Wailers Drummer Aston Barrett Jr. Performs Free in Vail

Aspen —“Joining the Wailers was my graduation present,” Aston Barrett Jr. said, his voice steady over a phone call from Bozeman, Montana.

It’s a line that lands with the weight of legacy, and it sets the stage for what happens next. Barrett is 35 now, a drummer who also handles bass, keyboards, and vocals for the group. He earned his high school diploma in South Florida in 2009, and that document became the key to a life on tour. He studied jazz in high school — a foundation his father, Aston “Familyman” Barrett, insisted upon — and continued that education online at the Berklee School of Music. “My father knew that jazz would be a great foundation for me,” Barrett said. “He was right.”

The history here is complicated, a lineage of loss and reinvention that most listeners skip past. When Bob Marley died in 1981, the original Wailers didn’t vanish; Familyman Barrett kept them alive. But the group fractured in 1987 when drummer Carlton “Carly” Barrett was murdered in his home in Jamaica. It wasn’t until 1989 that the current incarnation of the Wailers Band took shape. Familyman Barrett led it until his own death in 2024, mentoring his son into the rhythm section. “I originally played bass but my dad told me that I should be a drummer like Uncle Carlton,” Barrett Jr. explained. “He said that I remind him of Uncle Carlton.”

Now, the band is back in Vail. The Vail Valley Foundation’s Hot Summer Nights concert series brings them to the valley for a free performance, and they are touring in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Marley’s Rastaman Vibrations album. It’s a record that was strangely overlooked by the greatest hits compilations, yet Barrett argues it is the most consistent work of their career. Tracks like “War” and “Positive Vibration” anchor the setlist, alongside the expected crowd-pleasers: “Three Little Birds,” “Get Up, Stand Up,” and “Is This Love.”

“It’s the perfect time for songs like ‘Positive Vibration’ considering where we are in the world,” Barrett said. “These are songs people need to hear.”

The current lineup includes vocalist Mitchell Brunings, guitarist Wendel Ferraro, keyboardist Andres Lopez, bassist Owen “Dreadie” Reid, and vocalists Tamara Barnes and Anne-Marie Thompson. They recently recorded an album titled Evolution with producer Emilio Estefan, a collaboration Barrett says he values deeply. “I’m close with the entire Estefan family,” he noted, a connection that bridges generations of Caribbean and American music.

Standing in the Vail square on a warm evening, you can feel the shift when they start playing. It’s not just nostalgia; it’s a continuation. The music carries the specific gravity of a family that has carried this sound through death, relocation, and reinvention. Barrett stands behind his kit, the same role Carlton Barrett held decades ago, keeping time for a world that still needs to hear those words. The crowd sways, and for a few hours, the lineage is unbroken.