EP, and a live album. They have and continue to serve as support for traveling bands on historic stages, including Los Lobos at Fox Tucson Theatre on New Years Eve 2024. They have two albums, Boilermaker and South of Memphis in the Pima County Library's free public archive, Desert Streams.

Everywhere they go, they build and support community from the roots of their Arizona desert country. In October 2024, they traveled to Mississippi to record their third studio album at Jim Dickinson’s Zebra Ranch, with the musical and production talents of multi-award-winning Jimbo Mathus of The Squirrel Nut Zippers. South of Memphis is the realization of a childhood memory from Butcher’s mother, and of raising his own children on the music of Jimbo and The Squirrel Nut Zippers. This June they recorded their fourth album in front of a live audience at Poe's Art House in downtown Tucson. Live at Poe's was released in June 2025. It is the celebration of and for their Super Fans, their year of music, and their love for hidden spaces.

In 2026 they will further evolve their sound by including acoustic shows in smaller intimate spaces and listening rooms, as well as continuing to perform their full rock and country sound on bigger stages throughout the Southwest. 

This is serious music by not-so-serious musicians.