BRAD BARR

It’s a never-ending quest of sorts. The Providence, RI native is ever searching for an expression that’s free of cliches and idioms, universal in spirit, bold as love. His approach petitions you to lean in and listen — as if that, more than anything, were the point of it all. To be of service to the moment. His song-writing speaks with us — not at us — with both a confessional wisdom and a child’s eye; with the hope of seeing the world and its dusks and dawns and dreams like it did the first time. His musical journeys, almost always in lockstep with sibling drummer Andrew Barr, have taken them on chimerical paths: from all-night sets at jam festivals to the main stages of Newport Folk and Montreal Jazz; from tightly focused avant-rock collaborations to atmospheric reverb-laced folk ballads. Starting in the mid-90s, their trio The Slip built a global cult following for their wide-ranging compositions and deeply improvisational sets. When the two brothers moved to Montreal in 2005, they started a new chapter with experimental harpist Sarah Pagé and formed the Barr Brothers. The ensuing three albums have each been nominated for a Juno award, and they have shared the bill with such artists as My Morning Jacket, Calexico, Bela Fleck, The War on Drugs, Tinariwen, Built to Spill, The Prodigy, Emmylou Harris, and others.