{"id":4035,"date":"2012-04-18T12:27:15","date_gmt":"2012-04-18T18:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=4035"},"modified":"2012-04-18T12:27:15","modified_gmt":"2012-04-18T18:27:15","slug":"hillbilly-highway-fishing-headwaters-with-del-barber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2012\/04\/18\/hillbilly-highway-fishing-headwaters-with-del-barber\/","title":{"rendered":"Hillbilly Highway – Fishing Headwaters with Del Barber"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

by Sheldon Birnie<\/strong><\/p>\n

photo: Mark Maryanovich<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to chart a course, you\u2019re not free to leave your history,\u201d explains Winnipeg based singer-songwriter Del Barber<\/a> over a beer at the King\u2019s Head last week.\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s kind of the rule,\u201d he continues, \u201cthe overall assumption with all the characters and personal narratives\u201d contained on his third studio album, titled Headwaters.<\/em><\/p>\n

Recorded in Winnipeg and in a 19th<\/sup> century farmhouse in Maine, Headwaters<\/em> is set for release on Toronto\u2019s Six Shooter Records<\/a> on May 1. Produced by Sam Kassirer, the new record is a step into somewhat uncharted waters for Del.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had produced the first two [records] with a friend from St. Norbert, and definitely kind of stayed within my comfort zone,\u201d he says. \u201cSo I wanted to work with someone who would push me out of that comfort zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was [also] the first time I\u2019ve ever recorded live with people,\u201d he says of the professional rhythm section Kassirer brought in to lay the bed tracks. \u201cIt was really a great experience, because I basically just got to show up to work and do my thing and everyone else was just ridiculously talented, so I didn\u2019t have to hone in their parts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Themes of home, community, and rural and personal change abound on Headwaters; <\/em>themes that Barber has explored in the past, but never dived into\u00a0quite\u00a0so deeply.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted there to be certain levels to the songs, so there\u2019s a story level, that\u2019s very easy to follow,\u201d he explains. \u201cThis person dreams about leaving a small town, for whatever reason, leaves, but then can\u2019t get back. Very simple story, told a million times, but having those bigger allegorical things in the background and trying to work with that. Hopefully those songs function on more than one level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Considering he travels for the bulk of the year \u2014 playing up to 200 shows annually \u2014 it is no wonder that themes of home, community, and escape appear throughout Del\u2019s tunes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, I put on about 100,000kms in a year, coast to coast to coast and into the States,\u201d Del figures. \u201cI really love it. I love the road \u2026 There is something about it, something Biblical about it. A lot of the old prophets were travellers. They came in and had to say something that didn\u2019t always fit in the context, and that\u2019s something that musicians get to do now. Hopefully I do that once in a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another benefit to riding the Highway through the better part of a year are, of course, the people you meet along the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always shitty show, but there\u2019s always charity too, in people and like, time spent with people. It never ceases to amaze me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTravelling is great too because I get to fish everywhere,\u201d Barber admits, busting into a grin at the thought of dropping a line in the water. \u201cI\u2019ve been touring and developing a network of people who like to fish, and developing a couple extra days here and there. Like, you know the steelhead are running in this river at this time of year, I\u2019ll try to get back there. I\u2019m going up to this festival in Atlin, BC this summer, the Atlin Arts Festival<\/a>, and hopefully there\u2019ll be a salmon run going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course the road ain\u2019t all roses and good times. Travelling thousands of klicks on your lonesome can wear even the hardest of hardcore troubadours down.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe negatives are I don\u2019t get to be a very good uncle,\u201d Barber reflects. \u201cTrying to have a relationship with my girlfriend can be trying, more on her. But she realizes that I really love being out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, if you\u2019re playing for keeps you\u2019ve got to make sacrifices now and again in the name of running down a dream. After chatting with Del for over an hour, I can tell he\u2019s got his eyes on the prize. And based on the songs I\u2019ve heard him sing over the years, the talent to see it through, too.<\/p>\n

Check out <\/em>Headwaters when it drops on Six Shooter Records May 1. Del\u2019s next Winnipeg gig is opening for Old Man Luedecke at the Park Theatre May 28.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Sheldon Birnie photo: Mark Maryanovich \u201cIf you want to chart a course, you\u2019re not free to leave your history,\u201d explains Winnipeg based singer-songwriter Del Barber over a beer at the King\u2019s Head last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[214,360,432,563,864],"class_list":["post-4035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","tag-country-music","tag-folk","tag-hillbilly-highway","tag-local","tag-six-shooter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4035","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4035\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}