About a son

Ex-Constantines frontman Bry Webb talks about how becoming a father resulted in his debut solo album, Provider

Bry Webb’s favourite song on his solo debut is the one he wrote for his son, Asa. “It kind of got me back into being able to think about making songs again,” Webb says. “It took … the consumer context off of song and made it about professing my love for the people that the songs are for.”

It’s fitting that Bry Webb is giving a concert on Father’s Day. If it weren’t for the fact that he became a father, after all, Webb may not have recorded his solo debut, last year’s Provider.

After his critically-acclaimed band the Constantines went on indefinite hiatus in 2010, Webb spent a long time figuring out how to make music again. He didn’t write any songs for a while, but when his wife gave birth, Webb started thinking about making music for their son, Asa.

“Trying to figure out what music-making was beyond my experience in the Constantines was strange and intimidating,” the 34-year-old says by phone from his office at the CRFU 93.9 FM campus and community radio station in Guelph, Ont., where he works as the programming coordinator.

“And then our son arrived and it sort of just became about making music for him - writing songs that conveyed something that I wanted to share with him. That was why I started writing music again.”

Webb recorded Provider live off the floor over a series of weekends last summer during what he describes as an intense and emotional time for his family.

“When we went in and recorded that first weekend, I found out mid-afternoon on the Sunday that my grandmother, who I was really close with, had passed away,” Webb explains. “Then we went in about a month later for a second weekend and at the end of that, her husband - my grandfather - passed away.

“So it was really strange. I was making this record for the newest member of our family, and the oldest members of our family disappeared as it was being made.”

Though it was recorded under strange circumstances, the result is a beautiful record of quiet songs that focus on Webb’s voice and guitar. It’s not only resonating with his fans, but with music critics as well; Provider was long-listed this past week for the 2012 Polaris Music Prize.

Webb says his favourite song on the album is the one he wrote for his now-16-month-old son, which, appropriately, is titled Asa.

“I hadn’t written a song in a long time, and it was kind of daunting to think about making music again,” Webb says. “I couldn’t focus in on a reason why I should write another song. Then my son was born and I just wanted to write a lullaby for him that [included] all the meanings of his name.”

Those meanings include “healer” (Hebrew), “wings” (Portuguese), “morning” (Japanese) and “little hawk” (Nigerian).

“I just sat down and wrote it without thinking it would be on a record or released to anybody but him, and it was really fun and it was all just kind of love put out there,” Webb says.

“It kind of got me back into being able to think about making songs again. It took … the consumer context off of song and made it about professing my love for the people that the songs are for.”

Webb performs at the Lo Pub this Sunday, June 17. Bring your dad.

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