You can't rush Jeff Hardill. In that calm, unhurried way of his, the singer is trying to explain why it took so long to make the second Fiftymen disc.

It's been three years and three months, to be exact, since After Darkfall made the country-rockers into Ottawa's most beloved band. Over a plate of quesadillas and a lot of black coffee at the Manx Pub, Hardill chooses his words with care.

"Apparently there was a sign on Frank Zappa's studios, and it was a triangle: 'fast, cheap and good.' You could pick two. If you want fast and good, it's not going to be cheap," he says thoughtfully. "It hit home. We took the time and got a few deals."

The obvious conclusion is that Sums + Balances must be good.

Wait a second: Hardill isn't the type of guy to blow his own horn, even if it's on behalf of the band, so he says he's too close to judge the overall quality.

But it's pretty darn terrific. The songs are dark but hopeful (highlights include Twenty-Two Minutes, For the Sake of My Pride, Shine a Light and Try to Hide), the playing is tight (plenty of fiddle and banjo make it a little more country than rock this time) and the production pulls it all together (take a bow, Dave Draves).

"We took our time on purpose," Hardill says. "We wanted to make sure the songs were all they could be when we headed into the studio and we took our time to polish things and arrange them and made sure they were well-rehearsed so we didn't waste any time."

It was recorded in short stints at Draves' Little Bullhorn studios, the time booked as the band members, who all have day jobs, got the money together to pay for it. These are not 20-year-olds dreaming of a fast track rock stardom. Hardill, for example, is 39, married and works as a bartender at the Manx.

Plus, he says, "it turns out we're not that prolific of a bunch of songwriters."

Another complication was that Hardill was going through an emotionally trying time.

The disc is dedicated to his father, Gary Hardill, who died this year.

"When my dad was in the hospital, I never thought to myself, 'I'm going to sit down and write a song about how I'm feeling,'" Hardill says. "But obviously, it was consuming a lot of my thoughts. I was thinking a lot about mortality."

Coincidentally, some of the lyrics written by bandmates Jake Bryce and Todd Gibson also deal with death.

"There was no band meeting where we said, 'Let's write an album about mortality,' but there is a thread through a lot of the songs," Hardill says.

Over the years, the band has evolved into one of Ottawa's most popular acts. At any show, you'll see blue-collar types rubbing shoulders with middle-class suburbanites and club-going hipsters. Anyone with a soft spot for hurtin' tunes and hardcore barnburners is a fiercely devoted fan.

Their success across the region still comes as a surprise to the band members. The deep-voiced Hardill wasn't even a singer when guitarist Mark Michaud decided they should play country tunes together.

"I was a lifelong fan of music, but it never even occurred to me that I could take part," Hardill says. "Mark's confidence in me was based on singing along with the stereo. Until we had our first actual rehearsal, I wasn't sure I could even really do it."

The band saw things get a little more serious about a year ago when banjo/fiddle player Keith Snyder joined. The former member of Black Donnellys had played on the first record as a guest musician, then began showing up to gigs and rehearsals.

"He makes the rest of us look like amateurs, he's that good," Hardill says.

There are signs that Fiftymen could expand beyond their Ottawa roots. An Italian writer reviewed After Darkfall on a website aimed at fans of artists such as Steve Earle and Neil Young. A tour of Western Canada kicks off next week, and the band is working on landing national and U.S. distribution for the new disc.

For Hardill, who grew up in Peterborough and has lived in Montreal, Vancouver and Hamilton, the Ottawa area has become home. He and his wife live in Wakefield.

"What I remember when I first came here, liking about it, was the whole attitude people have about Ottawa being a government town, and very staid and conservative," he says. "I immediately found the underground, that there was this community of like-minded people that had nothing to do with that great flannel image. I liked that it was a secret.

"After spending more than 10 years here, it does feel like home. You develop relationships, like, I know where to go to get the shoelaces I like. I never found them in Vancouver."

Fiftymen play Barrymore's tonight with Camp Radio. Tickets & times, 233-0307.