{"id":327,"date":"2009-08-07T12:40:17","date_gmt":"2009-08-07T18:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=327"},"modified":"2009-08-07T12:40:17","modified_gmt":"2009-08-07T18:40:17","slug":"del-barber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2009\/08\/07\/del-barber\/","title":{"rendered":"Del Barber"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jonathan Dyck<\/strong>
\n\"delbarber\"
\n\u201cI\u2019ve always thought of Winnipeg as a place that has distinct boundaries, like you get with the Perimeter Highway,\u201d Del Barber says, sipping a drink at popular Wolseley watering hole Cousin\u2019s. Last May, Barber sold out his album release party for his debut, Where the City Ends, at the Park Theatre. Since its release, Barber and his backing band have been playing local gigs and, most recently, Barber set out on his own for his first tour north of the border.<\/p>\n

Although he grew up in Winnipeg, Barber spent some time living and studying in Chicago, a city that constantly brought up comparisons with his home town. \u201cIn cities like Chicago, you never know where the end is. Suburbs stretch as far the eye can see. I grew up in St. Norbert, where that line [between rural and urban life] seems blurrier. My high school was right on the southern tip of Winnipeg\u2014half rural, half city kids. The river is also right there, so I grew up paddling that river all the time. One way leads downtown, the opposite direction leads to the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like other gutsy folk artists, Barber has learned to channel the ambiguity of his upbringing through songwriting. \u201cI always felt a little two-faced\u2014like I couldn\u2019t be sincere either way and it was confusing, still is,\u201d Barber says. \u201cThe songs [on Where the City Ends] express that state of confusion and I like that about them. I have roots and a sense of place but it\u2019s not easy to narrate in a straightforward way.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Barber, the tension between urban and rural has much to do with the kind of music he grew to love and, consequently, the songs he started writing. \u201cFolk and country music have a really hard time not coming off as kitschy or contrived because they sort of make too much of their histories and I don\u2019t know if I really believe [the artists] mean what they say.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to imitate people in a way that\u2019s not lazy,\u201d Barber says. \u201cThere are traditional forms in country and folk music that you can enter into. The forms aren\u2019t static things. For me, writing music is about learning to find myself in the tradition and marveling at albums like [Bruce Springsteen\u2019s] Nebraska.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barber recently returned from touring eastern Canada, where he was featured at NXNE and brought into contact with other like-minded musicians. \u201cI\u2019ve toured the eastern and southern states to no great success\u2014you know, fraternity parties and stuff\u2014but this time around I\u2019ve shared the bill with some great artists like the guy from Cuff the Duke and the Sunparlour Players,\u201d Barber says.<\/p>\n

These days it can be pretty tough for singer-songwriters to catch a break. Not only are there a lot of up-and-coming solo musicians but, according to Barber, the singer-songwriter title has become an unfortunate clich\u00e9 that audiences have become accustomed to writing off. \u201cI guess I don\u2019t expect people to take singer-songwriters seriously. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s the fault of the performers or the fans,\u201d Barber says.<\/p>\n

Still, Barber seems to enjoy flying solo and making do without a backing band. \u201cI\u2019m getting used to playing alone and trying to turn heads. With a band you don\u2019t perform as much or tell stories like you would on your own.\u201d Storytelling is an important craft for those who still consider themselves part of the country music tradition and, with his recent tour, Barber has become more aware of its importance. \u201cI think about a quarter of my set on tour was just storytelling. Before [going on tour] I had this idea that I was supposed to be mysterious, like I was hiding something, but I\u2019ve started doing the opposite and give people more than they\u2019re comfortable with.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Barber, this means allowing for more interaction between him and the audience while he\u2019s on stage. \u201cI\u2019m trying to show the audience that there\u2019s an exchange happening between us,\u201d Barber continues. \u201cBands like Arcade Fire have a more communal relationship with their audiences and, to me, that\u2019s what\u2019s so folksy about indie rock. That\u2019s the country tradition being played out in another genre.\u201d And for Barber this mutual exchange is one of the ingredients missing from most singer-songwriter performances. \u201cI don\u2019t think people expect to get that sense of community from a singer-songwriter, but I hope they realize that they\u2019re giving something back. That\u2019s something I hope comes across when I\u2019m performing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having just released his first album a couple months back, you might think Del Barber would be ready to take a break but, from the sounds of it, he\u2019s even more ambitious than before. \u201cI already have a new album finished,\u201d Barber reveals, \u201cand I\u2019m hoping to record again soon.\u201d Though Barber\u2019s career as a folk musician has been an uphill battle, he gives no signs of slowing down. \u201cI want to put out a new record every year for the next four years. That\u2019s my goal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jonathan Dyck \u201cI\u2019ve always thought of Winnipeg as a place that has distinct boundaries, like you get with the Perimeter Highway,\u201d Del Barber says, sipping a drink at popular Wolseley watering hole Cousin\u2019s. Last May, Barber sold out his album release party for his debut, Where the City Ends, at the Park Theatre. Since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[360,563,861],"class_list":["post-327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-folk","tag-local","tag-singer-songwriter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}