Del Barber - Headwaters

Reviewed by Terry David Mulligan, host of Mulligan Stew and Tasting Room Radio

It was neck and neck for this CD choice. I was loving the new Skydiggers release Northern Shore, when along came 10 songs from Del Barber. He wrote 30 plus songs so these 10 had to pass through a tough music filter. The result, called Headwaters, is sublime.

I don’t know Del but I sure like his songs.  They feel like they were all written on the road...from behind a windshield. Son of a draft dodger, he grew up in and around Winnipeg and followed Jack Kerouac’s “dream.”  He found solace in the songs of John Prine (haven’t we all?) and found two homes – Chicago and Winnipeg.  As Del says, “My world turned into a dashboard, a radio, a guitar and a pen.”

Del passed through Alberta at the end of April, and is working his way across the country, but returns to Edmonton on June 1 and Calgary on June 2.

Come to think of it…Northern Shore and Headwaters are soul mates.  Just get in behind that windshield and let the music take you down the road.

May 11, 2012