Storytelling through song has never been a weak point for JUNO Award-winning Barney Bentall and his roster of releases. This is proven once again in this, his new single, “Don’t Wait For Me Marie” and its cinematic, century-swapping video — is out, check it below.
Between frames of fire and wild horses comes the tale of languished lust and Western greed, woven in a way only Bentall can deliver.
The song, of note, is one of many on The Drifter & The Preacher that Bentall says “ultimately wrote itself.
“There are times I look back and think, ‘well, that’s not where I thought this one was going to go,’” says Bentall. “With ‘Don’t Wait For Me Marie’ I thought, ‘I’m going to write a song about a guy leaving the Fraser Valley near Vancouver in the 1800s to look for gold in the Cariboo.’ I wanted it to be an uptempo bluegrass song because we were starting The High Bar Gang… I was very immersed in that style of music.
“Ultimately, it didn’t quite feel right so I decided to try the song with minor chords and an edgier feel. The feeling, subtext and meaning of the song did a one-eighty and I thought, ‘this was what I was looking for!’
“A song takes you where it wants to take you, if you are open and you surrender to those moments. I love the way music can do that to words.”
Arguably his most personal record to date, and highly anticipated following a five year recording hiatus, The Drifter & The Preacher landed October 2017 via True North Records. Stacked within lays the great paradox that is Bentall: a nomadic homebody with a musicality so innate, a musician and songwriter who is also a friend, father, brother, husband, and son… A man with a life lived.
“This was written for my father-in-law,” Bentall shares on this, his tenth studio album. “Bar none, one of the most interesting and intelligent people I have met.
“He taught me many valuable things and gave me the best friend I have. He died with his boots on at the age of ninety-three. I wrote this at my ranch shortly after on a star-studded night.”
The Drifter & The Preacher is available now.
Barney Bentall Tour Dates
June 29 @ Laketown Rock – Lake Cowichan, BC
June 30 @ Canadian Roots Celebration at the Banff Centre Shaw Amphitheatre – Banff, AB
July 1 @ Golden Spike Days at Rocky Point Park – Port Moody, BC*
July 7 @ Winnipeg Folk Fest – Winnipeg, MB
July 13 @ Oxford Stomp – Calgary, AB
August 11 @ Rock the Lake – Kelowna, BC*
August 16 @ Bayfield Town Hall – Bayfield, ON
August 18 @ ArtsFest – Waterdown, ON
September 9 @ SKOOKUM Festival – Vancouver, BC
September 13 @ Festival of Small Halls – Chaffey’s Lock, ON
September 14 @ Festival of Small Halls – Tweed, ON
September 15 @ CityFolk Festival – Ottawa, ON
October 28 @ Broadway Theatre – Saskatoon, SK+
+w/ Jim Cuddy
*Barney Bentall and The Legendary Hearts
