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Nashville’s Bobby Bare Jr. may not yet be a household name, but he should be. We at the Halifax Urban Folk Festival consider him to be this year’s Aaron Lee Tasjan – someone you might not of heard of but will change once you’ve gotten a chance to see him – so trust us on this one. Aside from his great solo work, he’s also in Hali-beloved Guided By Voices‘ touring band. He’ll be playing solo as well as with a Halifax All Star band and the opening songwriters’ circle will include fellow HUFF headliners Tommy Stinson, Mary Gauthier along with Terra Spencer at The Carleton on Friday, September 29th. Show time is 8 PM and tickets are $67.50 + HST.
The All Star Band for this show consists of: Zach MacLean (lead guitar), Tori Cameron (bass), Clare MacDonald (drums) and Leith Fleming-Smith on keys.
Bobby Bare Jr. was born in Nashville in 1966 and is the son of country musician legend Bobby Bare. He was only 8 years old when he and his father were nominated for a Grammy award for the song, Daddy What If but didn’t pursue a professional career in music until he was 30 and has said that he’s someone who avoided “working a real job at any cost.” Our kinda guy!
In the ‘90s, he led the roots rock outfit Bare Jr. and signed to Immortal records, at the time the home of Korn and Incubus, and released two albums and had a minor radio hit with You Blew Me Off, featured on the Cruel Intentions soundtrack.
His solo career has produced several great albums, including Storm – A Tree – My Mother’s Head, inspired by a Nashville storm that injured his mother. “Mom was sitting on the couch, the last day of January in 2008, and there was a big, windy storm outside. A big branch broke off halfway up the tree. It fell on the house and literally split it in half and landed exactly on top of her.” He released Undefeated in 2014 and Don’t Follow Me, I’m Lost the following year.
In 2016 he joined the new touring lineup of Guided By Voices and has played on 14 albums by the notoriously prolific band in the past 7 years.
As our friend Robbie Crowell, once in Matt Mays’ band and now a top session player in Nashville (as well as the drummer for country rock outfit Midland) says, “Bobby is one of God’s own creatures, and his own human entirely. He may not be a household name yet, but you will absolutely love him; an entertainer on the level of Steve Poltz.”
Fun Fact: Bobby is the godson of his father’s best friend, Shel Silverstein – A Boy Named Sue (Johnny Cash), Sylvia’s Mother, Cover of the Rolling Stone (Dr. Hook), The Unicorn (Irish Rovers), The Ballad of Lucy Jordan (Marianne Faithfull), among many others, which might explain his sense of humour.