A Manitoba musician with a knack for telling heartfelt stories about the simplicity of prairie life has earned national recognition for his new record.
Del Barber’s critically-acclaimed Easy Keeper LP is up for a JUNO award in March in the Contemporary Roots Album of the Year category, and he told 680 CJOB he wasn’t expecting the nod.
“I felt a pretty great sense of joy. I was overseas at the time, I was in London (U.K.), and I was literally overcome with emotion,” he said.
“I don’t really get weepy often in my life… but I think people might have thought someone died when they saw me.”
Barber has tasted success before – including a JUNO nod for 2014’s Prairieography – but the attention being paid to Easy Keeper, his sixth album, is something special.
After being dropped by his manager and record label, Barber spent a few years off-grid and out of the spotlight. With Easy Keeper, he decided to take a DIY approach – taking a risk by crowdfunding the record and stepping outside of the formal music industry system.
“It’s remarkable to me. I assumed the industry wouldn’t pay attention to it because I kind of went around them a little bit… but it seems like it maybe had the opposite effect, in a way.
“There were still people in my corner. It took me a while to realize that they were there. Once they made themselves available and I made myself available to them, we figured out a way to do something sincere without having to worry about the trappings of the industry that sort of got me down for a few years.”
Barber’s sincerity as a songwriter and performer is a big part of why he’s so respected in the local music scene.
“Del is a genuine human being who writes songs from an honest and relevant place,” said fellow singer-songwriter Quinton Blair, himself a multiple Manitoba Country Music Award winner.
“I’m so happy to see him get the recognition of a JUNO nomination. He’s worked hard at his craft for a long long time. He’s a voice of the prairies, and a shining light of the Canadian music community.
“He can sort livestock on horseback, and he can drive a grain truck. That’s why he has the stories he does… lots of time to think.”
Barber is characteristically modest about the album’s glowing reception, which has included a profile by Rolling Stone magazine and high praise from reviewers around the world.
“The truth is that it’s really hard for me to know how people are reacting to it,” he said.
“I hope that they like it. Lots of people tell me they like it, but there’s just so much smoke and mirrors in this business…”
“I just feel good that I made a record I’m proud of and hope that people want to digest. Getting something like a JUNO nomination definitely verifies that people are paying attention to it. It’s sort of a giant feeling of relief in some ways too, which maybe sounds a little lame, but that’s one of the feelings I had when I got that call.”
Barber is one of only a handful of Manitobans nominated for this year’s awards, but he says he’s happy to see the prairies represented – in any way – by an industry that can often be myopic in its focus on artists from Canada’s larger cities.
“I do feel like Western Canada and the prairies especially, we produce so much great music and don’t often get credit for it and recognition for it.
“I’m proudly a prairie kid and I write about the prairies, and this is all basically prairie content… for me, it feels really important to see – especially Manitobans – on the Juno list. I think we have a lot to say in the prairies and I think people are listening to us.
“I’m definitely not trying to write songs so that someone from Toronto can understand me. When they do it’s great, and when they like it, it’s great, but I can’t be anybody else.”