It will be a very special night when Jill Barber returns to Showplace Performance Centre on Thursday, March 5th, in support of her new full-length album Fool’s Gold.
The golden-voiced Canadian songstress last played in Peterborough at Showplace in 2011.
Since then, she has been a busy woman: she toured the U.S., Australia, much of Canada, and Europe; she released a full album of French tunes (2013’s Chansons); she and her husband (CBC Radio 3 personality Grant Lawrence) had their first child (named Joshua, what a great name!); she wrote a children’s book called Music is for Everyone; she wrote, recorded and released Fool’s Gold; and, among other things, headlined a show at Canada’s famous venue Massey Hall last November.
In four short years, through hard work and a dedication to music, Barber (who turns 35 today) has gone from a rising star to a household name.
She won the SiriusXM 2012 Jazz Artist of the Year award and the 2013 Western Canadian Francophone Album of the Year for Chansons, and her 2009 tune “Chances” was featured in the first season of the Netflix original series Orange Is The New Black.
“Chances” by Jill Barber
Her Peterborough show will be the first of an Eastern Canada run for the Vancouver-based musician.
“It’s a great place to start,” she tells me. “I love Peterborough. Everyone has been a lot of fun and I have very happy associations with the city. I’m so pleased to be coming back.”
Not only is the singer pumped to return to Peterborough, I could hear an equal excitement in her voice about her band.
“In the last four years I feel like we’ve grown so much,” she says. “Without boasting, I’m feeling so proud of the show that me and the guys are putting on now. It’s something I’m really looking forward to sharing with Peterborough and the rest of Eastern Canada.”
Her touring band is made up of the same cast of players that you can hear on Fool’s Gold: Les Cooper on electric guitar, Steve Zsirai on upright bass, Marshall Bureau on drums, Robbie Grunwald on piano, and multi-instrumentalist Drew Jurecka on violin, saxophone, mandolin, clarinet, and accordion. Bandmates Les Cooper and Drew Jurecka also recorded and produced the album.
“People have asked me about working with outside producers, but I just really like working with my guys,” she says, noting they have excellent chemistry together.
“Broken For Good” by Jill Barber
Released in June 2014, Fool’s Gold sounds lush and full and has stories of love (“Let’s Call It Love”), heartbreak (“Broken for Good”), romantic advice (“The Least She Deserves”), and more.
Barber explains that the album title took a while to come to her, but when it did it felt right.
“I like the imagery of something that looks like the real thing, and you hope it is,” she explains. “You then find out that it might not be the real thing, and that’s okay. You love it for what it is.”
Barber’s music drifts through a few genres — sometimes jazz predominates, other times elements of pop persist a little more, but there’s always a soul vibe throughout. Although the album does wander stylistically, Barber’s unique voice and rich production anchor the “Jill Barber sound”.
It’s a sound laced with a vintage feel, although Barber prefers to describe it as nostalgic.
“Vintage implies something old,” she says. “My music is new, but it’s very much inspired by old music.”
She prefers looking back and paying homage to that which has come before, rather than trying to discover something cutting edge.
“I try to find things that have stood the test of time and honour those in my songwriting,” she explains.
“Never Quit Loving You” by Jill Barber
Barber’s work ethic is something to admire. She has two new albums in mind. One will be a solo record, and a more immediate one will be a family affair. Next week she will meet up in California for a week of collaboration with her big brother and acclaimed musician Matthew Barber. The two are putting together a collection of original songs and cover songs.
“He and I are hoping to record our brother and sister duo album this summer,” she tells me.
They’re escaping winter for a week to work on tunes — just like they once did in their bedrooms, as they were first discovering music.
“My brother first wanted a guitar when he was 15 or 16,” she recalls. “He’s three years older than me, and he showed me how to play chords. We both started playing and we never stopped.”
Barber’s passion for music and performance certainly shows no signs of stopping. Her performance at Showplace is sure to be a special one, and let’s hope it’s not another four years before she comes back to Peterborough again.
