Entertainment Features

Jill Barber: Canada's Most Authentic Voice Returns to Niagara

Jill Barber: Canada's Most Authentic Voice Returns to Niagara

By David DeRocco dave@gobeweekly.com  https://twitter.com/?lang=en 

Hearing Canadian chanteuse JILL BARBER sing for the first time is an incredible, transformative experience. It’s kind of like finding out electricity exists, or discovering that we’re only alive because of the invisible air we draw into our lungs. It’s rare to find a singer with such purity of sound, so unaffected by the prevailing winds of pop culture, and singing songs that are both tender and evocative, authentic, heartfelt and, in a word, beautiful.

Whether she’s singing her original jazz offerings – which she did on her brilliant, Juno-nominated album, Chances – or contemporary pop, like she did on 2018’s Metaphora (which yielded the #1 hit, “Girls Gotta Do), Barber is an original creation, with a voice so comforting that it makes every song sound like a classic standard. Her critically acclaimed repertoire includes songs in both English and French, with songs that have been featured in such shows at Orange Is The New Black, The L Word, and Heartland. This fall, Barber is hitting the road on her intimate “Dedicated To You” tour, inviting fans to email her with suggestions of songs they want to hear live. In anticipation of her September 20th show at The Sanctuary in Ridgeway, Barber took time to chat with GoBeWeekly about her voice, her success, and her favourite female singer.

GOBE: You have such a distinct vocal style. When did you discover your voice?

JILL: That’s a really good question. I didn’t ever ever think I had a good voice as a young kid or a teenager. When I started playing guitar I was 14 years old, and as soon as I learned to play a few chords I was writing my own songs, and because I didn’t have anyone else to sing them, I was singing my own songs. I thought of myself first and foremost as a songwriter and not as a singer. But I will say, as a songwriter I am able to write specifically to my voice. I figured out how to write in a way that compliments my ability to sing my songs.

GOBE: It’s been 17 years since your first release..

JILL: I know!

GOBE: Does it seem like yesterday you started this amazing journey?

JILL: In some ways it does. It’s a funny feeling. When you say 17 years it makes me sound like a veteran, but I still don’t feel like a veteran. Having said that, I have spent a lot of time and had a lot of experience on the road. I’ve played a lot of shows. I feel like a very experienced musician, but in terms of my career I feel like I’ve got a long way to go before I can earn my veteran status.

GOBE: What has been the greatest lesson you’ve learned as someone earning a living as a musician, and I’ll add, in Canada, as punctuation?

JILL: My first instinct when you ask that question is to speak to what I’ve learned about what is most important in terms of success as an artist, because they’re two different things. Success in the music industry in Canada is one thing, but in terms of finding success as an artist, I think my number one lesson I have learned over the years is that not only is it okay to be vulnerable, it’s actually a good thing. Being vulnerable as a songwriter or performer is a good thing. I remember when I was just starting out, I would walk on stage and I wanted the shows to be perfect. I was so afraid of making mistakes. I actually realize now that the thing that makes people connect more than anything to a performer is the vulnerability and the humanity in a performance. I’m not afraid of being vulnerable any more. I kind of embrace it now.

GOBE: There is so much emotion in the songs you sing, both lyrically and vocally. As a younger performer, did you feel you had the emotional depth and understanding to fully connect with songs you were singing?

JILL: I think so. I think when I listen back to my earliest songs that I was writing when I was 14 or 15, they sound like an angsty teenager for sure. But by the time I was a young adult – I’ve always felt like a bit of an old soul – that I think I was able to feel them. I think I have a lot more life experience now. I wouldn’t want to ever sell short a young person in terms of them writing about their own life experiences. I actually kind of always felt a bit annoyed by people who say, ‘aw, she’s only 16 years old, what does she know about love?’ I think it’s not for any of us to say what a person’s depth of experience is or isn’t. I think I’ve always tried to write from a position of authenticity. I will say now, as a…uhum, older more mature woman, to be singing songs I wrote when I was 20, I’m happy to say I can still get behind those songs. I’m still proud of the songs I wrote earlier in my career. For the most part I feel like they stand up, singing them from a new place and a new perspective of wisdom.

GOBE: So what moves you more when writing songs, happy healthy love, or heartache?

JILL: I’ve written way more happy love songs than tragic heartbreak ones, and I think that’s just because, I’m happy to say, that I’ve spent more time experiencing the joys of love in my life experience than heartache. I can draw from both. I think there’s a place for both. I think arguably it’s harder to write a really impactful love song that’s from a positive place and not from a place of heartache. I like to believe that you don’t have to be a starving artist or heartbroken artist to write a great song.

GOBE: You mention having an old soul. I kind of felt that listening to Chansons, your French language recording. It was transportive. Listening to it, I felt like I was in 1920’s Paris. It's got such a great vibe to it. This may be a dumb question, but are you fully bilingual, or did you just manage to pull that off so brilliantly?

JILL: No, not a dumb question. I wish that I was confident enough to say I’m fully bilingual. I can speak French and I’m still learning. I’m not confident in speaking and communicating in French. That’s why it’s really fun to make albums, because I can learn the songs in French and understand them, feel them and deliver them to an audience. Often times Francophone people will mistake me for being fully bilingual. They will quickly learn in conversation that I’m not that fluent. I do totally love the French language and enjoyed making that covers album. I’m actually in the process of making another French album. This one is primarily original. I’m writing in French, working with a collaborator who’s a Francophone. It’s cool, because as a vocalist singing in French, it’s almost like learning a different instrument. It’s a variation on my instrument, because it’s a total different way of singing. I also find when I sing in French, it’s almost with my whole body. That’s the difference between singing and English and French to me.

GOBE: As a vocalist, you’re becoming quite the chameleon between the folk, jazz and now success in the pop vein with your last album, Metaphora. That album landed you a #1 hit with “Girl’s Gotta Do.” What did hitting #1 mean to you at this stage.

JILL: You know, it meant a great deal to me. I took a little bit of a leap of faith with that record. My ultimate goal when making a record is, I want people to be able to hear it. I want it to have a chance in the world to be heard. So when it reaches a # 1 position, it’s getting played a lot. A lot of people are hearing it. It’s not so much the bragging rights, it’s the comfort of knowing my music is making it out into the world and into ear-space. It really helps to get that kind of airplay, it helps my career and helps get people out to shows which is essential to my career.

GOBE: What’s more challenging as a vocalist, singing jazz or singing pop?

JILL: That’s a good question. I don’t’ find either of them super challenging, because I’m writing the songs I’m writing to serve my voice. I like being able, especially in the live show, to have a real dynamic show that crosses from a jazzier sound to a more poppier sound. I think it all comes from the same place ultimately.

GOBE: You’re calling this the Dedicated to You tour, inviting fans to email you the songs they want you to sing and telling their stories about what those songs mean. How does that translate on stage.

JILL: It’s a bit of an experiment. We just had our first show of this tour last night. I think it’s great. I was inspired to do this tour, because after all my years of touring I’ve learned that at the end of a show when I go meet the audience, people are really generous in sharing their stories. And sharing with me what certain songs of mine mean to the in their lives. Also, people will tell me when I haven’t played a song they wanted to hear. I always say, ‘if only I knew in advance I would have dedicated that song to you.’ It’s an invitation to my audience in advance of the shows to be part of the shows. I feel like people underestimate how essential the role of an audience can be to a show. For me it’s huge. I love to draw people in. This is my way of trying to pull people in even more. There’s so few opportunities short of weddings and funerals for people to publically declare their love or appreciation for someone in their life. I’m just trying to create more opportunities for that sort of public exchange and discourse to happen.

GOBE: So what’s next. What’s the follow up to Metaphora.

JILL: Right now I’m pretty deeply immersed in a French album, which I’m recording this fall and will come out spring 20/20. It will be a different vibe from last French album. Taking my inspiration from 60s French pop, the yeah yeah movement.

GOBE: You’ve also has success writing children’s books. What inspired that creative endeavor?

JILL: I like to think of myself as an accidental children’s author. I didn’t set out to write a children’s book. The story goes, a dozen years ago I was asked to write a song for a not-for-profit organization in Nova Scotia called Reads to Me. They provided every baby born in Nova Scotia a package of books and music. They asked me to contribute a children’s song for the album. I wrote a lullaby for the compilation. Then I was approached by my publisher to turn the song into a board book. At the time I didn’t even know what a board book was. Now I know. Since I became a parent and read books all the time, my personal standards of what makes a great children’s book have gone way up. It’s been fun to moonlight as an author.

GOBE: Final question then. Who is your favourite female singer, or inspiration as a vocalist?

JILL: It’s hard to pick just one. My instinct as a singer is to pick Ella Fitzgerald, because I just love her voice. It’s like a warm hug. Then I’m inclined to think of singers like me who are also writers, so I guess maybe Joni Mitchell comes to mind, something you can put on that just feels familiar, like an old friend, comfort music. Somewhere between those two.

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