Prairieography

For his fourth studio album, Winnipeg, Canada–based singer/songwriter Del Barber turns to the sounds and format of traditional country music. The songs themselves tell stories of the Canadian prairie of Barber’s youth, and that sense of childlike wonder and adult obligation course through the 14 songs that show clear influences from John Prine, Dwight Yoakam, and Ian Tyson. Taken alone, none of that would matter much—except that Barber has a voice to make believers out of skeptics and folkies who’ve yet to be sold on the beauty of a pedal steel guitar. (This album is coproduced by pedal steel guitarist Bill Western.) Naturally, kids dream of leaving for bigger stages (“Farewell, God Bless You, Goodbye”), while those who stay behind are haunted by their own trials (“It’s Harder Than You Think”). Women make for character studies (“Arianna,” “Country Girl”), while “Peter and Jenny Lee” speak of lovers working at a cheap motel. There’s a touch of soul on the easy-moving “All That It Takes.”