Juan Barbosa’s newest track features fun and upbeat tunes with a deep and meaningful message

Quaint We Ain’t is the Muskoka ballad longtime locals have been waiting for.

Our friend Juan Barbosa’s latest track is fun, upbeat to listen to, and is for just about anyone. It’s also deep and meaningful with lyrics that touch the soul for so many people.

As Barbosa describes his own song: “A song about a place I used to live in that just ain’t the same no more.”

He’s right, it just ain’t the same no more. Gone is the quaint little spaces where almost everyone knew each other, looked out for each other, and said “hi” everywhere we went.

Gone are the amazing spaces and affordable housing and quality of life that people moved here to find. Places like Huntsville and Bracebridge and Gravenhurst and the surrounding areas continue to see more and more development, more and more strangers, and less of all the good stuff we came to know and love.

Progress without conscience isn’t progress at all … I’m sure someone before me said that, but if not, you can quote me on it (hehehe).

Back to the song itself . . . I love it. The best part is when the beat starts, you’re thinking about a fun and frolicking song, but then the lyrics hit you with some hard life facts. Each verse is delivered with a hint of humour and indeed there is a tongue-in-cheek vibe throughout.

“Palms greased and pockets full, destruction of the natural . . . alright!”

“Condos on the river bed, million dollar cottages . . . oh yeah!”

“Working for the rich, when I ain’t got no place to live . . . “

The song gives a voice to the voiceless and calling out the extreme financial inequities faced by the majority of fulltime residents in the region.

It’s a much-needed song with an ever-growing disconnect between the haves and have-nots, the locals and the cottagers, the newbies and those who were born here – or at least lived here a long time.

A must-listen for anyone with any Muskoka connection, check it out: Quaint We Ain’t