An Okanagan musician has released an instrumental album that features various genres and sounds, and he will be performing it live this weekend.

Dave Barber has been featured on albums before, some of which have even received award nominations, but Molly’s Eyes is the first collection that is entirely his own.

“That was really my dream, to have my own album and be writing my own music,” Barber explains. 

Prior to the pandemic, Barber lived in Nashville and spent 15 years traveling the world and playing for other artists on stage. 

“It was a ton of fun and I’ve gained a lot of experience doing that, but it’s been really fun to have my own album,” Barber says. 

The 10-track collection was written within a couple of months, with the song Molly’s Eyes inspired by the dog Barber and his wife, Kirby, brought home in 2020. 

“For a lot of us, we were kind of waiting and hoping that the industry would come back sooner than it did, but I thought, I’m going to record a song and see how it goes, because you can do that from home nowadays,” Barber explains.

“The next thing you know, I had an album.”

The record features elements of country, jazz, folk, roots and spatial sound, with some influence from Django Reinhardt and Chet Atkins.

“I didn’t have any limits on genres,” Barber says. “It’s nice to have variation when you’re actually playing a show when sometimes things are loud and sometimes things are very quiet.”

While he is no longer performing for other artists, the Penticton musician continues to showcase his talent to live audiences with his own songs and covers. 

On July 8, Barber will be playing at the Dream Café in Penticton to celebrate his album release. 

The café also hosts singer-songwriter nights once a month, which was inspired by Mark Greenhalgh, a sound engineer, in collaboration with Barber and Kevin Rose, the Dream Café manager. 

“We’re trying to get some artists that maybe wouldn’t normally play at a small venue, but they come in and do a solo show where they tell the stories about their hit songs,” Barber explains, adding that Chad Brownlee was the first to perform in the music series. 

“We also want local artists to have the opportunity to do the same thing and get in front of an audience.”

Barber encourages residents and visitors of the Okanagan to check out the lineup at the Dream Café.

"It’s a great spot for Canada’s future big stars."

Anyone wanting to listen to Molly’s Eyes by Dave Barber can find it here.