The Family Album

On their first album as a duo, siblings Matthew Barber and Jill Barber manage to channel pure Americana vibes while revisiting tunes from some classic Canadian troubadours. In gorgeously rootsy harmony, they recast Ian & Sylvia’s advisory tale “Summer Wages” with sweetness and vulnerability, just as its lyrics deserve. And they bring a familial gentleness to Leonard Cohen’s interpretation of the dark and haunting ballad “The Partisan.” But it gets most misty-eyed here when the Barbers dig into their own history on a handful of vintage-sounding originals, like Grandpa Joe,” a big-skied, guitar- and fiddle-assisted requiem for the grandfather they never knew.