Jill Barber: Forever Young

If you call Halifax adoptee Jill Barber's most recent For All Time album a little "shakey," she'll likely consider it far from an insult.

"I saw his [Neil 'Shakey' Young] film Heart Of Gold the night before I went in to record," says Barber, who just arrived home from a chaotic week in Toronto. "My dad took me as sort of an inspiration.

"I've been reading his biography lately, and covering his songs. You could say I've got a thing for Neil."

The brown-eyed brunette took the FACTOR and female recording of the year titles at this year's East Coast Music Awards. Since then, she's been touring extensively throughout Canada and Europe and co-hosted with Jian Ghomeshi on his latest CBC program, Q.

Barber self-released her waltz-worthy A Note To Follow So, a simplistic acoustic album, while in university studying philosophy. After a brief time tree-planting out west, she wound up in Halifax. While settling into the port city, she crafted Oh Heart, a promising EP showcasing her aspirations to build a catalogue of old world romance songs.

"I've played so many shows in the past 10 years, I feel more at home on stage," says Barber. "It once was very terrifying, and occasionally I'll get some nerves back, but for the most part, I've learned to temper them."

For All Time is a timeless anthology of bittersweet love tunes and saucy, toe-tapping seductions with a storybook-like conclusion. Though it features appearances by Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy, brother Mathew Barber, Luke Doucet, Les Cooper, In-Flight Safety's John Mullane, Rose Cousins and Meaghan Smith, Barber is in a league of her own. Now it's time for her to start thinking about the next album.

"I've been doing some recording lately for an upcoming Christmas project with Meaghan and Rose," says Barber. "I just want to keep writing songs I am happy with."

Catch Barber on these stages:

June 27 Sydney, NS @ Membertou Trade And Convention Centre
June 28-29 Margaretsville, NS @ Evergreen Theatre
June 30 Canso, NS @ The Stan Rogers Folk Festival
July 6 Winnipeg, MB @ Winnipeg Folk Festival
July 7 Orillia, ON @ Mariposa Folk Festival
July 11 Halifax, NS @ CBC East Coast Sessions
July 12-13 Mount Steward, PEI @ The Trailside
July 20 Dawson City, YK @ Dawson City Music Festival
July 28 Lockeport, NS @ Harmony Bazaar
July 29 St. Margaret's Bay, NS @ Old Red Schoolhouse
July 30 Victoria By The Sea, PEI @ Victoria Playhouse
Aug. 1 Quispamsis, NB @ Summer Series