The Barr Brothers - Live @ La Tulipe 04.22.2010 (live download)

photo Scott McGuigan

Back in 2010 The Barr Brothers weren't yet cresting the wave of popularity spurred by their near-perfect sophomore release and relentless touring in support of it.

In venues ranging from concert halls to synagogues and all manner of intimate quasi-improvised settings The Barr Brothers have been bringing this collection of songs right back and forth between those United States and across the pond and back.  The third leg of their exhausting tour wraps up with a string of dates in rural Quebec.

Here's a free live recording of a beautiful performance at La Tulipe in Montreal from March 22, 2010

The Barr Brothers - Love Ain't Enough (KEXP live at Pickathon)

Listen to The Barr Brothers perform Love Ain't Enough in a literal field recording with beautiful audio at Pickathon in Happy Valley, Oregon.

The Barr Brothers (The Slip) - Love Ain't Enough stream

The Barr Brothers - Massey Hall during NXNE (06.20.14)

During The Barr Brothers devastating performance at Massey Hall during NXNE I turned to a dear friend who has seen this and many bands more times than I have or can fathom and during Love Ain't Enough said: "This is a Slip tune".  He sort of looked at me with his molly'd out googly eyes I've come to know and love as if to say I was the one off his rocker not him.  But I was right and he was wrong.

Love Ain't Enough it turns out did begin as a Slip tune and demo versions were produced around 2010-2011 when the Barr's third side project Surprise Me Mr. Davis was touring southern Ontario.  The demo at the time contained another nameless tune which had appeared in Slip setlists in 2010 as Powerful Joint.  It was during this period that a very select few fans also heard a recording of just half of a fully worked up version of Summer of My Fall (being held back for a full vinyl release) - the staple of the SMMD repertoire as it closely resembles it's live renditions from that period with a strong 50's backbeat style that brought this phenomenal Nathan Moore song to life.   Likewise England which appears on the forthcoming Sleeping Operator (on Secret City records) which aired at Massey Hall began as a Slip song.

Of the some 40 songs that The Barr Brothers worked up for Sleeping Operator then whittled down to 11 it will be interesting to see when these other projects (Surprise Me Mr. Davis and The Slip) inevitably tour and record together again which material will fall to which ensemble.  In all it gives a lot of hope to dedicated fans of The Slip's post-bop driving jazz foundations that a high tide will carry many boats. 

The Barr Brothers - Half Crazy (download)

Charlie Barr circa 1905

 'A little known fact, in 1905, Brad and Andrew Barr's great-great uncle Charlie Barr, an accomplished skipper, set the record for the fastest crossing by a sailing yacht of the Atlantic Ocean. His monohull record stood for nearly 100 years until beaten in 1997. '

What does this have to do with the musical world of The Barr Brothers et al.? Not much, except that Brad, Andrew, Andres and Sara just crossed the Atlantic and also have a new record to tell you about.

Today they released Half Crazy, the second track offered from they're upcoming album, Sleeping Operator.  Half Crazy and Even The Darkness Has Arms both had strong debuts at Massey Hall during NXNE making an indelible entry into the expanding oeuvre of the Barr brothers various projects (The Slip, Surprise Me Mr. Davis, The Barr Brothers), are available when you download the entire record at iTunes, or can be downloaded on their own.

The Barr Brothers have an enthralling range of co-bills including 2014's wunderkind The War On Drugs as well as their Montreal compatriots the Patrick Watson band.   Many will be excited about their playing with Neutral Milk Hotel but Canadians know that Bahamas (aka Afie Jurvanen) is one of the finest soft-seat/beer hall guitarists in the country.  Hopefully both artists open their sets up with a bit of collaboration both ways.   Check below or on the BB website for the complete show lineup and tickets.

Hope to see you out there!

Andrew, Brad, Sarah & Andrés

The Barr Brothers Tour Dates 2014

07/22/14 Würzburg, DE - Uni Würzburg  Free

07/23/14 Mannheim, DE - Marktplatz Mannheim  Free

08/01/14 Happy Valley, OR - Pickathon Tickets ^

08/03/14 Happy Valley, OR - Pickathon Tickets ^

08/23/14 Burlington, VT - WYSIWYG Farm, Food, Music & Art Festival Tickets *

08/29/14 Salisbury, UK  - End of the Road Festival Tickets

08/30/14 Salisbury, UK  - End of the Road Festival Tickets

09/05/14 Berlin, DE - First We Take Berlin Tickets

09/12/14 Laval, QC - MRCY Festival # 

09/27/14 Santa Monica, CA - Newport Folk Presents Way Over Yonder ±  Tickets

10/09/14 Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre Tickets ^ 

10/10/14 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre Tickets ^

10/11/14 Lawrence, KS - The Granada Theatre Tickets ^

10/14/14 London, UK - The Lexington Tickets

10/15/14 Cologne, DE - Studio 672 Tickets                    

10/16/14 Hamburg, DE - Prinzenbar Tickets                     

10/17/14 Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso Tickets                             

10/19/14 Zurich, SZ - Bogen F                           

10/20/14 Brussels, BE - Witlofbar                          

10/23/14 Manchester, UK - The Castle Hotel          

10/24/14 Dublin, IE - Whelan's Tickets           

10/25/14 Bangor, UK - Beach House Tickets               

10/26/14 Sligo, IE - Sligo Live Ireland Tickets           

10/28/14 Edinburgh, UK - Voodoo Rooms             

10/29/14 Birmingham, UK - Hare & Hounds Tickets 

       

11/05/14 Toronto, ON - Danforth Music Hall % Tickets

11/06/14 Montreal, QC - Metropolis % Tickets

11/07/14 Sherbrooke, QC - Theatre Granada % Tickets 

11/08/14 Quebec, QC - Imperial de Quebec % Tickets

11/14/14 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle Tickets 

11/15/14 Minneapolis, MN - Cedar Cultural Center Tickets 

11/18/14 Washington, DC - Sixth & I  Tickets 

11/19/14 Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle Tickets

11/21/14 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom Tickets 

11/22/14 Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair Tickets

^ - w/The War On Drugs

* - w/Patrick Watson & Kishi Bashi

# - w/Neutral Milk Hotel

± - w/Jackson Browne

% - w/Bahamas

New dates are in BOLD

Even The Darkness Has Arms - Barr Bros. (stream/ download)

From the Barr Brothers second album, Sleeping Operator, out on Secret City Records (expected Oct. 7, 2014) comes the chilling Even The Darkness Has Arms (available free with Itunes pre-order)

musiciens reunis

Brad: lead vocals, guitars, piano
Andrew: percussion, ukulele, synthesizer
Sarah: guitar, vocals
Andrés: pump organ
Miles Perkin: contrabass
Richard Reed Parry: contrabass
Laurel Sprengelmeyer: vocals