Before the pandemic hit, it seemed had found that elusive balance between home and work life.
When she was on the road touring, she had the chance to immerse herself in the musical passion she’d honed since she was 14. And when she was home, she was wholly invested in her family life as a mom of two young kids.
Then venues shut down, touring ceased, and the well-established Vancouver singer-songwriter found her life out of whack.
“During the worst of the pandemic, when we were all home and I was with my kids 24/7 without any resources, I wasn’t writing at all,” Barber says. “I was in survival mode and I was definitely experiencing something that felt like an identity and career crisis. I didn’t see an end in sight or a return to the stage at that point. I just couldn’t see it. The day my kids went back to school and daycare in September 2020, it was the first time my children had been out of my care in many, many months. I sat on my couch and just cried my eyes out for a little while. Then, I dried my tears and picked up my guitar, almost for the first time in those months.”
That day, she wrote the title track to her most recent album, Homemaker.
The quiet, plaintive single chronicles the frustrations and challenges of life as a stay-at-home mom—capped with the gentle encouragement, “Homemaker, it’s OK, if today the only thing you make is you make it through the day.”
“That day was the day I suddenly saw this song point an arrow to the fact that I had to write about this experience,” she says. “And maybe I felt a calling to use my songs to speak out to other homemakers in similar positions to me who were struggling … It just really clarified the fact that I needed to reconcile this domestic version of myself with this professional version of myself and write about the domestic side of my life and translate it through my art.”
The resulting record veers from Barber’s typical jazz and pop stylings further into country and singer-songwriter territory. But, content wise, she once again finds balance, this time between laying bare the hardships of parenting, and celebrating its beauty.
It was a new topic for her, but she didn’t feel nervous about putting it out into the world.
“There’s no other option for me,” she says. “I can’t both protect myself and be vulnerable. I need to just go for it—and I’m OK [with the fact that] some people will get it, some won’t. I’m at peace with that. It would be way worse to put out a half-truth and have people call me out on that.”
Even before the album came out in February, Barber was on the road—albeit with a slightly smaller crew than on past tours.
In Whistler, she’s set to play a solo show as part of The Point Artist-Run Centre’s annual fundraiser on May 6.
“Something interesting happens when I play on my own,” she says. “I don’t have the bandmates to be making music with. I inherently look to the audience to be my partners in the show. What I lose in my musical dynamic with other players, I gain in a sense of intimacy with the audience.”
To that end, she has several dates in smaller communities for the Homemaker tour.
“These songs want to be shared in an intimate space,” she says. “My ideal show is a show where I can see people’s faces. I love playing theatres, but there’s something quiet and intimate about these songs that lend themselves to a smaller room.”
Tickets to the Whistler show at The Point are now sold out. Head to The Point's for more information.
