Del Barber

Early life Barber was born on October 14, 1983, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Greg Brown, John Prine, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Wilco, Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams, He would then make his way back to Winnipeg to continue studying philosophy.

After the release of two early demo albums, Barber went back into the studio to record his eleven-track album Where the City Ends. With many positive reviews of this album, he continued to tour extensively in support of the album. Where the City Ends was nominated in the category of Roots Solo Album of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards. In 2010, Barber released his second album entitled Love Songs for the Last 20. Once again, Barber had critical success with the album and continued to tour extensively. In August 2010, Barber was nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award for Roots Solo Album of the Year for Where the City Ends. The album also received a second nomination for Best Album Design of the Year which album designer Brooke Nelson was nominated. In 2011, he was nominated for a Juno Award for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year - Solo for Love Songs for the Last 20. Later in 2011, Barber's career continued to reach new heights when he won two Western Canadian Music Awards for Independent Album of the Year and Roots Solo Recording of the Year. Headwaters was released on May 1. Barber had an album release show at the West End Cultural Centre in Winnipeg on October 26. Four of the tracks were uploaded to his NoiseTrade page to promote the album. At the 2013 Western Canadian Music Awards, Barber once again took home the award for Roots Solo Recording of the Year for Headwaters. The album was co-produced by William "Bill" J. Western in Winnipeg at Empire Recording.

Barber embarked on a tour of the prairies from January 23 to March 27 in support of the album.

The Puck Drops Here and Easy Keeper (2016–2019) With Prairieography being dubbed as what could have been a career-making opus, Barber moved from Winnipeg to a farm in rural Manitoba to begin work on a follow-up album. With Barber being a hockey fan, this was a hockey themed album with distinct rock and country sounds. Barber was in contact with True North sending them demos of songs he had been working on, but received no feedback. Those songs would later be put on the album that would become Easy Keeper. After not getting any feedback on those demos, Barber had the idea for a hockey themed album as it was never done before. He stated that he took a hiatus and was now wanting to produce a new album. His goal was $7,500; but in less than a week, Barber was able to raise over $13,000. In total he was able to raise $23,021 towards the album. On May 3, Barber posted on Instagram that the first single "No Easy Way Out" was released and premiered on the CBC Radio One show Q. Barber has said that "No Easy Way Out" is about a gas station attendant in Virden, Manitoba. "She's been working there for decades. I finally was able to convince her to give me a bit of her story after modestly flirting with her for a few years. This is her story."

Also on May 3, Maven's Music announced the official Easy Keeper release date of September 6 and that Barber was signed to Acronym Records. On August 9, Barber announced on Instagram the release of the second single entitled "Patient Man."

On January 28, 2020; it was announced that Barber was nominated for a Juno Award in the category of Contemporary Roots Album of the Year for Easy Keeper. In the summer of 2020, with the announcement of the Western Canadian Music Awards, Barber was nominated in the categories of Roots Artist of the Year and Songwriter(s) of the Year.

Stray Dogs and Almanac (2021–present) On June 23, 2021, Del Barber announced that through the winter, he worked on new music. The first single entitled "Meantime" was released on June 25. On July 2, Del announced Stray Dogs: Collected B-Sides Volume 1 was the next album that would be released on August 20. The second single "Nothing Left to Find" was released on July 23.

On June 8, 2022, the Western Canadian Music Awards nominations were announced. Barber was nominated in the category of Roots Artist of the Year.

On January 25, 2023, Barber announced his next album Almanac which was scheduled for a spring release. A video of him performing "Still Got You" was released. The song was officially released as a single on January 27. The second single "I Told You So" was released on March 10.

"I wrote it before my dad passed—before he was even sick, but it became an anthem for me in the months after his passing. Originally written from the perspective of Barber's neighbor who'd lost her husband, the song's interpretation of grief has such a universal quality that even Barber ended up applying to his own life, but maybe that was its purpose all along. "Looking back, I feel like this song was a gift from [my dad]." Barber wrote Almanac on his farm in Inglis, Manitoba which is 400 km northwest of Winnipeg. He recorded the album at No Fun Club in Winnipeg. It took one week to record the album with Grant Siemens and Scott Franchuk.

Personal life Barber resides on a farm in Inglis, Manitoba Release date: April 10, 2009 Label: Corn Cob Music Format: CD, digital download

Release date: June 15, 2010 Label: Corn Cob Music Format: CD, digital download

Release date: May 1, 2012 Label: Six Shooter Format: CD, vinyl, digital download

Release date: February 4, 2014 Label: True North Format: CD, digital download

Release date: September 20, 2019 Label: Acronym Format: CD, vinyl, digital download, streaming

2014 "Big Smoke"/Himself Songwriter(s) of the Year 2015 Prairieography Juno Awards Roots & Traditional Album of the Year - Solo 2020 Easy Keeper Juno Awards Contemporary Roots Album of the Year

Roots Artist of the Year Songwriter(s) of the Year 2022 Roots Artist of the Year