Premiere: Shawna Virago regales a tale about ‘The Barman’s Daughter’

Shawna Virago steps behind the bar with a gleam in her eye and fluttering eyelashes. That’s the central image nestled inside her new song “The Barman’s Daughter,” in which Virago dissects family problems from the eyes of a daughter, whose father is “still stuck acting like an extra from the film ‘The Outsiders,'” Virago explains.

The song’s subtext bursts from the trans perspective, but its innate, rambling grit gives it a universal shine. “If you’ve ever worked in a bar, you know you need to be an ambassador of peace, while practicing your boxing skills,” Virago tells B-Sides & Badlands. “In my case, I also learned to smile more and batten my eyelashes for bigger tips. Works every time.”

“The Barman’s Daughter” jingles and jangles with electronic static, finding Virago’s voice calling from the other side of hellfire. “I always knew the power of work / He never did a good turn in the place,” she sings, her teeth dripping with venom. “I swear he hated me out of the gate / Can I help I take after my mother’s face.”

While the final track barrels ahead with propulsive energy, it initially began with a much slower pace and had a gruffier “country” sound. Drummer Lien Do suggested they “let out some steam” after “having a shitty day,” so Virago lit a match underneath the song and gave it some pep.

“As we started playing the song we both kept amping up the tempo, Lien pounded the drums harder, I cranked up the overdrive,” says Virago. “It felt so damn good that we finally unleashed the cowpunkabilly song you now hear. I was once again reminded we are all beholden to the whims of the drummer.”

“The Barman’s Daugther” anchors Virago’s forthcoming Blood in Her Dreams, stitched with darkness and “rooted in my own autobiography,” she describes.

“But there’s also humorous tall tales, while some songs circle the carnage of our current political situation,” she continues. “We live in a time of contradictions: there are lots of people who want to deny alternate voices, while there are many who are celebrating what’s different, what’s new. I wanted to create a world through songs that felt conspiratorial like the listener is going into a secret world.”

Listen to “The Barman’s Daughter” below.

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