The Jasper Legion is Del Barber鈥檚 most played venue in Canada.
The Canadian folk singer-songwriter says he doesn鈥檛 know how it happened鈥攁side from having tremendous support from Ken Kuzminski, who does the venue鈥檚 bookings鈥攂ut either way he鈥檚 not complaining.
鈥淣ow I have so many close friends that live in Jasper, so it鈥檚 sort of my home away from home,鈥� says the Manitoba native. 鈥淚n Jasper I always know I have a few people in the audience that are really there to see me play and have my back.鈥�
Barber says with that support comes a comfort and ease that he doesn鈥檛 always feel in larger venues or festivals. 鈥淭he small shows, like in Jasper, are always my favourite. I always feel comfortable playing some new stuff and people don鈥檛 seem to mind too much and they also don鈥檛 mind barking requests at me from the audience, which I kind of love.鈥�
Barber was last in town in March. During that show, he brought his token storytelling flare, preceding each song with a backstory that had the audience bent over in fits of laughter. Of his shows, he says storytelling is not only a survival tactic鈥攁 way of keeping the audience engaged鈥攊t鈥檚 also a family trait that鈥檚 engrained in his genetic makeup.
鈥淢y family is pretty Irish, so I think that tradition of storytelling is pretty rich in Ireland. I was just over there and experienced it firsthand and had a definite connection with the people I was playing to in the clubs.鈥� Barber also attributes his storytelling to the tradition often found in country shows of the past鈥攁 tradition that has sadly died out, he says.
鈥淚t used to be all the old country-folk songwriters had stories and didn鈥檛 take themselves too seriously, but I feel like there is something missing in that tradition nowadays.鈥�
But it鈥檚 definitely not lacking from Barber鈥檚 shows. In 2011, after performing at the Edmonton Folk Festival, he was described in the Edmonton Sun as 鈥渁 folk version of the Vinyl Cafe鈥檚 Stuart McLean, telling hilarious stories but following it up with his own music.鈥�
Barber鈥檚 most recent release is Headwaters, an album where he explores the shift from rural to urban life, drawing from his years of wandering from province to province and state to state, on a quest to find a place where the grass is actually greener.
It was on those journeys that he realized, no matter where he goes, Manitoba is where his heart is and it鈥檚 where he鈥檚 meant to be.
鈥淚 always thought I was travelling looking for something and then I started realizing I was always just craving the Prairies, and I always felt comfortable at home. I think that鈥檚 a small town problem, where you think 鈥業f I can only be where the big lights are, or where the action is鈥� and then you forget the values at home.鈥�
But those values always catch up to you, he says, and eventually you realize 鈥渉ow bound up you are in where you鈥檙e from and where you live.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what I write about,鈥� he says.
