Sam Barber And Chance Pena Team With 'Better Than The Floor'

08-16-2025

(Atlantic) Multi-Platinum singer-songwriter Sam Barber has joined forces with GRAMMY Award-nominated artist and producer Chance Pena for the brand new single, "Better Than The Floor," premiering everywhere today via Lockeland Springs/Atlantic Records. Having both long admired each other's work, the acclaimed artists finally connected, forging a powerful new collaboration.

"Better Than The Floor" is included on an extended edition of Barber's acclaimed new EP, Music for the Soul. The project begins an unforgettable new chapter for Barber following the breakout success of his RIAA Gold-certified 2024 debut album, Restless Mind. Co-written by Barber and produced by GRAMMY Award-winner Ryan Hewitt (The Lumineers, Noah Kahan) and Joe Becker at studios in Nashville, TN and Bozeman, MT, the EP sees Barber chronicling how he got here and where he's headed next on such eloquent, empathetic new songs as "Same Sad Sh*t", the fame-wrestling title track, "Music for the Soul," and the deeply moving "Home Tonight". First teased via the fan-first platform, Sam Barber Files, an evolving digital space offering a rare, unfiltered look into Barber's world with unreleased content, personal visuals, and behind-the-scenes glimpses into his creative process, "Home Tonight" was met by immediate praise from such outlets as Country Swag, which hailed the track as "a thought-provoking song about love and loss. Introspective, emotional, and honest."

Music for the Soul also includes the soul-baring anthem, "Man of the Year," available everywhere now alongside an official live performance video streaming HERE. With its cascade of shadowy textures and darkly hypnotic guitar tones, "Man of the Year" received applause from publications such as Billboard, which named it one of "6 Must-Hear New Country Songs," writing, "This gritty track, written solely by Barber, finds him pondering the existential anguish he sees threaded throughout world events, and emotionally embedded in people around him. "Is it in my mind or are we all just sinking?" he muses, his quietly commanding voice ringing out over sparse but captivating production, and shedding light on a generation's anxieties and fears."

Barber is celebrating Music for the Soul on his biggest North American headline tour to date, traveling North America through December and beyond. Tickets are extremely limited, with most shows already long sold out. Highlights of the wide-ranging run include a sold-out two-night stand at New York City's Webster Hall (November 5-6), a one-night-only show at Hutchinson, KS's Kansas State Fair joined by his "Indigo" duet partner Avery Anna (September 5), sold-out stops at such iconic venues as Los Angeles, CA's The Fonda Theatre (August 22), Boston, MA's Roadrunner (November 8), and Fort Worth, TX's Billy Bob's Texas (December 5), and top-billed festival appearances at Franklin, TN's Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival (September 27), Austin, TX's Austin City Limits Music Festival (October 10), Fort Smith, AR's Peacemaker Festival (October 11), Salt Lake City, UT's RedWest Country Music Festival (October 12), St. Petersburg, FL's St. Pete Country Fest (November 21), and Noah Kahan's Out of the Blue, set for January 8-11, 2026 in Riviera Cancún, Mexico.