Del Barber

Barber was born on October 14, 1983, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada^[2] to Boyd Barber and Jean Doucha. Growing up in the St. Norbert neighbourhood of Winnipeg,^[3] he took up the guitar. By the time he was sixteen, he was writing music and performing in different bands.^[3] One summer, after working to save up money, he recorded the songs he had written.^[3] This was first glimpse of Del writing and producing his own music. After his first self recording became a hit among his friends, they encouraged and convinced him to play a live show.^[3] Despite his early success, Barber was doubtful about this being a viable career choice.^[3] But as he finished school and moved on to college, he would continue with music.

He cites some of his influences as Townes Van Zandt,^[2][11][12] Greg Brown,^[2][11][13] John Prine,^{[2][11][13][14][15]} Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle,^[16] Wilco,^[12] Bruce Springsteen,^[2][13] Neil Young,^[14][17] Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams,^[2] Loretta Lynn,^[2] Mississippi John Hurt,^[2] Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Merle Haggard,^[2] The Band,^[2][17] Ryan Adams, and Rancid.^[14] Del is also influenced by authors such as Farley Mowat,^[13] Wendell Berry, Jack Kerouac, and Kathleen Norris.

Barber continued recording music while attending Covenant Bible College. From there he would start playing shows all across North America. During his one year at North Park University studying philosophy, he would continue to write music.^[18] He would then make his way back to Winnipeg to continue studying philosophy.

After the release of two early demo albums, Barber went back into the studio to record his eleven-track album Where the City Ends. With many positive reviews of this album, he continued to tour extensively in support of the album. Where the City Ends was nominated in the category of Roots Solo Album of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards. In 2010, Barber released his second album entitled Love Songs for the Last 20. Once again, Barber had critical success with the album and continued to tour extensively. In August 2010, Barber was nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award for Roots Solo Album of the Year for Where the City Ends. The album also received a second nomination for Best Album Design of the Year which album designer Brooke Nelson was nominated. In 2011, he was nominated for a Juno Award for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year - Solo for Love Songs for the Last 20.^[5][6] On April 11, 2011 Barber appeared as the musical guest and interview on the CBC Radio One show Q with Jian Ghomeshi. The show was taped live as a part of The Winnipeg Comedy Festival. Barber performed "Miles & Years" and "As Far As I Can Tell."^[19] Later in 2011, Barber's career continued to reach new heights when he won two Western Canadian Music Awards for Independent Album of the Year and Roots Solo Recording of the Year.^[7][8]

In early 2012, Barber signed a deal with Six Shooter Records.^[20] Headwaters was released on May 1.^[20] The album was co-produced with Sam Kassirer in which thirty demo tracks were recorded before ten were chosen for the album.^[20] In support of the album, Barber embarked on a cross Canada tour opening for Old Man Luedecke.^[20][21] Barber had an album release show at the West End Cultural Centre in Winnipeg on October 26, 2012.^[13] He was nominated in the 2012 Canadian Folk Music Awards in the category of Solo Artist of the Year.^[9]

On September 17, 2013, True North Records announced that they signed Del. He released his first record on the label in February 2014.^[22][23] Four of the tracks were uploaded to his NoiseTrade page to promote the album. At the 2013 Western Canadian Music Awards, Barber once again took home the award for Roots Solo Recording of the Year for Headwaters.^[10]

The album entitled Prairieography was released on February 4, 2014.^[24][25] The album was co-produced by William "Bill" J. Western in Winnipeg at Empire Recording.^[25] Western also played in Barber's band. Part of the album was recorded in a silo in order to get the sound they wanted.^[25][26]

Barber embarked on a tour of the prairies from January 23 to March 27 in support of the album.^[25] Barber was nominated for three Canadian Folk Music Awards in the categories of Contemporary Singer of the Year, English Songwriter of the Year, and Solo Artist of the Year.^[27]

With Prairieography being dubbed as what could have been a career-making opus, Barber moved from Winnipeg to a farm in rural Manitoba to begin work on a follow-up album.^[15]

On April 15, 2016; Barber along with the No Regretzkys released The Puck Drops Here through True North Records.^[28] With Barber being a hockey fan, this was a hockey themed album with distinct rock and country sounds. Barber was in contact with True North sending them demos of songs he had been working on, but received no feedback. Those songs would later be put on the album that would become Easy Keeper. After not getting any feedback on those demos, Barber had the idea for a hockey themed album as it was never done before.^[15]

It features covers of well-known songs such as Stompin' Tom Connors's "The Hockey Song," Coach's Corner segment of Hockey Night in Canada theme "Flame of Victory," and Tom Cochrane's "Big League." It also features covers of lesser known songs such as The Hanson Brothers' "Hockey Night Tonight" and Pursuit of Happiness' "Gretzky Rocks." Barber added some originals including "Hudson Bay Rules" and the single off the album "The Lights Go Out."^[28] The album was produced by Corb Lund guitarist Grant Siemens.^[28]

Barber's refusal to promote the album led to tensions between himself and the label. He was subsequently dropped by True North and his agent as a result.^[15]

On June 10, 2018; Barber started a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for his next album entitled Easy Keeper..^[29] He stated that he took a hiatus and was now wanting to produce a new album. His goal was $7,500; but in less than a week, Barber was able to raise over $13,000. In total he was able to raise $23,021 towards the album.^[29]

On January 15, 2019; Mavens Music Management announced that Barber joined their management roster.^[30] On May 3, Barber posted on Instagram that the first single "No Easy Way Out" was released and premiered on the CBC Radio One show Q.^[31] Barber has said that "No Easy Way Out" is about a gas station attendant in Virden, Manitoba.

"She's been working there for decades. I finally was able to convince her to give me a bit of her story after modestly flirting with her for a few years. This is her story."^[32]

Also on May 3, Maven's Music announced the official Easy Keeper release date of September 6 and that Barber was signed to Acronym Records.^[33] On August 9, Barber announced on Instagram the release of the second single entitled "Patient Man."^[34]

On January 28, 2020; it was announced that Barber was nominated for a Juno Award in the category of Contemporary Roots Album of the Year for Easy Keeper.^[35] In the summer of 2020, with the announcement of the Western Canadian Music Awards, Barber was nominated in the categories of Roots Artist of the Year and Songwriter(s) of the Year.^[36]

On June 23, 2021, Del Barber announced that through the winter, he worked on new music. The first single entitled "Meantime" was released on June 25. On July 2, Del announced Stray Dogs: Collected B-Sides Volume 1 was the next album that would be released on August 20.^[37] The second single "Nothing Left to Find" was released on July 23.

On June 8, 2022, the Western Canadian Music Awards nominations were announced. Barber was nominated in category of Roots Artist of the Year.^[38][39]

On January 25, 2023, Barber announced his next album Almanac which was scheduled for a spring release. A video of him performing "Still Got You" was released.^[40] The song was officially released as a single on January 27. The second single "I Told You So" was released on March 10.^[41]

"I wrote it before my dad passed—before he was even sick, but it became an anthem for me in the months after his passing. Originally written from the perspective of Barber's neighbor who'd lost her husband, the song's interpretation of grief has such a universal quality that even Barber ended up applying to his own life, but maybe that was its purpose all along. "Looking back, I feel like this song was a gift from [my dad]."^[41]

The release date for Almanac was announced for April 28^[42] Barber wrote Almanac on his farm in Inglis, Manitoba which is 400 km northwest of Winnipeg. He recorded the album at No Fun Club in Winnipeg. It took one week to record the album with Grant Siemens and Scott Franchuk.^[41]

"It was a really beautiful session. There were no grand intentions, just an aim to get good players and friends together and record a pile of my songs. Going into this session I really wanted to enjoy the process, not think too hard, and just keep it simple and honest. I had a group of great songs and I really didn't want to stand in their way."^[41]

Aside from his own solo work, he has writing credits on Blake Berglund and the Vultures 2014 album Jasper where he co-wrote the first six songs. He also co-wrote "Funny Thing About You Leaving" with Berglund which is the B-side to Berglund's two-song single "Word's Gettin' Around" / "Funny Thing About You Leaving." He has writing credits on Manitoba country singer-songwriter Quinton Blair's 2016 EP Cash Crop.^[43]

Barber resides on a farm in Inglis, Manitoba^[16] with his wife Haylan, daughter Guthrie,^[29] and son Farley.

• Official website