The Deep Dark Woods is not your run of the mill folk band.
The Saskatoon ensemble, scheduled to perform at the Bragg Creek Centre on Oct. 27 at 8 p.m., is an orchestration of traditional folk music influenced by the likes of Bob Dylan, Neil Young and The Stanley Brothers.
Bragg Creek Performing Arts chairperson and artistic director Brenda Bone saw the band open for Blue Rodeo in Banff and knew she had to bring them to Bragg Creek.
“I’ve been wanting to see them for a long time,” she said. “They are very interesting and very different than what’s around.”
Bone said exposing unique and mainstream Canadian artists to the community is what the Bragg Creek Performing Arts program is about.
“I’ve seen so many good artists and have names I list that I’ve been wanting to bring in for a long time,” said Bone.
The Bragg Creek Performing Arts hosts seven concerts a year featuring a variety of genres from opera singers and jazz to classical music and popular rock.
Award-winning The Deep Dark Woods has been on Bone’s list for a while.
The band released four albums since 2006, including The Place I Left Behind last year and in 2012 won the Roots Group/Duo Recording of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards in Regina and was nominated for Contemporary Album and Songwriter award at the 2012 Canadian Folk Music Awards.
The five-member band combines banjo with mellotron, pedal steel, piano, organ and rich vocals.
“It’s the actual influences of the music that helps the sound a lot,” said singer/band leader Ryan Boldt. “I just kind of follow a tradition that’s been going on forever. It’s basic folk music and we just play it on electric guitars.”
Boldt said he spent his early years as a musician researching the history of folk music. The more he learned, the more he loved it.
“I’ve got a pretty good sense of history that comes out in the music and I really think it’s important to know that before you go into playing music,” he said. “You look at all the different musicians like Bob Dylan or Neil Young. What they all have in common is they know about their style of music, they know the recordings of 100 years ago.”
Boldt said he still learns something about music every day, which makes performing that much more enjoyable.
“I really like that old time music like Stanley Brothers and old R & B music,” he said. “Usually their songs are about sad things and I kind of just latch on to that. I write songs about whatever comes to mind that usually ends up being something sad.”
Boldt said it also helps to have a talented, solid band to back it up.
“We seemed to find five people who want to play music for a living,” he said. “There are a lot of people who play music and don’t want to put in the time to go on the road. I just got lucky with that. It’s pretty weird to have four other people who will play music and give up years of their lives.”
Boldt said he has known guitarist Burke Barlow and bass guitarist Chris Mason, both from Prince Albert, for years and met organist/pianist Geoff Hilhorst, originally from Ontario, in Moose Jaw after the Western Canadian Music Awards about four years ago. The band also includes drummer Lucas Goetz.
“We’ve all been really good friends for a long time,” he said. “It’s like going on tour with your pals.”
What fans can expect in Bragg Creek is something a little different than what is heard on their albums, said Boldt.
“Instead of just playing two or three minute songs we extend the solos,” he said. “It’s different than the record and not as soft as people would think. It’s a pretty good rock show and we’re just trying to have fun on the stage.”
Tickets to see The Deep Dark Woods in the Bragg Creek Centre are $29 for adults, $27 for seniors and $20 for youth. They can be purchased at www.braggcreekperformingarts.com or Spirits West in the Bragg Creek Shopping Centre.
The Bragg Creek Performing Arts will announce its spring season line-up and offer season tickets at a discount at the Oct. 27 concert.
