Five Things With Del Barber

1.Growing Up

My dad worked as a millwright at a factory in Winnipeg and my mum ran a drug treatment centre. I was surrounded by all kinds of people growing up. With the breadth of people came a breadth of music. If you wanted to know something about my parents they would probably instruct you to judge them by their record collection. Wide-ranging and keen, I was constantly bombarded by songs and styles that didn’t exist on the radio.

2.Inspirations

Music and songwriting, especially, has always been an essential part of my life. I have vivid memories of listening to Dylan with my dad in his old Dodge truck, ‘Tangled Up In Blue’ blaring above the sound of truck tyres on gravel roads. Music was given to me as fragile gift, something almost sacred, something that could be broken.

3.Your Band

I’m usually a solo guy on the road – a singer-songwriter through and through – but I just finished my first full band tour with my new outfit The Profiteers. It’s much more honky tonk, and gives me a chance to do a totally different type of show. Next up, before I get to Australia, I’ll be opening a few dates for Lee Ann Womack in the US, which feels like a wild dream.

4.The Music You Make

As a songwriter four albums into a career, my foundation is as a storyteller. I long to hear songs that tell a good story, true or made up. I want to be transported by characters and scenes, I want to hear sonics that support the narrative. My approach is certainly story first, sound second.

5.Music, Right Here, Right Now

I’ve always tried to model my writing after American singer-songwriter John Prine – I love his ability to turn the most tragic aspects of society and make them palatable and at moments even comic. I love how he is able to walk the fine line between comedy and tragedy while also putting forward narratives that act as culture critique and are also historically relevant and keen. Like Prine, I hope I’m able to take up important subjects while keeping a lighthearted, not too serious or mopey tone.