"Headwaters" by Del Barber Review

Here is the long awaited review of Del Barber's latest album entitled "Headwaters."  This album dropped on May 1, 2012 on Six Shooter Records.


It seems as though Del wants to stray away from what he has been comfortable with during his, as my friend Mark put it, Jack Johnson days to his current country/alt-country days.   From wah pedals and distorted guitars to clapping and cello to name a few instruments, Del experiments with delving in deeper into the alt-country side of music.  This is prevalent on the first track entitled "Love and Wine."  Busting  out some triablesque drum beats, it makes you feel like you are in the wild west and some outlaw is about to come rolling through town.  I don't know if Del was going for that, but that's what I got from the beat.


The second track entitled "Everything Is Not Enough" and it continues on in the same vain of being different as you immediately hear a wah pedal.  A wah pedal you ask?  That's right.  This is another departure for Del.  It's not something he has used on his past albums.  But as you weave through the rest of the album, that's not all that is a departure for him as there is reverb on the song "Can't Turn Around."

Continuing on his kick of country music, "Believe Me" has that classic country feel.  It's no surprise considering he is trying to be totally country with how he sounds when he talks, dresses (somewhat), and what have you.  This seems to be a comfortable transition for Del.  I'm not saying he is going to dress like they do in mainstream country music because that's not Del.  That's too cowboy for him.  But he will do more of an alt-country look.  But what does that look like?

I've heard people say that "Soul of the Land That's Mine" is not a good fit for the album.  I would have to agree.  It seems out of place.  It's good that he didn't start the album off with this song.  It seems slow compared to the rest of the album.  Sure a lot of songs are slow, but this is slow in a way that you have to listen to to get.

Even though this album is different from what Del has done in the past, it is still recommended that you give it a listen.  Being that it is different, you might find this album harder to get into.  It may take a number of listens to truly appreciate what he was intending to do when he made it different.  Either way this one is not a miss.

Del Barber and Old Man Luedecke Concert Review

This past Thursday, I went to see Del Barber.  He was opening for Old Man Luedecke.  I never heard of Old Man Luedecke at that point.  I've heard pretty much everything he has recorded except for a few tracks on his new album "Headwaters" (I'll review "Headwaters in another post) which I purchased at the show.  The concert was at Christ Church Anglican which is located on 28th St. W. in Saskatoon.  I love going in churches like these.  I felt like whipping out the Book of Common Prayer and praying.

Even the Del was the opener of the concert, he put on great show.  I haven't seen him in nearly six years when he played at the CBC barbecue.  He has developed his presence with his story telling and performing.  He doesn't just banter to banter like Tegan and Sara for instance.  But he has style all his own.  His facial expressions and body language when he performs are different than others I've seen.  Different can be good.  After all, you don't want to be the same as everybody else.  He also got the crowd going with some jokes.

Del played a number of songs of his new album "Headwaters."  He performed "Right Side of the Wrong," "Running on a Wire" (which can be considered his current single), "The Waitress," and "Everything is Not Enough."  He also performed a few of his older songs like "62 Richmond," "Party Song," and "Home to Manitoba."  He performed another song in which I can't remember the name.  I was hoping he would have played "God Damn Desire" off his 2009 album "Where the City Ends."  I recommend that album.  All in all Del Barber is someone you should go see if you are into folk, folk rock, alt-country, country, roots, and Americana styles of music.  Just take a chance on him and you may find out you like his music.

During the intermission I talked briefly to Del.  I'm surprised he knew who I was.  We know a number of the same people.  We also talk about a couple of other things.  So it was great to talk to him albeit briefly.

Old Man Luedecke was the headliner.  He plays banjo and guitar.  He was accompanied by his friend who played mandolin.  He ripped some mandolin solos which were awesome!  His songs are not serious with the exception of the odd one.  Two songs that I remember the names of were "Monsanto Jones" and "I Quit My Job."  He likes to tell stories as well.  He did some bantering with the crowd.  I always like to see a performer banter with the crowd.  Over all his music is pretty good with a playful feel to it.

All in all this concert was great and I know I'll be seeing Del Barber again. If Old Man Luedecke comes back, I'd go see him again.  I recommend checking out both of these guy's music.  You might find out you like it!

The Mentality of People

Recently, College Park Covenant Church in Saskatoon was broken into and stole a few items.  They stole the projector, two djembes (one being the church's and the other being Kelly's), the drum kit, a laptop, a garbage canister, a guitar (Kathleen's guitar from her office), and headphones from the sound booth.  They were going to steal the keyboard and soundboard, but must have gotten scared off.  They also scattered some keys around.  So locks are going to be possibly changed.  The people even went downstairs and ate food from the kitchen.  They had their own little meal.  Jokingly, someone said they should have stolen the TV.

There was speculation as to how they got in.  One is they could have gotten through the window they broke in Colin and Kelly's office.  Or they could have hid in a dark place in the church while people were downstairs Thursday for Coffee Club.  Apparently there is an eclectic mix of people who go to the Coffee Club.  Maybe one of them could of done it.  Another person who may have done it might have been someone who goes to the Clothing Depot or who uses our food bank services.  But we might never know.

Yesterday at the congregational meeting, we discussed this.  We discussed getting an alarm system and possibly locking the doors while you are downstairs when stuff is going on like the Coffee Club.  Other things that were discussed is that the front door has a hook up for it to ding when someone goes in and out.  But I doubt people want to keep going up and down to check who it is.  Someone said that if we have security cameras that we might have been able to identify the person.  So we might get security cameras.

I just don't get why someone would steal stuff from a church.  Generally a church is their for people and College Park Covenant Church has done a lot of the surrounding community of College Park.  It's just mind boggling as to why this happened.  What would make someone do this?  But until everything with the insurance is straightened out and we can get some new drums, I don't know what capacity I'll in worship.

May God have mercy on this wicked souls.  It's just stupid on their part.

My Victoria Day Long Weekend - Wiener Roast at the Farm and Wakesiu

I got to get away from Saskatoon this Victoria Day long weekend.  It was my niece Allie's birthday on Saturday.  She became a teenager!  She turned 13.  So on Sunday we had a small gathering at the farm with some family and friends to celebrate her turning 13.  We had a wiener roast at the farm.  Even though we had a few people, it still was a great time to sit outside in the very nice weather and roast wieners and fellowship with the ones that were there.  Great afternoon and early evening!

On Monday my mom asked me if I wanted to go up to Waskesiu with her and my step dad.  Of course I said yes.  We took a small picnic to eat up at one of picnic spots just past the town site.  The first spot we went to was windy, so we went to another spot which was much better in terms of no wind.  My step dad and I went for a bit of walk through the wood at the one spot.  I skipped stones at both spots, but I was bit rusty at doing that.  I didn't always skip them as some of them just hit the water with a plunk.  I got a couple of rocks to skip six times.  But my average was two or three and sometimes four skips.  I got the odd ones to skip five times.  But still not the greatest at it.  There were a lot of rocks that lined the shore.  My mom wanted to take a bunch of the rocks home.  So we picked a box full or so.

On the way back to go home, we stopped at Waskesiu River.  I've never been there.  My mom and step dad said they never usually see fish, but this time we saw a lot.  We walk the trail on the boardwalk and woods.  On the boardwalk we seen two geese and six goslings.  On of the goslings got up on a rock and one of parent geese got up on the rock too.  The goslings were cute.  Than we saw three fish later on the boardwalk.  While in the woods part of the trail, we saw two deer.  It was so awesome to see them up that close.  My step dad heard something and was looking to see what it was and saw a deer.  The deer stopped and seen us, than kept going.  As we kept going we saw the other deer.  The whole Waskesiu River trail was 2kms. It was great exercise!

Overall a great day at Waskesiu.  It's been a number of years since I've been there.  Proof of that is there is a Traxx Footwear where Subway used to be.  We seen lots of wildlife on the way to and from Waskeisu lots of deer, elk, fish, and a heron.  Next time I want to take my mom and step dad on the Boundary Bog!  The Boundary Bog is a great walk in the woods.  Being one with nature is great because it lets you forget about your life for a fleeting moment or two.

While getting stuff ready to take Waskesiu, I told my step dad that I wrote a song with my good friend Mark entitled "A Day Like Any Other Day" and some of the stuff in the song was happening.  I told Mark about it and he thought it was awesome.  For instance lyrics such as "P.A.'s looking to gray, I'd rather spend my day in Waskesiu."  All that happened.  The first three lines of the song, "Sitting on the back porch, drinking Arizona Iced Tea, watching the world pass by" almost happened.  I had an Arizona Iced Tea in my car, but I didn't sit on the back porch drinking it watching the world pass by.  But it would have been awesome if the whole song happened.  Oh well, the parts that did happen was still awesome!

This Weekend - The Next Step of Life

This weekend I'll be going up to the farm.  Even though my niece Allie's birthday is tomorrow (Saturday).  We are celebrating her becoming a teen at the farm with family and friends of the family.  It will be a blessed day to share in this next step of her life.  Plus it will be good to get away for the weekend!  It's also a long weekend which is awesome too!

Violence in Entertainment vs. Christianity

I was on Facebook Tuesday morning and Marc Vandersuly posted a status about the "Avengers."  The comments took a turn to someone saying that they can handle swearing and sex, but not violence.  I found that to be ironic.  Marc replied by saying that they only don't like violence if it's "gory" or "extreme."  Basically, domestic violence in entertainment such as movies or television don't bother them because it's not "gory" or "extreme."  I dually noted by saying that was backwards.

In movies and television, violence doesn't bother me because a lot of it is fiction.  With that, I am disconnecting myself from reality.  Now I do understand that it's the individual beliefs of that have them feel the way they do.  But why they would feel this way about violence in entertainment verses sex and swearing baffles me.  Some people I've talked to feel the same way about three things.  That makes more sense.

Why do a portion of Christians have to shy away from this issue like it's taboo is baffling and beyond me.  There is violence all throughout the Bible.  The Old Testament is riddled with violence.  God is wrathful against the people who do wrong and disobey.  There is also violence against Jesus in the New Testament.  Jesus is beaten and crucified.  With that being said, these same Christians don't shy away from the violence in the Bible, but in movies.  What happened to Jesus can be looked upon as "gory" yet they'd never think that.  I find that to be very odd.  But we understand Jesus had this violence bestowed upon him to forgive our sins.

Maybe I am wrong for comparing two opposite things.  Movies for the most part are fiction while the Bible is real as it did happen.  But maybe I'm not wrong for comparing the two.  I just find it puzzling that a person would feel like this about this?  Am I missing something?  It seems pretty black and white.  Why is there this gray area?  Maybe it's one of those things I'll never fully understand.

Writing Music

Recently I've wrote or finished three songs.  I was on Skype with my good friend Mark and was able to bounce ideas off him.  I even get lyric ideas from him.  I find that conversing and working with someone is good way to get me motivated in finishing music.  Sure I have written songs without working with someone.  But it's just a tool I find useful in music writing.

I feel accomplished when I get songs written or finished.  I feel like the album I am going to record will take shape.  It's always good to have these feelings and senses.  It makes a person feel more motivated.  Since these creative juices are follow, I hope I can keep going to finish and write a few more songs for my album.

Whenever I get my album recorded, I'll let you know!