The Red Barn has welcomed many talented artists over the years and Unit 10, a student-composed musical group
Unit 10, made up of lead vocalist and guitarist Brady Fowlkes, sophomore, James Eaton, senior, on acoustic guitar and piano, Bryan Cook, junior on bass, and Jim Shaw on drums.
Their distinct name was born out of necessity. Practicing together the night before their first open mic show, the group realized they needed a name. They needed look no further than their apartment building, unit number ten.
The group met while performing with the Auburn Jazz Band and stressed their blues, rock, and jazz roots, though the group strives to be creative and unique in their writing and performance. “When we first started, we wanted to have diverse music from different time periods, styles, and rhythms,” said Eaton.
Also students, this group has to overcome the struggle of balancing the demands of college life and their musical work, admitting that they don’t get to practice as much as they’d like to. “We never see each other,” said Eaton. “We won’t practice for a while, but once we get together we’ll practice for like three hours,” Fowlkes added. Each individual musician has a long history of playing music. “It’s sort of our goal to stimulate the music majors in the audience,” said Eaton, “and if you’re out there with a broken heart, we want to mend that.”
Despite their time constraints, the group continues to perform, going as far as winning the 2016 Alpha Gam Jam Winger music competition. Unit 10 also performs at student open mic nights, and is hoping that their performance at the Red Barn Series can springboard them into more regular gigs.
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