Thom Barker profile picture

Thom Barker

About Me

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“A fine, young talent with a knack for telling poignant and meaningful stories.” — The Ottawa X Press
"[Barker] explores the emotions of love lost and found and the folksy result is a CD that can bring the listener close to tears." — The Interior News
“… a good-natured guitar-waving rebel.” — The Charlatan
"I know our audiences will love [your music] as much as I do." — Shashona, founder, Awesome Radio
TWICE THE USUAL
From Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan singer-songwriter Thom Barker comes a new CD that runs the emotional gauntlet. From the angry No Forever to the blissful The Quiet In Us, Barker delivers the goods in his signature “Frantic Folk” style, which has found an audience that spans generations and continents.
“Reviewers have sometimes called my music bittersweet,” Barker said. “So be it. Isn’t life? I think we miss a lot by not embracing our angst.”
In the brave new world of the Internet, Twice the Usual — the artist’s sophomore offering — is quickly gaining momentum with a growing presence on sites such as CBC Radio 3 , MySpace and ReverbNation , as well as, Web radio stations such as Awesome Radio . As of May, it will be electronically distributed by the Indie coalition Community Musician on more than 100 commercial music sites including iTunes, Amazon, Napster and Snocap.
Barker — whose first CD, The Forest for the Trees (1995), has been compared to Billy Bragg and Gordon Lightfoot — has packed a lot into his four decades of living. A geologist by education, Barker has at various times also been a labourer, door-to-door vacuum dealer, diamond appraiser, car salesman, high-tech project manager and, most recently, a reporter and popular columnist with The Interior News, the Smithers, B.C. newspaper named Best Overall in its class in 2007.
But always in the background was the music, which he has performed in clubs and at festivals from Ontario to British Columbia to Texas, where it has enjoyed moderate airplay on college and community radio. He now lives on Echo Lake, just outside Fort Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan with his wife Lorraine.
The new release, produced by brother Ken Barker at Art Facts Studio in Austin, Texas, is his first to feature full band arrangements with Thom on acoustic guitar and vocals; Ken on basses, keyboards, drum programming and background vocals and; Christian Chénier on electric guitars.
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Member Since: 26/03/2008
Band Website: www.thombarker.com
Band Members: Ken Barker - producer, keyboard player, bassist etc... Ken's musical background is in the classical world. As a teenager, he won several awards for piano performance, including the Royal Conservatory of Music's top honor. His numerous musical projects include solo recordings and independent film soundtracks. Ken is currently a scientist at the University of Texas at Austin where he conducts research in Artificial Intelligence.
www.art-facts.com

Christian Chénier - electric guitarist... guitar hero meets accountant... Christian is one of those undiscovered musical talents, content to be a husband, father and collector of great guitars in Ottawa, but capable of dumping out the whole bag of guitar hero tricks on the floor in a single solo.

Influences: Ferron
Bruce Cockburn
Leonard Cohen

I aspire to having even one-tenth the talent for lyrics writing that these three have.
Sounds Like: What you would get if you spent 20 years pursuing the perfect bittersweet melancholy or seeking somebody else only to find you've been chasing yourself.Reviewers have compared it to Billy Bragg, Gordon Lightfoot and Bruce Cockburn.
Record Label: Unsigned
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

I NEED A BAND!

Okay, so here’s the deal: My new CD has arrived and I want to set up a CD release show (probably in Regina), but I need a band. It would be great if it was an existing band, but I don’t mi...
Posted by on Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:56:00 GMT

Taking a timeout from Thom... Its FERRON time

I know, I know, I’m supposed to be promoting my own album (which was just delivered, btw). But while I was dicking around here on MySpace, I found out Ferron has a new one coming out in June. Do...
Posted by on Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:04:00 GMT

Houston B.C. Show Added

Will the real Houston please stand up? That’s right, no smog, traffic jams or space launches here, just the (relatively) pristine wilderness of Northern British Columbia. Saturday night at Happy...
Posted by on Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:05:00 GMT

Hey, Chief Justice, what’s this fly doing in my courtroom?

I am such an idiot. To think a glass of sour milk could have made me rich and I didn’t take advantage of it. In 1990, I sat down for breakfast at the Newport Restaurant, a popular Ottawa eatery...
Posted by on Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:51:00 GMT

Whats up with morning shows?

  Is it just me, or does anyone else feel sorry for Seamus O’Regan? Half the time, the Canada AM anchor looks like he’s squirming in his seat with the inane antics of the seemingly ob...
Posted by on Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:11:00 GMT