Manitoba songwriter Del Barber is a product of his environment — the country meets the city. So he wanted to reflect that on his fourth CD “Prairieography” and went to so far as microphoning a grain silo to use as an echo chambers.
he is in the middle of a Canadian tour which dips into the United States for the Folk Alliance in Kansas, City, then comes to Lethbridge, March 2 where he will play the Geomatic Attic with the Bros. Landreth.
“ I wanted to incorporate agricultural infrastructure into the album because I grew up next to that,” said Barber calling from a ferry to Vancouver.
“ We climbed up to to top of the silo and chased out the pigeons and whatnot, and set up microphones on different places on the silo to record the different echoes, then we applied them to each track,” he described.
He noted the grain solo echo chamber complements his stories about the loss of family farms and disappearing small towns.
“ It turned out a lot better than I was expecting it to, he said adding he always likes to try new things with his music.
He always tells stories in his songs.
“I write about the rural-urban divide in Canada. I feel like it is growing a lot. And there is a lot about leaving,” he continued.
“ It’s a return to storytelling. I’ve always taken a narrative approach to my songs. I never write about myself. But all of the people in my songs are people I know. As a 30-year-old- white man living in the suburbs I don’t think my voice is as important as these people,” he said.
While he sometimes plays with a band, this tour has been solo.
“But I get to experience what I am experiencing I get to explore Canada. I’ve been driving in the worst winter weather this year,” he said.
“My songs are a return to storytelling, I tell stories, there is a lot of humour,” he said.
“ My songs are based around the stories rather than vice versa,” he said.
“ I have a good management team who make sure I have a hotel room and that I travel safely,” he said.
He has a busy year ahead of him already with potentially playing a show or two at Junofest in his hometown of Winnipeg and at least 50-60 shows in the United States.
The show begins at the Geomatic Attic at 8 p.m., March 2.
Tickets cost $25 in advance, $27.50 online and $30 at the door.
