Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Del Barber: Toronto Mike'd #1244

Episode Date: April 27, 2023

In this 1244th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with singer songwriter Del Barber about his musical journey, finding his voice, getting dropped by True North Records and picking himself up off the mat with the help of his fans. Del even plays live in the TMDS studio! Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, the Yes We Are Open podcast from Moneris, The Moment Lab, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

Welcome to episode 1244 of Toronto Mic'd. Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery. Even though Del already opened his can of Canuck Pale Ale and didn't wait to pop it on the mic. But we'll talk about that. Great Lakes is a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times, and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta. Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville.

Season 4 of Yes, We Are Open, the award-winning podcast from Moneris, hosted by FOTM El Grego. RecycleMyElectronics.ca Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. The Moment Lab, brand marketing and strategy, PR, advertising and production.

You need The Moment Lab and Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today, making his Toronto Mike debut is Del Barber. Welcome, Del. Well, thank you for having me, Mike. You, my friend, have come a very long way.

You are a, I'm going to try to say this, I noticed i messed up the word brewery in my intro i've only said that like a thousand times but can i say the word rural yes okay you're from rural manitoba yeah yeah i live in the middle of nowhere uh there's more horses than there are cows in my town than there are people in my town and more cows than there are horses you know i live i live in the middle of nowhere and you're welcome to come anytime anybody listening if you're passing through and you don't mind mosquitoes uh stop in my yard and i'd put you up for the night no problem you got big mosquitoes in uh what's the name of this uh town inglis manitoba we're famous famous for grain elevators we have five prairie giants they're a national historic site at least you're famous for something you know how many

cities or towns in this country are famous for absolutely nothing? I mean, I'm using fame as loosely as it can be used. There's some great artists in Winnipeg. I feel like shouting out with some great Winnipeg. And I know you're not Winnipeg, but... Oh, I cut my teeth in Winnipeg. I grew up South Winnipeg. My first house was in Winnipeg. I'm like, you know, a big part of me is in Winnipeg. So a big part of you in Winnipeg. I recently had a week where I had back-to-back. I had Crash Test Dummies and The Watchmen. Nice.

The bands on back-to-back. Yeah. And that week I was jokingly referring to myself as Winnipeg Mike. But you're here. And there's another great Winnipegger I want to shout out before we learn more about you and play music. But there's a great Winnipegger who's been over here twice. And he let me wear his hat.

Do, ba-do, ba-do, ba-do, do. Make me a pie to start the day. Only you can make it in your special way. Crust so flaky it can make me cry. Great Grandma Saskatoon Berry Pie. flaky it can make me cry great grandma saskatoon berry pie great grandma saskatoon berry pie give me a pie after name that artist dill fred penner love i love fred penner so do i um people need to know the type of person that fred penner. He is the most generous man, kindest. When I was cutting my teeth,

I would be starstruck when I'd see him at cafes and Winnipeg and bars and stuff. And yeah, he would always encourage me. He was a fan from the start for me. He was one of those guys that was in my corner. Are you involved at all with this fantastic Saskatoon berry pie jam that I'm kicking out right here? Involved with the pie?

Yeah, I become that pie in the fall. Yeah, and by the time fall hits, we're eating Saskatoons. That's pretty much it. Just a steady dose of those tiny little blueberry things with seeds. And for some reason, we think they're better than blueberries, probably because they grow where we live. That's probably why we think they're better. My firstborn, who's 21 now,

we used to watch a show on YTV called Tippy Tales, T-I-P-I, Tales. And all the music was written by Fred Penner. And this song, not this version, not the style, but this song appeared on that show. I knew Saskatoon Berry Pie from Tippy Tales. Fun fact, did you ever record with Fred Penner, Mr. Barber? No, never had that opportunity. Not yet. Well, it's only a matter of time.

Yeah, my career is still young, so hopefully I'll get a chance to wrangle some microphones with that guy. Now, I've loaded up a number of jams that will kind of help us talk about your career like how it all started for you where you're at like we're going to learn so much about Del Barber shout out to Chris Cooksey who's eagerly tuning in to this episode because he wants to learn more about

Del Barber but I just want to let everybody know who's listening that there is a third person in this room it sounds spooky when you say it like that there's a third person in the room shout out to fotm jason schneider who said he's not going to speak on this episode but you're in the room jason for the record right yes i'm here and jason it's funny jason cracked open a first thing he did i think he just comes over for the great lakes beer but he popped open a beer and i'm like jason we popped that on the mic and he goes oh i'm sorry man he you know he didn't remember but then dell was you know i said let me He just comes over for the Great Lakes beer, but he popped open a beer. And I'm like, Jason, we popped that on the mic.

And he goes, oh, I'm sorry, man. He didn't remember. But then Del was, you know, I said, let me get you a cold one from the fridge, Del. We're going to pop it on the mic. And then right away he pops it, like reflex action. So you didn't pop yours on the mic either, Del. Well, you know, you hand a prairie kid a cold can of beer and staring at him. And, you know, he's been up till 3 a.m driving from hamilton to toronto and wow and then he gets this fancy publicist picks him up at his at his place of

residence in toronto and then he comes to this fancy podcast studio super fancy and then i'm you know what am i supposed to do but crack the beer i feel like it's not my fault i feel like you should take some of the blame for this it's entrapment yeah that's right it's entrapment yeah you can't call my lawyer you know you know you should it's like leaving your trunk open with like a new i don't know new uh iphones in the trunk and you leave it that's not fair so i am gonna crack mine on the mic oh that sounded good how is your great legs beer del very delicious i'm a fan of this brewery and uh and uh for some reason it sounded funny when I said brewery as well. Yeah, you know it's a tough word, man.

I know you sing for a living, but don't put brewery in your lyrics because you'll fuck it up. Yeah, I will. You're a hockey guy, right? You're a hockey fan? Yeah, big time. So you guys are down 3-1 Jets. Yeah.

And you're a Jets fan, I take it? Yes. Okay, I'm rooting for you. I'm rooting for the Winnipeg Jets. The tone of rooting for us sounded sort of reluctant. Well, listen, I'm a Jets fan, I take it? Yes. Okay, I'm rooting for you. I'm rooting for the Winnipeg Jets. The tone of rooting for us sounded sort of reluctant. Well, listen, I'm a Leaps fan, so I haven't seen the second round since 2004.

So I don't judge any fan base. We hear about you crying on our national sports networks. We would like to think that there are other teams in Canada that play hockey too. And so the first round thing, it's hard not to smile when that happens if you're from the Prairies. But I do love your team right now. Is that true?

Because I feel like Winnipeggers maybe don't like Toronto. I got a vibe there. You know what's annoying? You love to hate Toronto. You know what's annoying? Going to a Jets game when they're playing the Leafs. You know why?

Because there's so many Leafs jerseys in the fucking stands. I got to put up with these guys cheering for Toronto in my hometown. It's hard to take. So that's part of it. Also, you've got a great hockey club. This is great. I mean, I can acknowledge that this is a very entertaining hockey team we have. And tonight, if all goes well.

So that's why I'm cracking this beer open early here because I'm going to be watching Game 5 in Toronto. I'm not at the game. I'm going to be watching on my TV. I can't afford to get to that game. Somebody should gift Toronto Mike tickets and send me to the game. But I'm looking forward to seeing something I haven't witnessed since 2004. You know, a series-clinching win.

That happens tonight, Del. And I hope you guys come back from your 3-1 deficit. But don't put any money on it. That's unlikely to happen. But exciting times, right? Hey, I'm really happy we made the playoffs. And it's cool to see a city erupt with playoff hockey. And I'm sure Toronto's no different.

I'm sure it's wild in the streets. Tonight's going to be a party for you guys. Well, we forget what we're supposed to do but we we did have a nba championship in 2019 so we some people are can still remember that blueprint but there's you know great leaf fans who can't remember what do we do what do we do after we win a series do we honk our horns do we hit the streets like what is the protocol we're gonna find out tonight? Well, I lived in Chicago before the Cubs won. And I felt that

pain. I learned to be a fan of that baseball club before they had any hope of becoming great. But you're not old enough for Ryan Sandberg, are you? No. You're too young.

How old are you? No. You're too young. No. How old are you? 39. Okay, yeah. You might have caught the end of the Ryan Sandberg years, but you're a young man. Okay, so we're going to start at the beginning here, and I'm going to just play a song to get us started, actually.

So I want to let people hear right off the bat. I want people to hear some Del Barber, because you, my friend, and I don't say this to all my guests. Jason can vouch for this. Sometimes I just say nothing if I'm not a big fan, but you are very talented. This is some gorgeous music. Let's start with something earlier in your career. Slip into another Back alley conversation You and I

are riding a river of concrete If you had some advice That I might have used to listen You have been a friend To great city tonight A night from walking

Lovely little song of gray, cloudy thinking. Street lights awake, waiting for morning. I can't hear the old sound of lonely ringing It's on your doorstep Waiting patiently It's on your doorstep, waiting patiently. From the basement of Chicago to the ocean prairie. In the white skies, your big ass face. There are tracks following. You talented son of a bitch.

Talk to me. This is where the city ends. I got emotional there, man. I haven't listened to that in a decade. I couldn't even remember the words, you know? And I can hear my early influences. I can hear the weaker thans. I can hear the watchmen. I can hear the way Danny used to phrase lines

and pronounce words, and I can hear it in my voice. Wow. So cool, man. Thanks for taking me down memory lane. It's wild. I cherry-picked a handful of songs, and I was very careful to get them in chronological order. Good for you.

Because sometimes I mess that up, and then I hate myself for weeks. Adele, I take this very seriously. You referenced Chicago in that song. Yeah. The next song I play is going to be called Chicago. So what is your relationship? We talked about Manitoba. What is your relationship with Chicago exactly?

My best friend is from there, Nick Wells, big baseball fan. And met him in Alberta under weird circumstances. And then he convinced me to go to school there for a year. I studied philosophy, cut my teeth, played every open mic, played seven nights a week in that city. And just busted my balls trying to learn how to write songs and play guitar. And I go back once or twice a year just to see Nick and his family. You know, we're both dads now, and so we just get together and remember this period of our

lives, you know. And he was there from the beginning. He's one of the guys that's just always, he's been a huge music music fan and he always lets me know if something i'm making is good or bad you know he's the guy that vets all my stuff and uh yeah one of my best friends and so chicago just always always calling me back and especially north side chicago yeah cubs country cubs country that's right small ball when did you realize you wanted to be a musician? Like, when in your life do you have that? Do you have an epiphany, or what happens?

Never. Had no epiphany. Had no... Never intentionally decided to do it. Never. You just slipped and fell into an open mic. I just like doing it, and it trickled into a job It's a stupid job to want

You gotta be a little bit egotistical To think that this could work out And you need a good voice You need a voice I mean there's lots of people with terrible voices That write great songs too And my voice is getting worse every day Hey I didn't say that

I can hear too Maybe it's just whenever I hear harmonicas I'm hearing some Neil Young I'm a big fan hey I didn't say that I hear like I can hear too I can maybe there's maybe it's just whenever I hear harmonicas I'm hearing some Neil Young no way man I'm a huge Neil Young fan you can't you can't not be if you're from where I'm from no no well you know what that's the thing about Neil we both claim them right like it's like yeah they claim them in in the Kawarthas here in Ontario they claim them in Winnipeg and he went to high school at kelvin high school in winnipeg and that's why we get our claim to fame his dad was a writer for the winnipeg free press and absolutely i've seen him play a number of times and i'm i will go see him whenever i can

big fan so if anyone out there hates neil young you can just no if they hate you young you can just unsubscribe that's right i don't want you listening to i don't want you to listen to my records either well that's not true. I need all the help I can get. There's not many people who hate Neil Young, but I joke. Okay, so what era? I'm trying to understand. So that album, that's

actually from Where the City Ends. That's a song and self-titled album. Where are we in the world here? Give me a vibe. 2010? I think that came out in 2010. Yep. It was either 2009 or 2010 to my best recollection, and I could be wrong, but it's right in there.

And that's an independent release? Completely independent. And I put out two records before that. I was touring the States, and these records were just recorded with a microphone in a basement somewhere before we could even really digitally record multi-track without, it wasn't on a computer.

It was on a multi-track device. I would burn the CD off of it and I would tour, play frat parties in the States and laundromats and church basements. And I was obsessed with guys like Jack Kerouac and I just wanted to drive around the country and see the world. I took jobs everywhere and just wrote songs, played music. I was playing like 250 shows a year before I moved to Chicago. Well, that's called experience, right?

Yeah. Then you have something to write about. Well, that's always been the thing for me, is that these first records that you're mentioning, I was in my twenties and I was, it was hard to not think that my emotions mattered more than they did. And, and it took me a few records to start to really figure out what I was writing about and who I wanted to write about and,

and tried to get away from writing about myself. The world's heard a lot of middle-class white dudes whining about their lives, you know? And I'm like more and more as these records go by, you can hear me sort of trying to not be that voice anymore. But I really liked that song. I haven't listened to it so long. It was just a cool description of the city at night. I just like, I really got into it.

It sounded not bad either. Well, here's the thing. So sometimes I do this and I'll fade down after like 30 seconds and we'll just talk over it but i actually was unable to fade down i knew when i wanted to fade down but it's like i need to this we need to hear more of this just immerse ourselves in this so so that song references chicago and now i'm going to play a song from uh i'm going to play a song for the next really love songs for the last 20 and so we'll just sort of kind of get you to current time. And then I know you brought a guitar.

So like at some point when I get you to current time, I do have one song loaded up from the new album, but maybe if you want to play, it'd be cool. That'd be cool. Sure. If you want me to, I will.

Jason, is he allowed to play a live here in Toronto? Mike's basement. Jason's not the boss of me, man. That's not what he told me. Is it cool if I do? Jason, you okay with that? Okay. So let's get

to the next jam and then keep talking about Del Barber. And the beer is tasty. I'm feeling good. It's good. It's a really nice beer. Nice and cold. Thank you. beer nice and cold yeah thank you she's got his name written down she even knows the size of his shoes And all the flavors that he chews Her concrete eyes are waiting for now

But he left her in his dust too many times Now she's raining her Midwestern tears Clouds covering her ears. She wonders why he left it all behind. He's not in love with you. He loves the northern prairie wind and all the rivers that tie him in. You won't be here to dry your tears and make you feel. Who's the other voice I hear in the mix there?

There's a woman voice? Yeah. Who's that? Her name's Nadine Kloak now. Who's that? Her name's Nadine Kloak now. And we were in love a long time ago, and now we're just really good friends.

Took a little bit between, you know, how that goes. But she actually, we had her back on this new record we just made, and it's been a long time since we got to sing together. Oh, so she's on Almanac. She's on Almanac, yeah. It's really cool to get her back in the mix. Because your voices are just sort on Almanac. Yeah. It's really cool to get her back in the mix. Cause you can, your, your voices are just sort of like dancing there.

You can, yeah, you could tell we had feelings for each other, you know, it was, it was, it was a really cool thing. And,

and, and, and yeah, I just always, our voices just always made sense together. For sure. I see you won. I need to, I need to understand what this means.

Okay. It's a part of my ignorance, but Western Canadian music awards. You're right. Yeah. Yeah. It's a part of my ignorance. But Western Canadian Music Awards. You're right. Yeah, yeah. They're a really big deal. Well, they might be. Like, what do I know, right?

No, I mean, for us, it's a big deal. Okay, yeah. You know, it's your community basically gets together and says, these are the records that matter this year. And I've won a whole pile of them through the years. And this was my first ever Juno nomination as well. Well, yeah, let's not bury that lead. Okay this album again i thought maybe we were gonna forget all about it no never you kidding me uh i want to know who the hell beat you but before you tell me who beat you

the album is love songs for the last 20 it got nominated for uh roots and traditional album of the year solo who beat you no idea i don't remember i have no idea i have no idea who was nominated uh did you attend these 2011 of course where were they um it's possible they were in hamilton that year okay like uh the old whatever they call it now cops coliseum is that where they have it hard to say i've been to so many Junos, and they all kind of, they're soaked with beer, and I don't really remember where they were, and it's a pretty big headache, and it's also a lot of fun,

but it's, you know, the music industry all convenes in one place, and it's pretty hard to navigate, you know. So you, like if I understand, you win these, pardon me, these Western Canadian Music Awards. You win them, you have a plethora of them just littered around your estate in rural Manitoba. But do you ever won a Juno? No. I was a three-time loser.

Three-time loser. Okay, we got to do something about that. I'll make some calls. I have connections. Anything you could do, man. Because that's bullshit, Bill. No, it's just an honor to be nominated man they're making you say that okay all right so where are we now in your career

trajectory like uh you know any fun facts so here we are we have love songs for the last 20 that song we heard is called chicago because all dell sings about is chicago if you haven't caught on by now just yeah that song's actually just another one I haven't listened to in so long and that was like that was a song I wrote about leaving and I'd been like coming and going from Chicago like touring so hard and and finally just been like had enough of that city just like I needed to get home and and then that was sort of the moment where I started to build a life on the on the Canadian prairie so like, like, really put roots back in, you know. So, yeah, that is the song that started that transition back. Good. I'm glad you're back.

Yeah. Because, you know, Neil Young, although I hear he's hanging around the Kawarthas these days. Interesting. Yeah, because Freddie P. from Humble and Fred, I produce his podcast, and he's got a trailer on Lovesick Lake or something, which is in the Coors, not far from Peterborough or something.

And he says that there's a lot of Neil. Neil and Daryl Hannah. Wow. That's a couple, right? Well, they're married, I think, but they're spotted at restaurants, and I think he's hanging around here a lot. But famously, of course, he had the ranch or whatever in the States. And too many of our talented musicians end up in the USA.

Yeah. I mean, what a strange country to want to live in right now. I don't blame them for coming to the Coerthas. You know, Canada is a pretty damn fine place to live. I mean, obviously, we've got our issues. But, you know, if you want to compare it to Big Brother, it's pretty nice over here. Yeah, stay here. And I say as a i'm a dual citizen i my whole family's from wisconsin so oh yeah aaron rogers is a new york jet any thoughts on that they can have them i mean i was a fan don't

get me wrong uh and and i i am he only delivered one title okay I mean Brett Favre only delivered one title one title is still pretty damn good it's better than zero yeah it's a lot more than zero but you'd think Aaron Rodgers being

of his talent level you'd think he would have won more than one Super Bowl but you know Tom Brady kept getting in the way I think that's what

happened there yeah apples and oranges there unfortunately I'm gonna play one of my favorite Del Barber songs are and oranges there, unfortunately. I'm going to play one of my favorite Del Barber songs.

Are you ready? You sitting down? Yeah, I'm ready. This is one of my favorite Del Barber songs too. Woo! guitar solo She was tall and always tired

She worked the late shift at the all-night diner Years can fly by you in a place like this waiting for perfect man and a perfect kiss Cups, eggs, and sausage. Steady hands and friendly smiles hold her hostage. She traded her twenties for a job that never promised more. Her dreams, they fell asleep on the top bunk and woke up on the floor There ain't no good fight Ain't no heroes Ain't no bad man out to get you

There's just a tough job that'll swallow you in the darkness of another day. The Waitress. The Waitress. This is a true story of an actual waitress. True story. Yep. Do you want to hear it? Yes story of an actual waitress? True story. Yep. Do you want to hear it?

Yes, of course. So this song is sort of what changed everything. I stopped writing about myself at this point. I was in just an hour east of Calgary, this town called Strathmore, Alberta. Okay. It's 3 o'clock in the morning. The only place open is the Husky House,

24-hour truck stop restaurant. And I'm feeling particularly blue. You can picture me, whatever. clock in the morning. The only place open is the Husky House 24-hour truck stop restaurant. And I'm feeling particularly blue. You can picture me, whatever, 200 shows a year. I don't know where I am. I don't know who I am. I don't know where I'm going. You know, I'm lost and I'm tired of it at that point. And once in a while, that feeling is great in life, but it was at the point where I needed something else to happen. And I remember just coming completely unglued, bawling in front of this waitress at the Husky house. I told her everything I'd ever done wrong. You know, I admitted it all. It was, it was like going to confession and I had tried, you know, I don't know who I am spiritually or anything at this point. I still don't know, and that doesn't matter as much to me now,

but at that point I was flirting with all kinds of different stuff. I remember trying to confess my sins to the old white dudes that wear collars, you know, and I'd go in there, and I would say the stuff, and it just never seemed like it would take, you know. It was always, like, not quite there, and then finally I fell apart on this old waitress, and I told her everything she she pulled out a chair she poured herself a cup of coffee and she gave me her story and it made mine look like the smallest potatoes you've ever grown in your garden you know and it was medicine it put everything into perspective i'm not as important as i think my feelings are not that bad my life's pretty damn good i have a family i have you know

and uh and and this was just a small section this is like as many of her words from that night as i could as i could write down after and i remember the most beautiful part of that night it was like dawn was coming in it was like five o'clock in the morning and the sky was just starting to get a little bit of light in it and we wandered up behind the truck stop and she had all these pieces of fat and gristle in one of those big stainless steel kitchen chafing dishes and she started throwing pieces of fat and gristle just right where the street light line ended and you could hear scurrying at first, and then after a while, you could see the coyotes. And then within 10 minutes,

she had these wild dogs eating out of her hand. And it was just like, I got to write about people like this. Never mind my feelings. Never mind my experience. I want to be a documenter of characters like this. I need to figure out how to write that way. And so that's when that started. And that's when I felt like I finally became a writer.

The Waitress is a fantastic song, man. Thank you. Yeah, I love that song. I need to play it more. It's been a while. Headwaters is the name of that album. Yeah. Once again, Del Barber wins the Roots Solo Recording of the Year

at the Western Canadian Music Awards. Where do you keep your Western Canadian Music Awards? Do you have a trophy room or what? I think my mom has them all in a box, if I'm being honest. Polish those off and put them on display. They're at least conversation pieces. Yeah, that's true. They just don't do much for me.

What do they look like? Can I ask what they are? They look like silly awards true they just don't do much for me you know what do they look like can i ask what they look they look like silly awards do i don't know like they're they try really hard to make them cool and and all awards like junos oscars all that stuff that it's like i don't little statues of strange looking creatures i don't know it's it's a weird thing to uh but you're not proud of these i I'm proud. I'm proud to like make records and sing songs for people for sure. And I wish that in the moments back then they were, it was a really big deal to me, to be honest. And,

and it wasn't like I go brag about it, but like it'd bring me to tears to know that people were listening and, and that thought I deserved such, such credit, you know? And so I, you know, credit. That was big. But in terms of looking at them and them giving me any desire to keep doing it

doesn't come from there. Well, there are many artists who believe you can't rank art. You can't give awards for art. And you're a true artist. Maybe. Are you? We need a judge and jury on board to decide. All right, how about let me ask you this then.

Okay. If McDonald's calls you up today, would they call you or Jason? Who gets that call? Hopefully not me. Okay. Yeah. So Jason gets a call from McDonald's and they're like, we were just listening to Toronto Mike and we heard the waitress.

We want to do a campaign about how we're using all Alberta beef or something like that. I can kind of see it in my mind's eye here. And then there's that sound you have, right? It's got that slide guitar. It's like, we want you to write a McDonald's song. We're going to pay you,

and I'm going to make up the numbers here, but we're going to pay 60 000 canadian dollars to write this song for us okay i'm making all this shit yeah small fortune yeah 60 000 i didn't want to make the number too high like yeah no no it's gonna be interesting here yeah so dell barber when jason presents this to you what do you say mcdonald's eh um mcdonald's did they did does anyone have to know that I wrote it? Well, you know, it's not going to be hidden or whatever. It's not like you can use a pen name.

You can't say this was Fred Penner writing this song. This is Del Barber writing this song. I don't know what I would do. I mean, the nice part is that it's just not going to happen. You don't have to worry about this thing. There's so many things like that that in my life are just not realistic. But what is realistic? So that one you're right. Okay, that one maybe you don't have to worry about this thing. There's so many things like that that in my life are just not realistic. But what is realistic? So that one, you're right.

Okay, that one, maybe you don't have to worry about that. You'll cross that bridge when you find it. I'd call my wife and she'd be like, you're writing that damn song and you're writing it tomorrow and it's going to be your best song ever. Okay, what if they just want to license an existing song?

Okay, you've already written, let's say The Waitress. Okay, you've already written this and it already comes from, you know, you're a true artist. It comes from the heart. But they're like, we want to use this in a campaign. I'd probably let them.

I would have a hard time not wanting more people to hear my music on some level, even if it gets bastardized. I would probably regret it. I could feel that regret creeping in, but it would be really hard for me to say no. I want all of our all of our right all of our great artists i want them to have as much reach as possible and i want i want that for my friends and i wouldn't i wouldn't feel bad if if some of my pals did that you know i would i would congratulate them so i don't know it would be a tough call though you know well to bring it back

to the great neil young i also love neil young what if mcdonald's gave me free food for life then i would do it for sure that would be that would be worth more than 60 000 oh yeah that's a couple hundred homer simpson like you can use money to buy food but like neil young in the 80s he famously put out a video called This Note's For You. And in this video, he chastised musicians for selling out. So he made fun of Michael Jackson, who sold out to Pepsi. You've seen this video likely. And I feel like that's sort of unfair because Neil Young had sold how many millions of albums by that point?

Neil Young didn't need the money from pepsi or coke ain't singing for pepsi ain't singing for coke but dell barber if he can sing for pepsi or sing for coke i say dell barber does it because dell barber needs to eat too there was a precedent set i don't know if if she knew she was setting it but but leslie feist with the apple ad yeah good point um it was a beautiful ad but it was for a giant corporation and right a lot of people were like come on and then the rest of us were like it's tough out here like no one's selling records like she was doing great but like i i didn't begrudge her at all for that. I don't know how to be honest about it because those things are just not realistic for me to see.

But yeah, any TV show that wants to use a song. Like a Netflix show wants to. They get it. A ranch show. I can see the ranch and there's dogs trying to get cows. We just got a call from Hallmark. And I'm not a big Hallmark fan. Right.

And they said, well, we want to potentially use this song. And I'm like, yeah, let's put it in the TV show. And those things aren't worth much money now. It's like $1,000 or something. Is that all? I had no idea what you'd get if your song's in a Hallmark. It depends. From what I know about it,

it's that the money has basically disappeared from that end of stuff compared to what it was i had friends that would that would get like 30 seconds instrumental music of theirs like they've removed the vocal from it in gray's anatomy you know went back in the day and they would get like 30 or 40 grand you know oh you're friends of the the chasing cars guys i feel how is it the snow patrol no it's like everybody would get all of my friends would get these like just like little snippets of song of music on on on gray's anatomy it was worth a lot of money but then that money just went further and further down because they just bought our royalties out from us like because if they want to pay for the amount of people that hear it they can't afford to take

it so they just give you an offer and say, well, you do it for this. All right. So we've introduced the subject here. So let's do some monetary real talk here, Del Barber. Okay, so you said the sentence, and it's true that no one sells albums anymore. This isn't 1995 or whatever. So you can't make a lot of money.

I don't know if you can make any money selling albums anymore. So is it simply you just get a tour like a mofo and hope people buy a t-shirt after they buy their ticket and like how do you make your make your bucks as a talented musician it's a dell barber hat and t-shirt company and uh yeah sell lots of vinyl sell these littlest honky tonk hats no this is my friend she's laura she she we do a lot of like collaborations in tours now. She's like a vintage clothing curator. And so she came out to all of our shows in Western Canada

and sold like racks of vintage clothes. And just like, you know, trying to make us feel relevant in some way. And yeah, it's cool. So buy swag. Do you sell vinyl? Sell vinyl. That's a big one, right? Because your true fans will buy the vinyl and that puts more money in your pocket, right? Totally. Yeah, sell vinyl? Sell vinyl. That's a big one, right? Because your true fans will buy the vinyl

and that puts more money in your pocket, right? Totally. Yeah, the vinyl's great. And these are all releases. I mean, the one we just listened to there, just to circle back. Yeah, Headwaters. That was the first record where people were providing money

to make a record for me. I got signed on with six shooter records in Toronto and they funded it and before then it was just me scraping together dollars and cents and begging my friends to play on them and doing as many of the tracks myself and so now I'm in a position where I'm starting to get grant money I'm starting to get record label interest and everything seems like it's going really great you know so okay interesting so who at who's your champion at six shooter records at that time well i guess it must have been shauna and i also had a really good like super big wig manager at the time gill packing

he like managed randy bachman and buffy saint marie and we don't work together anymore but it was a very strange those are big names you just dropped there i love it those are huge names yeah they he managed buffy and randy and me and uh and i went absolutely nowhere and uh so that that failed epically and and of course uh both six shooter and uh back and have since dropped me is you know that's fine well you know well yeah of course it's fine but they're just the arc of a career you know you just like try things on and try to work with people and man i'm still a big fan of six shooter and they didn't they didn't do me dirty at all if uh you know if i'm gonna say bad things about someone in the industry it's not them i'm still a big who are you gonna say bad words about

i got a long list my friend let's hear it i got i I got time. I'm going to get a new hard drive just for this. All I want to say about that really is that there's just a crazy lack of loyalty in an industry where loyalty should be front and center. And I was just really surprised to learn and to be hardened by that later in my, like middle of my career so far. And hopefully older and wiser now and won't make those mistakes again. But yeah.

Okay. I have a bunch of questions about the release after this one. So things are swimming along, okay? Head waters. This next album I got questions, but I'm just going to give you a couple of gifts. And I don't know if you will take this

or Jason will take this, if you share it. I'm just going to give it to you guys you guys figure it out cool i don't need to know but i have a wireless speaker awesome courtesy of manaris very cool and with that wireless speaker del you're going to listen to this is orders from toronto mike okay you're going to listen to season four of the yes we We Are Open podcast. This is an award-winning podcast hosted by FOTM Al Grego. By the way, Del, you're like, Mike, why do you keep saying FOTM? What does that mean? You're a friend of Toronto Mike now. Okay.

I think Jason, he's done enough time on the podcast. Even if he runs out angry, he's still an FOTM, right, Jason? Jason's an FOTM too. So you have a wireless speaker to listen to the great podcast. It'll inspire you because Al's been traveling the country talking to small business owners about their perseverance and how they've managed their businesses. And you learn a lot. I just heard one with FOTM, Ian Service. That was just fantastic. Ontario Landscaping Company. Ian Service, that was just fantastic.

Ontario Landscaping Company. So, all right. So not only are you going to listen to that tech, sorry, listen to that podcast, but there's another podcast you might want to check out called Life's Undertaking, which is by Brad Jones at Ridley Funeral Home. He's the man who sent over this measuring tape for you, Adele. You never know when you got to, you know,

you're on the road touring, you got to measure something. Now you got... Honestly, it's nice to have a measuring tape with you. Comes in handy. I bet you're on the road touring, you've got to measure something. Honestly, it's nice to have a measuring tape with you. It comes in handy. I bet you're a handy guy. Yeah, I have to be. I mean, I farm part-time now, so I'm always measuring. You might have to measure the new calf that was born or something. I don't know.

Jason, did that make me sound ignorant? I don't want to get too weird on you, but this is the type of measuring tape. Can you hear it? This is the type of measuring tape we use to measure the testicle size of bulls. I've always wondered what you use to measure the testicle size of bulls.

There you go. So if you want to know if your bull's a breeder, you want to have a certain amount of... You need big bulls for that. Yeah, you need a certain amount of centimeters. So there's a correlation between a testicle size of a bull and how much offspring come out and play. Yeah, it's basically a sign of virility in beef cattle

to know that they're going to be a certain size. Is that true for humans too? I don't know. I can't speak to that. I think some doctors should call in and let us know what they think. I did father four children before I got a vasectomy, probably because I have massive balls. Right.

Did you, you know, your vasectomy, did you get that in a back alley in Toronto? Did you get it? Where'd you get it? Yeah, I got it in a back alley. It's outside the horseshoe. You ever heard of graffiti alley? We got that.

It's this guy who got a scalpel back there. I mean, I got to get one of those. That's going to happen. Have you fathered any children, Dale Barber? I've fathered two. And you're done? My partner, Halen, says I'm done. How old are these children?

Farley, my youngest, is one. And my daughter, Guthrie, is five. I know this is going to sound horrible, but for me, I knew I was done after the fourth. And I'm like, I need that fourth to get to a certain age so I know I don't have to replace them. Right like, I need that fourth to be, get to a certain age. So I know I don't have to replace them. Right.

Yeah. That's a terrible thought. I know, but I'm like, you know what? Just being honest. I'm just being honest. So it's like,

I waited for my youngest to get three or four years old. Oh, they're going to stick around. I don't need to replace this one. I can shut down the store. Yeah. Done. Okay. I love our segue from Ridley Funeral Home to Testicle Talk.

Yeah. Which would be a good podcast. You and I could do this. Testicle Talk. Testicle Talk. With Del and Mike. Late night. Midnight.

The lovely thing, you can listen whenever you want. Late night. Sponsored by, I don't know. We'll work on that later. Hey, can I open this one too?

Okay, on the mic though. Thank you Great Lakes. I'm being very. Thank you Great Lakes. This is a really delicious beer, and it tastes so good. It tastes like another, as they say. Canuck Pale Ale No. 2 going down the hatch there.

You know what pairs nicely with Great Lakes beer is the authentic Italian food. You get a palma pasta. So I do have... Now, this is where it gets awkward. So you're in town. What exactly brought you to the GTA, Del? I'm playing music in town tomorrow.

You play music? Yeah, I'm playing music. Don't just measure testicles. I play music and we're playing at the Dakota Tavern tomorrow night. My record comes out tomorrow. So we're here in Toronto to celebrate that release tomorrow night. Okay, so Almanac comes out tomorrow. Yeah.

And that's just because people don't always listen on the day I drop it, but April 28, 2023. Exactly. Almanac drops, and that's also the date where you're playing the Dakota Tavern. Yeah.

That's amazing. Yeah, it's pretty cool, right? We try to make it work that way. Are you kidding me? That's fucking amazing. Okay, so more on Almanac later because I pulled a jam and you might take out that guitar here.

You didn't know this was a four hour episode when Jason said you can drop by Toronto Mike's base. I got nothing better. No one cares about me in Toronto so it's perfect. I'm glad you care. You know what? Toronto has some kind of... Maybe it's my fault but there seems to be a little

anti-country music snobbery going on in this big city. You sense it when you're here? They think we're all but there seems to be a little anti-country music snobbery going on in this big city. Yeah. You sense it when you're here? Like, oh, they think we're all slack-jawed yokels? Yeah, and there's people that think country music can't be intellectual or something, and I think that's just, that could be further from the truth. Do you, what, how do you, I don't want to stick in a genre box,

but like what, like I would think you're alt country. I would hope that people would consider me alt country or roots music. I love the term roots music. I wish it would get used

in the States and, and you know, like everyone's calling what I do Americana. I'm like, I don't know what that means. It doesn't make any sense.

You're in Winnipeg for God's sakes. Or you're in Manitoba. But like, I think roots music is a cool term and I think it can encapsulate all this stuff, whatever.

And I mean, these awards you're winning from the Western Canadian Music Awards are Roots Solo Recording of the Year, so they've embraced that term there for sure. But when I think of Alt Country, once a year I kick out, with Dave Hodge, we kick out his favorite songs of the year, his 100 favorite songs.

And I will be disappointed, and I will let him know, there better be a song from Almanac on his 2020. Yeah, you let him know. Because he loves Alt Country. That's like his jam. I feel like he would

like that record. Yeah. He should get it in his hands. You know, he moved to Grimsby so it's harder for him. He's not a young man. I'm not saying

Dave Hodge is old but you know, he's in his 70s and he's in Grimsby so it's tough for him to get like to the Dakota Tavern now on a Friday night. But he would absolutely love Del Barber.

He might already love Del Barber. What do I know? I'm going to figure out a way to get this record to him. Get this record. I have his email address. We'll just share it with Dave Hodge, and then he'll make his top 100. And then I'll have an excuse to play another Almanac Jam at the end. So you got your lasagna from Palma Pasta.

You got your beer. You gotapasta. You got your beer. You got your speaker. You got your measuring tape. You're doing well here. RecycleMyElectronics.ca is where you go if you need to recycle like old tech, old electronics, old devices. You don't put that in the garbage

because then it ends up in the landfill and that's shitty because there's chemicals in there. Go to RecycleMyElectronics.caca i'll talk about the moment lab later i don't want jason to think they're in competition with him they uh are not jason is a gem he's a great fotm and uh you know there's room for jason and the moment lab but okay here's what i want to talk to you about okay the no regret skis The No Regretskies Yeah Who is the No Regretskies? Who are the No Regretskies? Okay Well

They're just a band that we made up To make a record about hockey For True North Records For True North Records Yeah they put out A couple records of mine And Bernie?

Bernie Finkelstein? No Or was he gone by then? He was gone unfortunately He's a legend. Now he's just doing Bruce Colburn stuff. Yeah, I love Bruce Colburn. I grew up on him. Big fan of Bruce.

I saw him at Massey Hall. 18 months ago. Those records have been a part of my life. I have every record of his on vinyl that was printed on vinyl. Anyway, neither here nor there I suppose. But I love that shit. Hearing your inspirations, I like hearing your inspirations i love hearing so we yeah we put out we put out a record got another juno nomination periography and it was

great as like more of a country-ish sounding record twangier and then uh i kept asking to get money from true north to make my next record i kept asking you know i have all these songs i want to i think this is going to be great let's put a record out let's do it and they were just like the last one, we didn't really sell many copies. And like, you know, always dealing with the same thing.

Critically was great. People loved it. And then just toured hard and just didn't get the turnouts that everyone wanted. Didn't get to that next level. And so they were very reluctant. And then I just was like, so tired of dealing with nose or maybes reluctance. I sent them just in the middle of the then i just was like so tired of dealing with no's or maybe's reluctance

i sent them just in the middle of the night i was like there's no records about hockey in canada i was like okay sent them an email two o'clock in the morning next morning we'll give you 7500 bucks to make it which is not a lot of money it's like you know a couple days in the studio and i know it doesn't sound like a lot of money great let's make it and i was like okay this record's gonna be out under the no regrets keys not dell barber the no regrets keys which is a great name great name right yeah i love it i love it too and i love the record it's like it's like dwayne gretzky right but this is no regrets it's like it's a scrappy record we we made in two days in the studio was like demoed as many songs as i could about

hockey wrote a couple um there's a bunch that we demoed that didn't make the cut because they just we didn't have time like you know dave badini's songs should have been on there um we demoed them and tracked them but they didn't they didn't sound good it didn't i love badini by the way yeah so do i and and i like i wanted that song to make it a A few other songs, Weaker Than's didn't make it. Which Weaker Than song? It might have been a John Kay song. I feel like that's a solo song. Yeah, it's a John Kay Samson solo record about the Hockey Hall of Fame.

You know who did the video for that? Reggie Leach. Reggie Leach. And it is Tim Thompson, who's an FOTM. He was known online as Boundless, but he used to do the montages before. See, in a perfect world, before this game five at the Scotiabank Arena tonight,

between the Leafs and the Tampa Bay Lightning, there would be a glorious montage by Tim Thompson. This guy's so good at it, and it would get my heart rate going, and I'd be so fucking pumped, but he's no longer with the Rogers, and therefore we will not see Tim Thompson's montage but he made a great video for that Reggie Leach song you're talking about. He came over, we kicked it out and it's

fucking great. John K. Sampson. Little known fact, I along with, I don't know, 30 or 40 friends delivered the petition to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Because that was what the video was, right? Yes, I was in that group. You were in that group. Yes. Now I have more respect for you.

I'm proud to stand behind John Kay Sampson as he delivered that. I'm such a fan of his writing. And I couldn't agree with that song more. And I was there. I took the opportunity and, of course, went with some good friends. My buddy JP Ho was there beside me.

It was really fun. Oh, my God. Okay, so that's amazing. Now to the regrets keys here and this this album by the way was called uh the puck drops here yeah and actually if you don't mind see i'm kind of trying to gauge like your feelings on this album because yeah it clearly caused some i don't know yes issues between you and true north like what was the problem well the problem was that i didn't want it to come on under my name and they ended up putting it under my name i don't know, some issues between you and True North. What was the problem? Well, the problem was that I didn't want it to come on under my name. And they ended up putting it under my name. I don't know if it was them and my manager at the time that wanted it to happen.

I wanted it to be the No Regretskis. Right. And I just wanted it to be this little, because it's kitschy, you know. Well, it's covers for people who don't know. It's like well-known hockey songs, like Stompin' Tom Connors, the hockey song, for example. And there's one I pulled that I think you did a fantastic job on and i'm not gonna play this one but you saw i tweeted at uh mo bird because he was on the show a couple weeks ago and he's been over here and i just said hey what do you think of uh dell barbers gretzky rocks and uh

yeah so actually maybe maybe now i'll play a bit of this song. Cool. Because it's really, I think it's really good. And then we'll find out more about the dirt. Yeah, sure. Behind what went down. Sounds good. All right, what will I play? Here we go. Here we go. He was a kid in the upper five

Take shots that way, make the thing drive Out at the school, back on the ice That was his life, he was gonna play in the big league oh big league now many ways out of the cold and all the town you walk in the mail

you get laid in the ground if you're gonna jump it'll be right back. My boy's gonna play the big league My boy's gonna turn some heads My boy's gonna play the big league My boy's gonna knock them dead Oh, big league Wow. Kind of rocks, right? I think it's great.

What a song. Well, it's a great song. I know. This is with Red Ryder, right? This is Tom Cochran. Oh, man. That, you know, if you've never seen that guy play, he will rip you apart. It is insane.

It is some of the best. He's a star for a reason, man. He's another of those great Manitoba musicians. Yeah. But not a Winnipeg guy, right? He's from Lynn Lake, I think? Yeah, I think it's Lynn Lake. It's up there.

Flint Fawn, Lynn Lake, somewhere up there. So good, right? I'm such a fan, dude. I don't know if I did any justice to this song at all, but there was no way it had to be on the record. Yeah, yeah, and it's kind of haunting when we think of what happened with the Humboldt bus crash and how he kind of modelled.

He took this song, I think it was acoustic on TSN, I think, but now, well, it was always a tragic song. Now it's like, wow. It's like, wow. And you did a great job, I'd say. But tell me about the fallout, though. It sounds like you lost your label over this. You lost your agent.

Like, give me the lowdown, man. I don't know. I don't know what happened. I think they were already done before it, you know, to be honest. Like I said, I sent that email in the middle of the night, and they were like, yeah, this sounds like a good idea. At least we could sell this. But nobody liked it.

Nobody wanted to play it. They didn't like this. This doesn't exist. I did like 30 interviews on AM radio with hockey dudes talking about who I used to skate with and where I play hockey now and what I like about hockey. And I love

that. But I couldn't tour it. Yeah. Right. There's like half of these... It's not lucrative because you don't own these songs. what I like about hockey and I love that but I couldn't tour it. Yeah. Like, right. There's like half of these and it's not lucrative because you don't own these songs.

These are not. I own a couple of them on the record but yeah, it's not like I didn't plan on touring and it was just a one-off idea that I was like,

I love hockey. 7,500 bucks, right? Yeah. And I mean, we use that up. I'll give you 7,500 bucks to make me an album of Toronto Mike songs.

Yeah, no problem. You got to write those though that's okay that's that's part of it covers are easier yeah no but you know what i loved making it it was like it was like the most fun studio experience because we just got in three days done recorded many songs we could had a good time just get friends together play music you know i don't know it It was just so, it was like, you know, the type of hockey where you're in the corners. It felt like we were in the corners. Our elbows were up. You know, I loved it.

Here, since we're talking hockey, and I'm going to play a jam that ties in from the No Regretskies, whatever, I'm calling them the No Regretskies. Okay. What are your thoughts, Del? I want to hear your thoughts on dawn cherry oh man you know you can always uh tap out on it i'm not tapping out jason told you but we don't edit a stitch of this show i don't tap out on questions that ain't me um i grew up with him and I have, I have very fond memories of hearing him talk about how to play the game. I was an obsessed hockey kid,

you know, and hockey was cheap back then. We didn't have a lot of money. I used equipment and, and I felt like he was just a Canadian voice. And, and, and,

you know, Ron McLean was there to keep him in the, between the lines, you know, he would go a little bit too far. Canadian voice. And, you know, Ron McLean was there to keep him in between the lines. You know, he would go a little bit too far. He would talk about, you know, European style of play, and he didn't like it. And that was the one thing where my dad would turn down the TV a little bit. My dad was, they were a pretty lefty, left-leaning family. He was the president of the union.

It was, like, back when the left wing was, like, working class. And, you know, my dad, before he died, started to call the left wing was was like uh working class and you know my dad before he died started to call the left wing a bunch of yuppies and uh and so that's kind of where we're from just like blue collar ndp land in the prairies you know right and so we had time for for grit and for direct talk and cherry did that uh but he slowly became more and more unhinged and i had a really hard time listening to him by the end of it so to say i was a fan to the end is incorrect but to also you know not note that he was pretty influential for me as a young hockey player uh i have to i have to say

both you know just to be honest with people so because one of the thoughts I had, so the last time the Leafs had a run, if we can call it a run, because we made it to the second round. Is that a run? That's a run. I don't think that's a run. I don't know. But that was 2004, of course, which means after the first intermission, you'd watch the game, the Leafs would beat the Senators, as usual,

and you'd hear, what does Don have to say? And I'm like you. I've only got a few years on you, but I grew up with Don Cherry, Ron McLean, Coach's Corner. That's the first intermission. The funny thing is, I can sit here and crap on old man Cherry or whatever, but I don't actually watch the first intermission anymore.

When the first period ends, I don't tune in again until the second period starts. But I watched Don Cherry and Ron McLean. Me too. He's entertaining as hell. He was entertaining as hell. I did always have an issue

and a lot of the stuff I was kind of ignorant to, but I always had an issue with the fact that he would, for Patrick Waugh, for example, right? Patrick Roy. Of course.

Like the refusal, like even, even young Mike was like, like why can't he say Waugh? Like why does he insist on doing that? And then, you know, you wonder what kind of, that's what I mean when he influenced me as a kid,

not necessarily positively all the time. Right. You got to wonder how he got away with it for so long. But in terms of being like gregarious and entertaining. Entertaining. And direct and sincere. You know, we want sincerity from people, but then when they show us their hand, we're like, no, we don't want you to be sincere.

We want you to lie. There's a weird thing that happens in society with that too. There's no excuses for behavior like that. He's like a rich old white dude, so I don't know. Well, here's a jam. A No Regretsky song. When I was listening to this the other day, I was thinking,

when the Leafs are up 2-1 in this clinching game tonight, I don't listen to Don Cherry's podcast. I realize he's alive and well and he's podcasting, but it's not in my universe. I don't hear what he has to say. But it's interesting that, oh, we won't hear Coach's Corner. Here is the No Regretskies.

This is only 30 seconds. Yeah, I love this one. one beef i'm gonna share with you now Del, is that he did the false open, which bugged me, always bugged me. So it'd be like, coming up Coach's Corner, and you'd get, I don't know what you'd get, but you'd get, is it an intro? I think an intro. And then you're ready for Coach's Corner,

but then there'd be like a commercial, whatever the main sponsor was. It was never Great Lakes Beer, but let's say it was Budweiser, whatever the hell it was. Whatever it was. And then never Great Lakes Beer, but let's say it was Budweiser, whatever the hell it was. Tim Hortons or something. Whatever it was. And then they do another intro. So they do the intro,

then they throw you the ad break, and then they throw you the intro. Like, come on. Okay. Yeah, it wasn't quite slick enough. Seems like they could have done better. Flame? I never knew the name of that song. Is this the name of it?

Flame of Victory? I guess. Because that's the name on the uh the no regrets keys album we would have we would have had to get it licensed to do it so i'm sure that uh true north was pissed about jumping through all those hoops too uh and so they would have we would have vetted all the titles of these songs who did the hockey night theme was it the shuffle demons i feel like there was a cover of the hockey night oh i'm sure somebody okay yeah that would okay that's for the sequel okay so what happened so true north records drops you yeah they dropped me like i was burning their hand you know what do you do next now you got you lost true north is dropped in your agent drops you too that's so get this you know kind of an agent my manager at the time dropped me yeah so i'm i just buy the farm i buy a so i'm i just buy the

farm we buy a farm i want to live i want to die shout out to ridley funeral home i want i want to be i want to i want to be neil young so i i buy a farm i get married i fall in love with this with this farm girl okay western manitoba we buy this farm every life is good i got a record deal with true north records you know i'm a Bruce Coburn fan this is like my dream this is where I belong yeah and

and I feel like my career is growing and I they won't answer my emails I got this mortgage payment on this land and this house fuck man

they won't answer my emails my manager says the worst thing you could have done is bought a farm you should have stayed in the city you know he stops answering my emails. So I send an email about the hockey record.

They're like, yeah, hockey record, great. Make the hockey record. Crickets after that. Wow. Crickets. And then finally, it's like a day before my wedding, we bought this farm, I don't know, a year before that. We get married.

I finally get a hold of the guy at True North, and he's like, no, I don't want, year before that, we get married. I finally get a hold of the guy at True North, and he's like, no, I don't want to put up the next record. And my manager the next day is like, no, I think we're done. Wow. Okay, so I'm basically all alone, and couldn't have been a better thing. Wow. But at the time, it felt like my world was ending, you know,

and I felt like I had gotten into something I couldn't get out of. And, uh, I had a pile of debt from, from the decisions that they made, um, racked up lines of credit, just spending money on stupid things that I never saw benefit from. And it's just like, I got, I just got suckered hard in my opinion. Yeah. And of course they probably have their own side of the story I know how these things go and I probably fucked up too I don't exactly know where or how but yeah on wiki by the way

it says that you refuse to promote this album that's on your wiki page I wonder who put that in there I have never refused to promote anything. I was on media call. I've refused to tour it. I was like, I can't afford to go.

I mean, I played like Hockey Day in Canada a couple of times for Rogers or whatever. Yeah, Tara Sloan's and Ron McLean show. Yeah. Oh, no, that's Hometown Hockey. That's the one, Hometown Hockey. And then I don't remember who owns the themed Hockey Night in Canada. It was, okay, they actually lost it to tsn it was delores clayman okay so we tried to open the show with that song at these events and oh yeah they don't have the rights stopped us yeah

you can't do that no no no you can't play i'm like yes you can it doesn't matter who owns it you can play it just pay the mechanical there's watching. It's just a live show. You can play whatever song you want. This is total bullshit. I was like, okay. I actually understand. They would stop you. Come on. Stop the truck.

Even Jason would stop you. There's 500 people here. That's the only people that are going to hear it. It's going to cost you $30. So this wasn't going to air? No, it wouldn't. The songs wouldn't have aired. They would have showed a clip of us playing.

They wouldn't have heard this anyway. Because it's embarrassing that they were outbid for this. They had to get a new theme song because they were outbid by Tio. And the new theme song sucks. See, this is why you're on. Because Rosie Gray Tio will listen to this episode and will update Wiki with the two hard facts here. Well, yeah, the Wiki thing, I don't even get to weigh in.

I tried to edit my own wikipedia i got a bunch of shit that's wrong on there and it's like well you're not the author of this page i'm like well i'm the guy that did the stuff so maybe you could let me have a but you know it's weird how it works because you can't do that but if you say the truth on this show somebody can cite this episode and change it so it's almost like you have to come on toronto mike talk about what's wrong on the wiki and then rosie gray to can come in and fix it with links to's almost like you have to come on Toronto Mike, talk about what's wrong on the wiki, and then Rosie Gray Tio can come in and fix it with links to you setting the record.

What's really cool is that I refuse to promote it. I love that. I love whoever wrote that. I can quote it actually. So Wikipedia, as we speak, it might change in a moment. It says, Barber's refusal to promote the album

led to tensions between himself and the label. He was subsequently dropped by True North and his agent as a result. I was not dropped by my agent. I was dropped by my manager. I absolutely did everything I could to promote it. How the hell are you supposed to promote a hockey record?

I still don't understand quite why you wanted it to be the No Regretskies why not be Del Barber it ended up coming out under Del Barber but I have this folk and country career I know but now

I didn't really care enough at the time I should have fought tooth and nail for No Regretskies because then it would have been more fun because you know how much shit I got about that record from my fans. They hated it. Well, people that don't like hockey are like,

what the hell is this, man? What is this? I forgot. You said you didn't give a fuck about hockey. That's right. I never saw someone say that before. Yes.

Well, we've tracked that song too and it didn't make it either. Oh. Not even, what about 50 Mission Cap? I love, man, every song I could think of

I demoed for that record. Okay. And there's a great Warren Zevon song called Hit Somebody. Hit Somebody. We demoed that too. Do you know who says... Maybe Jason knows. Maybe you know, Del.

But in that song, Hit Somebody. Who is saying, Hit Somebody in that Warren Zevon song? I do not know. Let me know. You ready for this? Yeah.

David fucking Letterman. That's cool. David Letterman is saying, Hit Somebody. That's some. I do not know. Let me know. You ready for this? Yeah. David fucking Letterman. That's cool. David Letterman is saying, hit somebody. That's cool. That is fucking cool. I hear that. Now, it's been worthwhile

just for that fun fact. Okay. I actually, I just looked at the clock. I need to get you, Del Barber, my new favorite FOTM. I need to get you to Almanac.

Yeah. But can you touch on the Kickstarter campaign for Easy Keeper? Well, that's right. So I was alone in the wilderness, no record label, no management. And I was like, maybe this is a stupid idea. Like I had mentioned earlier that I never intended to be a songwriter.

Well, you bought a farm, you know. I know. What was the point of that? You got to make money on the farm. Yeah, but like, I mean, it's a farm. It's an it's an old farm yard it's not but you got animals on there yeah we got animals on there but but it's not like we're not making we're not i'm not farming full time i farm with my in-laws a little bit when i'm home but they have like 2 000 acres or something but they're not pets right like people you're gonna no these animals will be devoured by some

carnivore yeah Yeah, they will. Okay. They will. Sorry to interrupt. Back to the Kickstarter. No, no. Freezer camp, we call it. Yeah. So, yeah.

And you're measuring balls of bulls. Yeah. So there's something going on. There's some transaction. Unless that's for sport. Maybe a little bit of both, you know. I don't ask questions. There's not a lot of diverse culture on the prairies

until you start measuring testicles, and then you realize we're in for a treat tonight. They don't enjoy getting their testicles measured either. I don't know why this always comes to testicle measuring. You were like, here, I'm going to tell your story for you, but you're like, let's make $7,500 so we can make an album, and then your fans are like, fuck that. How's $23,000?

Yeah. Yeah. I did it in one sentence. Yeah. They just decided that... I was like, maybe there are enough people out here that like what I do, that want to fund a record. And they were like, yeah, let's go.

Well, someone's going to be at the Dakota Tavern tomorrow. You think Toronto hates country, and Toronto doesn't want anything to do with Del Barber, but is it just you? I don't know about that, man. Is it just Jason and you at this venue tomorrow? Oh, Jason won't come. It's too far from home.

Oh, yeah. No, Jason came to my show in Hamilton. He was way more keen. I hope Dave Hodge is there. I'm just going to let me know. By the way, Dave Hodge, of course, was the original guy with Don Cherry on Coach's Corner before Ron McLean took his spot. Well, he left because he flipped a pen.

There is actually a Toronto Mic'd episode. It's a micumentary with different people who were there, including Dave Hodge, who break down in great detail the infamous Dave Hodge pen flip. That's the kind of shit that happens here. Okay, so you made this album on a Kickstarter, the Easy Keeper. Yes, Easy Keeper. Easy Keeper. Which is a great term in the prairies

if you do have animals, animals that take no effort or spirit to keep alive. They eat less, they, they eat less. They're easy to be around. And that's the kind of person I've been trying to learn how to be. You know, it's just somebody that's easy to have around that doesn't drink all your beer, you know,

apologies. And then, you know what I mean? You're my guests. Yeah. But, you know, we appreciate the beer.

It's so nice to come and hang out with you and drink beer. That's good. Yeah. Did, what, what was your Juno award for a contemporary roots album of the year in 2020? Which album was that for? That would have been for easy keeper. Easy keeper. Yeah. What was your Juno Award for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year in 2020? Which album was that for? That would have been for Easy Keeper.

Easy Keeper. Yeah. Okay. Gotcha. So I go to my fans. I didn't really know I had any. Sent out emails. Did the social media thing.

Asked for money. They were like, yep, no problem. Gave me money to make a record. Here's $23,000. Made a record with 23 grand promoted it toured it as much as i could before the pandemic and the industry also said yeah you are good we like you here's another juno nod and i was shocked at that i thought after i lost the label um a different littler label came on board in Toronto, of all places.

Well, name check it. Yeah. Unless you don't want to. Of course I do. I'm still working with them, and they've been the greatest label to work with I've worked with yet. I think Six Shooter would have been great, too, if I didn't have a big, bad manager on my team. Because I think if I would have been actually connected to those people at Six Shooter, those amazingly strong, fierce women, I would have probably figured out a way to be their friend forever. But yeah, Acronym Records in Toronto, they're distributed by Universal.

It's a great, great relationship. One guy runs the place, Tony Tarleton. And yeah, he hand-delivered all my vinyl to the studio I'm staying at in Toronto this morning. So it's pretty cool. He's just a hell of a guy and that's the kind of guy I want to work with. Definitely an easy keeper. So amazing. Now I got,

I what's between easy keeper and almanac, which we're going to talk about right now. Is it a stray dog, stray dogs, collected B sides, volume one. Yeah. I mean,

everybody, everybody who makes music knows that, that we like i'm writing all the time um i've got tons of ideas on the go voice notes journals demos and so the pandemic happened and i had all this time was like four sabbatical it was the greatest time of my life i didn't enjoy anything more and i live in a place where like a pandemic is perfect we got like big garden we have we had everything everybody wants i should have come in and lived with you for a couple years we got a bunch of nice road vintage road bicycles

you could have jumped on i love biking i got a bunch of maranonis and do you bike yeah i do i have my favorite bike right now is this is this this surly 29er i got i don't even know what that means well surly is just a brand of steel frame. Okay. Okay. I just, okay. So I had a hybrid, but I, my go-to bike ride is on a single speed. It's called a Fuji Feather.

Yeah. One speed. I love it. But I had a hybrid bike that I literally in February, 2020. So this is over three years ago. I needed a part and I couldn't get it. Yeah. And I actually got it i

picked it up today three years yeah to source out the parts to fix this hybrid i know but when i think back like oh i waited over three years for a part to fix my fucking bicycle that's why i bought the fuji feather because i needed to tie my i didn't know when that part would come in anyway yeah it's the crankshaft. That's not the bike, actually. That's the Fuji Feather, but my bike's in the shed. But yeah, there was some once-in-a-generation shortage of bike parts. So fuck that.

It was the Suez Canal. There was a boat stuck in the canal. Yeah, that's right. I always think whenever I think of those bins or whatever, I think of season two of The Wire it's a great season the only season that sucked on that show was season five five is the worst of the seasons

but I don't know if I'd say sucked the serial killer storyline was the least plausible I would like to just do a podcast about The Wire. I would do that podcast. I own the box set.

I've watched it more than any other show. I'm that guy that says, you haven't watched The Wire? What's wrong with you? Me too. That's me. I used to be more annoying

about it, but I'm trying not to be that guy as often. No, I'm with you. Otherwise, you seem like some religious guy. He's like, have you accepted the Lord

and Jesus as your savior? Evangelism, yeah. But that is my favorite show of all time. Yeah, me too. Okay, look, I like this guy. He was like, have you accepted the Lord and Jesus as your savior? Evangelism, yeah. But that is my favorite show of all time. Yeah, me too. Okay, look, I like this guy. Okay, I gotta come to Manitoba.

I've never been to Manitoba. Well, you should come. But yeah, we don't want anyone to move there. We like it how it is. That's okay. No risk of that.

That's good. Well, then you're definitely welcome. I just want to come visit. There's three provinces I've yet to be inside of. I've never been in Manitoba. I've never been in Saskatchewan

and I've never been in Newfoundland. Well. Fun facts for you. Okay. Almanac. Okay. Give me, because this will be

a six hour episode. Give me the, like how did Almanac come to be? Here, let me, you know what? Let me do this here. Let me do this here let me do this let me do this in the washed out light of spring come late Everything that was tied down is teetering

The doors are locked The lights are off But the phone still rings I'm counting sticky cup holder quarters for coffee Forgot my wallet in a rush for no good reason If I could just call you now So you could make fun of me me No one wants to hear I told you

so Shut your dirty mouth I told you so Some memories won't come clear I told you so I told you so. I told you so.

I told you so. I hear her again there. Wow. There she is. Wow. And you know what? Great fucking song. Thanks, man.

Yeah, I'm proud of that one. And this is fresh meat, man. Fresh meat. Yeah, roast beef, buddy. Yeah, I'm proud of that one. And this is fresh meat, man. Fresh meat. Yeah, roast beef, buddy. Wow. Okay, so give me the elevator version of like, I don't know, tell me about how Almanac came to be, and maybe you'll play something from Almanac.

You remember I was talking to you about The Waitress? Of course. How that changed how I wrote songs. Yeah, headwaters. Well, this song I was trying to empathize with my neighbor. She lives a few miles north of my yard. Her name's Debbie.

And her husband died in a tragic tractor wreck. It was crazy. Oh no. It shouldn't have happened. And she had this all this land all these horses all this work and they were they did it all together you know and then just like that boom he was gone and i was trying to empathize on some level and write that song you know and and not make it too sad but and and also just like just little pictures of somebody going through grief.

And then right at the same time, my dad got diagnosed with cancer. And so I finished this song, and he was clearly going out. And he had just an excellent sense of humor. We wrote songs together. We were tight. I had a great dad. I was angry for a while. I'm sorry, man. No, no, no.

I don't want to make a mopey. But my dad would say things like, well, i'm not going to be buying any more green bananas you know just a great sense of humor and uh and i get to sing the song every night and uh he got to hear it before he left and uh it's pretty cool uh that's pretty cool experience writing songs and then having them become real for you you, trying to empathize with somebody and then feeling those things every night. It's cool. Okay. Let's let the song take us home here.

And then it sounds great. So So Almanac comes out tomorrow? Tomorrow. Wow. Yes. Okay. That's why I'm here with you, man. This is the launch party. That's right.

Party of three, and we got some tasty beer and lasagna. Let's go. Can I just say one thing about Great Lakes Brewing? I know you probably pitched them more than you needed to, but this is like the greatest pale ale I've drank in a long time. It's just the perfect amount of hops. I don't like it when they get too sticky. Right. This is

really crispy, refreshing, just bitter enough. I'm a big fan. So good job over there at Great Lakes Brewing. And I'll shout out the IPA burst that I'm enjoying, which is delicious. And I know Jason cracked open a burst. And unfortunately for you Manitobans, I almost gave you the Manitobans.

That's all right. That's like what people from the States call us. You can only get Great Lakes beer in Ontario. So I would consider moving to Ontario just for the Great Lakes beer. I might just put a case in the Thule roof rack in the van, bring some home. I love Jason Schneider. I told him this to his face many times. He's been over it several times.

So Jason's the man. But I also, because they are also good friends of mine, I want to shout out The Moment Lab. So if you want to give your business a boost, don't wait any longer. Let me introduce you to Matt and Jared at The Moment Lab today and learn how they can help you achieve your public relations

goals. Shout out to The Moment Lab. Shout out to Jason Jason. Jason. Jason Schneider. Jason Schneider. How many beers have you had, Mike? Jason Schneider for bringing many beers have you had in my life? Jason Schneider for bringing the great Dale Barber into my life. Dale, it's up to you. Your call.

I would love it, but I don't want to put any extra pressure on you. Do you want to play something live? Oh, I certainly can. Okay. So don't hit your head. It's not hard. Okay. This is your job.

Don't hit your head. Yeah, it's not hard. It's like asking him to measure somebody's balls. Like that's his fucking job. This job is easy compared to the rest of them. Playing music is no big deal. I don't really know what I'm going to play and how it's going to sound. Well, you can't play I Told You So. But I will say one thing about I Told You So.

So when I listened to it for the first time, I caught myself singing along to it. And it's very, very rare that I find myself singing along to a song I'm listening to for the first time. That myself singing along to it and it's very very rare that I find myself singing along to a song I'm listening to for the first time. That's a trick. Yeah. So we can do okay so I have a couple. Let me do this. Give me one more mic. That would be awesome.

Okay here. And I'm not in yet. No that's good. This is awesome. This is perfect. So now you got one for your vocals, one for your guitar. Let me hear something. Yeah let me get that at 12. That's perfect. That compressor's hitting it kind of hard. Should be good.

Cool. Let's try something. You ready for it? I'm so fucking ready. Let's go. This is what I feel like playing, so this is what i'm playing caught the news tonight lately it's always the same a couple idiots running for president. They're passing out the blame. Dear apathy, you've never looked good on me. Tonight I'm wishing for a nice way to ask you to leave.

I went out driving with my good buddy Shane down in Tennessee I passed the Baptist church with the gates locked tight all week except for Sunday Dear Irony you've been such a good friend to me. Tonight I'm

wishing for a nice way to ask you to leave A dream that I saw Got on a Tuesday In the grocery store Buying tomatoes Wearing their favorite Pair of jeans

Watched them reach Into their pocket Pull out a faded note with their favorite poem This is just to say I crack another beer Watch that big moon rise Hear the coyotes yip the cattle ball and my baby girl cry good night nostalgia would you get out of my way lately i've been leaning on you through the darkness and into the day.

A dream that I saw God on a Tuesday. In the grocery store buying tomatoes, wearing their favorite pair of jeans. Watch them reach into their pocket Pull out a faded note with their favorite poem This is just to say I know that God doesn't need reminding But even God almighty loves a good memory yes

even God almighty loves a good memory I'm speechless that was fucking great. Honestly, you're so damn talented. Thank you. Holy smokes. Okay.

So are you. It's a good time. You haven't heard me sing yet. Come on. When is your record coming out? Jason, can you help me promote this new album? Yeah, he can. I'm working on Yes Guy.

No. Del Barber. Chris Cooksey is like, what's a Del Barber? I'm like, you listen to. I'm like, oh, yeah. Thanks, guy. No. Del Barber. Chris Cooksey is like, what's a Del Barber? I'm like, you listen to. I'm like, oh, yeah. Thanks, Jason. He's like, I'm like, you listen to episode 1244. You're going to hear everything going on.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. So what's next? You're going to play the Dakota Tavern. And then what happens next in the world of Del Barber? I mean, we're in the middle of a 30 show coast to coast tour and we were talking to Jason this morning and he's like no one does that anymore I was like well. Because it's pricey right?

I don't know people it's just it's ambitious and people are worried about getting sick and cancelling and sure I get it but like for me I make a record I want to hit the road I want to play shows it's just what I've always done and so yeah I'm on the road I'm in the middle of it want to play shows. It's just what I've always done. And so, yeah, I'm on the road. I'm in the middle of it, heading to the East Coast.

We were in Vancouver like a week ago. Shows every night, pretty much. We did nine in a row last week. Wow. Yeah. Do you want to shout out your, is it dellbarber.com? Yeah, definitely, dellbarber.com. We just put a bunch of new hats and t-shirts on there and tote bags,

all kinds of stuff. And people should support you by buying all their clothes from the dellbarber.com clothes store. Buy the record and I'll send it to you and I'll write you a note and I'll throw in some extra stuff. Yeah, it would be cool. You know, John K. Sampson was in Propaganda.

Yeah, I'm a big fan, man. Yeah, you should be. And Ron Hawkins, every time he plays live in this basement from Melissa Lowe, Ron Hawkins has that Propagandhi sticker on his guitar. And I close every episode of a song from Melissa Lowe's Shakespeare. That's awesome. And I'm thinking at some point I'll end up closing every episode of a song from Dale Barber because you're fucking great, man.

Well, I'm going to send a few people your way to listen to this episode and they're going to start listening to you more. Should I have recorded this? No, you didn't have to. It's fine. I got two free beers out of it.

It's great. I just wanted a private performance in my basement from Dale Barber. I didn't even think to record this, but you were great. Good luck tomorrow night at the Dakota Tavern. People should go to dalebarber.com.

Go Jets and Leafs. Go Leafs. Go Leafs, go. No one's ever heard me say that. Is that right? That's the first time. You're just trying to make me feel good because we had a nice chat. I wouldn't mind if they clinched tonight.

I think it's happening tonight. I mean, look at Jason for a moment. Jason, are the Leafs going to clinch tonight? They better. Or what? They will. I mean, look at Jason for a moment. Jason, are the Leafs going to clinch tonight? Oh, you're going to, they better. Or what? They will.

Or what, Jason? You're going to rough up Brendan Shanahan. You're talking to a Habs fan, Mike. Oh, get out of my fucking basement, Jason Habs fan.

Get out of here. Go Jets. And that brings us to the end of our 1,244th show. You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at Toronto Mike. Is it at Del Barber? Yeah. You got that.

Yeah, man. There's no other Del Barbers out there. Good for you, man. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Moneris is at Moneris. Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore Canada. The Moment Lab are at

The Moment Lab. And Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH. Tomorrow joining me live in the TMDS basement studio here is a gentleman named Sean Menard and he directed the new

Much Music documentary. And I've got like a 100 questions for this guy. So he's going to sit down. He's going to be on the hot seat here. Like where the hell was Terry David Mulligan? Where's Master T? I'm going to get all my answers tomorrow. So Sean Menard on Toronto Mic tomorrow.

See you all then. My smile is fine and it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and gray Well, I've been told That there's a sucker born every day But I wonder who Yeah, I wonder who

Maybe the one who doesn't realize There's a thousand shades of grey Cause I know that's true Yes I do I know it's true Yeah I know it's true How about you?

Are they picking up trash And they're putting down ropes And they're brokering stocks The class struggle explodes Thank you. I guess I damn because everything is coming up rosy and gray. Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow warms me today. And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine. And it won't go away because everything is rosy and gray. Well, I've kissed you in France And I've kissed you in Spain And I've kissed you in places

I better not name And I've seen the sun go down On Sacré-Cœur But I like it much better going down on you Yeah, you know that's true Because everything is coming up

rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold but the smell of snow warms us today And your smile is fine and it's just like mine and it won't go away. Cause everything is rosy now. Everything is rosy and everything is rosy and gray. guitar solo