A Conversation With Leah Barley

The Sound Cafe

Douglas McLean chats with Leah Barley for his latest Sound Cafe Podcast, they chat about Leah's latest release 'Bring Out Your Dead ' and more.

You can listen to the entire interview and music HERE

On her first full-length album Bring Out Your Dead, the Vancouver-based singer/songwriter Leah Barley offers eight stirring original songs that evoke both the jubilation and heartbreak inherent to classic folk and country music. An accomplished banjo player as well as guitarist, Barley is joined on the album by a full band featuring longtime collaborators violist John Kastelic and multi-instrumentalist Ross Christopher Fairbairn to create a sound as affecting today as it was a century ago. Bring Out Your Dead almost perfectly balances Barley’s light-and-shade approach to songwriting, from the life-affirming first single “Mountains” and the rousing boot stompers “I Wish” and “Drinkin’” to the chill-inducing title track and its spiritual cousin “Rise.” It’s all a product of Barley’s love of old-time country and bluegrass, which inspired her to pick up the banjo in her early twenties while living in Canmore, Alberta. After a couple of months getting her feet wet at open mic nights, she released the first of three EPs in 2010 after moving to Vancouver. Since 2013, Barley has played in many parts of Canada, both solo and with other bands on the festival circuit, and was a featured performer at JUNOfest 2018, as well as on CBC Music. She is eager to flex her performing muscles again the first chance she has to get back on stage safely. Until then, Bring Out Your Dead will brilliantly serve as Leah Barley’s calling card, and formally mark the arrival of a vital new voice in Canadian roots music.

released October 23, 2020

SONGS FEATURED:

I Wish

Bring Out Your Dead

Rise

Hush

Call Me Sometime

Mountains

You can listen to the entire interview and music HERE