Artist: Del Barber
Hometown: Inglis, Manitoba, Canada
Song: “Still Got You”
Album: Almanac
Release Date: Spring 2023
Label: Acronym Records
In Their Words: “This is the first song I wrote for Almanac. I walked outside to take a leak one night on my little farm in western Manitoba. The stars looked like they were crammed in the sky like sardines, the wolves were howling, cows were bawling… I had my dog Fischer next to me. I realized how lucky I was to have this life, the simplicity, the isolation, all of it. Meanwhile, in big cities all over North America, friends of mine were marching in Black Lives Matter protests. There was global unrest (Covid 19.) There seemed to be so much darkness in the world. Sometimes when I watched the news it felt like the ground was crumbling beneath me. That night, like so many here, I felt like I was on this island away from the shouting and chaos of it, away from bankrupt political conversations, all of it. My partner Haylan and I were building a life on the fringes of it all and I was in love with it and proud of what we had… however, with those feelings of love and thankfulness came guilt. I had privileges so many didn’t have and I wanted to do right by them. And I knew there’d be some consequences from looking away from the world as often as we liked. This song was written slowly over a few months. Whenever the idea for it came up I’d casually add to the piece. It was a simple effort, a calming process that I used to choose to celebrate doing the small things well, seeing the good in my life, leaning into it and finding peace in shutting out the world from time to time.” — Del Barber
Photo Credit: Will Bergmann
