American Aquarium’s Surprise ‘Slappers, Bangers & Certified Twangers, Vol. 1′ Collects ’90s Country Favorites

American Aquarium didn't just surprise fans with a new album on Friday (May 7) -- they surprised them with 10 '90s country classics. Slappers, Bangers & Certified Twangers, Vol. 1 is chock full of covers of songs from Toby Keith, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Sawyer Brown and others.

A tweet from the BJ Barham-fronted band calls the new covers album "a 10-song collection of some of our favorite '90s country hits and we hope y’all enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it." Jamie Lin Wilson offers guest vocals, while Byron Berline assists on fiddle.

Sammy Kershaw's "Queen of My Double Wide Trailer" and Keith's "Should've Been a Cowboy" bookend the new record. Also included are Trisha Yearwood's "She's in Love With the Boy," Joe Diffie's "John Deere Green" and Faith Hill's "Wild One," among others.

Now that the album's out, a couple of months-old tweets from American Aquarium have new meaning: A little over year ago, in April of 2020, Barham shared video of himself performing Sawyer Brown's "Some Girls Do," the second track on Slappers, Bangers & Certified Twangers.

"There are three kinds of '90s country songs: slappers, bangers and certified twangers," Barham wrote at the time. "Every decade, a magical unicorn of a song comes along that qualifies as all three. @SawyerBrownLive ’s “Some Girls” is that song for me. Still slaps hard after almost 30 years."

In May of 2020, American Aquarium began selling a "100% Slappers, Bangers and Certified Twangers" T-shirt, again playing off the phrase that became the title of this new album. It's not clear when AA began recording the record, but their previous album, Lamentations, dropped on May 1, 2020.

In April, the band teased they were "gonna f--k around and release three new records over the next year." Details about the next two albums have yet to be shared.

Slappers, Bangers & Certified Twangers: Vol. 1 is available now for purchase and streaming. American Aquarium's merch store offers the album on CD, "John Deere Green" vinyl and cassette tape, and is also stocked with several "'90s throwback" T-shirts and hats.

American Aquarium, Slappers, Bangers & Certified Twangers, Vol. 1 Tracklist:

1. "Queen of My Double Wide Trailer"
2. "Some Girls Do"
3. "I Try to Think About Elvis"
4. "She's in Love With the Boy"
5. "John Deere Green"
6. "Wild One"
7. "Lost and Found"
8. "Down at the Twist and Shout"
9. "Heads Carolina, Tails California"
10. "Should've Been a Cowboy"

50 Essential '90s Country Songs: