At first listen, Halifax, Nova Scotia-based singer/songwriter
Jill Barber sounds like merely the latest in a lineage that stretches back at least as far as her fellow Canadian
Joni Mitchell. Her debut album
For All Time is a familiar blend of folk, country, soft rock, and occasional torchy jazz influences, along with one oddball ringer, the
Melanie-style Tin Pan Alley throwback (complete with tootling clarinet!) "When I'm Makin' Love to You." That playful tune is an early indication that
Barber isn't interested in being just the next
Norah Jones, and closer listens reveal a stronger talent. Foremost,
Barber has an outstanding voice, smoky and soulful with both a country twang and the self-assuredly idiosyncratic phrasing of a jazz singer. Secondly, her lyrics generally avoid singer/songwriter cliché, and tunes like the shuffling folk-rocker "Hard Line" and the sorrowful lullaby "Goodnight Sweetheart," with its pedal steel and
Floyd Cramer-style piano part, are melodic and instantly memorable. Fans of Canadiana will appreciate the album's special guests, including
Luke Doucet, members of long-running country-rockers
Blue Rodeo (lead singer
Jim Cuddy provides a great harmony vocal on the choruses of the
Emmylou Harris-like "Don't Go Easy") and
Jill's brother, singer/songwriter
Matthew Barber, but the focus through this intimate, live-sounding record is on
Jill Barber, where it belongs.
For All Time is a tremendously encouraging debut. ~ Stewart Mason