Music is important, sport is important, but some things are even more important. In 2009, a year after Canadian Jill Barber had been ambushed in a quiz masquerading as an interview (as recalled in an earlier Wind Back Wednesday ) she was in Australia and itching for revenge. As there was no way to best her at singing, and she was not prepared to take me on in an Elvis Costello trivia challenge, we settled on something she boasted was her special skill – Scrabble. The gentle a

Frequent visitor to Australia (Woodford, Port Fairy, BluesFest – she’s ready for your call), current Commonwealth champion Scrabble player and a woman who may or may not know more about Nova Scotia than you will ever need, Vancouver’s Jill Barber has never been afraid to change direction. But this may be the most striking one yet and she declares herself “giddy as a schoolgirl about this record”. In this interview Barber explains why “people will still recognise it as me, but

She has a new, radically different (again) album coming in June and Jill Barber will surprise many fans who have enjoyed folk pop, classic songbook, chanson and more already. As Wind Back Wednesday remembers though, she’s not ever really played as expected. This 2008 interview, the first of a trilogy of games-inspired stories with her (watch out in coming months for the full set) sets the scene for a decade of wins, draws and fine, fine music. OUR FIRST CONTESTANT IS FROM LOV