[youtube width=”600″ height=”400″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c1p2zQvhas[/youtube]
On March third, the NAC will host the soulful melodies of The Barr Brothers. The Montreal band is in the midst of a massive tour in support of their eponymous first album, stopping off in Ottawa before flying down to Texas to tour the southern states.
There is something of a southern folkiness to this band’s sound. At times soft and sonorous, at others vengeful and bluesy, The Barr Brothers’ music has a very traditional feel. Their stripped-down style is characterized by acoustic guitar, organ, and harp with lyrics that address timeless and essential themes. We could talk all day about what folk music is, but it seems to me that these features place The Barr Brothers in line with the greatest folk artists of any period. And people are taking serious notice. The tour and the album are generating no small amount of positive buzz, as well as a spot on Letterman.
The brothers for whom the band is titled also make up two thirds of the band The Slip. And it was after touring with that band for almost a decade that they made the move to Montreal. The reason for the move? Well, like all good stories, this one starts when a boy meets a girl. “Brad and I moved to Montreal around 2005, inspired by a girl I’d met, my wife to be,” says Andrew Barr. From there things just came together. “We found ourselves in this city bursting with creative energy and began meeting some really wonderful artists,” Barr says. One of these artists, harpist Sarah Page, happened to share an apartment wall with Brad Barr. “After hearing her practice through the wall enough, [Brad] began envisioning harp in his song writing.” And, as they say, the rest is music. After a few changes, the band became the quartet that it is today, with Andrew Vail on bass and pump organ.
When I asked Andrew if being based out of Montreal influenced his music he responded, “Yes and yes. Absolutely. We have forged some really great friendships with artists here who continue to inspire us. This city has embraced us musically and pushed us to continue doing what we’re doing.” But what is it about Montreal itself that creates this sort of atmosphere? Andrew points to the audience: “The Montreal music fan comes to a show ready to be moved. I find it to be one of the least cynical audiences in the world – and that doesn’t mean they aren’t opinionated, they just come to a show with open ears.”
All of this support and camaraderie resulted in The Barr Brothers, the band’s first album. The album is almost entirely self-produced from recordings the band made of themselves over a span of two years. “We weren’t sure if anything would happen with those recordings,” says Andrew. But, as has been a common theme in this story, fate intervened. “In April 2010 our friends The Low Anthem invited us to tour the West Coast with them and we decided to print up some records to have with us. So we chose ten songs and printed 1,000 copies. It wasn’t until then that we realised how well these songs actually worked together as a body of work,” remembers Barr. And it was this impromptu album that would become their first major release.
Fast-forward two years. The band is set to take the stage on Letterman in front of millions. “You have about 30 seconds to tune up and get set before you play and we needed to create some drones and tune some acoustic instruments onstage,” Andrew says. On top of that, Paul Schaefer’s band was playing next to them, making it tough to hear what they were doing. Talk about working under pressure. “But Paul knew that we needed to hear the key of C so he played The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” for us, which drones in one key,” says Barr. He continues: “All in all it was a joy. All of the folks who work on the show are really great at what they do and are really interested in making you as comfortable as possible.”
You can catch the Barr Brothers at the NAC tomorrow night at 7:30. Tickets are available through the NAC Box Office and Ticketmaster. It seems like it might be selling out, so get on that. For those who’d like to hear more Barr Brothers, here are a few YouTube links: Old Mythologies (featured above), Lord I Just Can’t Keep from Cryin’ and Give the Devil Back His Heart.
