When mountain creeks flooded last June, they damaged a large number of homes and property and left many trapped within our Bow Valley communities.
For many, the flood disaster resulted in some of the darkest days the valley has witnessed.
Having been trapped in Canmore along with residents and visitors, The Deep Dark Woods is hoping to see the brighter side of things when they return for the 37th annual Canmore Folk Music Festival this weekend (Aug. 2-4).
The Deep Dark Woods – Ryan Boldt (vocals, guitar), Geoff Hilhorst (keys), Chris Mason (bass, vocals), Lucas Goetz (drums, vocals) and Clayton Linthicum (guitar) – will take the festival’s Saturday (Aug. 2) stage.
The Saskatoon-based five-piece recently released its fifth album Jubilee (2013), which has been nominated for Roots Recording of the Year for the 2014 Western Canadian Music Awards.
The Canmore folk fest is just one the band is hitting this summer; they also played the Calgary folk fest, Saskatchewan’s Gateway Festival and Winnipeg folk fest, among others. After Canmore, Deep Dark heads east to Toronto to open for Blue Rodeo at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre. Winter will see the band in Europe; the U.K., Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and Germany.
“We were in Canmore to play Communitea Cafe last year,” said Boldt, who is moving to Victoria, B.C., where his wife will go to school. “We got stuck in the flood and missed three or four gigs. The band who was with us, Frontier Ruckus, was here all the way from Detroit and they missed some shows and it cost us all some money.
“We were lucky, though, the hotel we were staying in let us stay for free because of the flood, but there were six or seven people in the room and it got a bit crowded. Still, the hotel was very, very accommodating and it was definitely an experience. It sucked then, but looking back now, it wasn’t so bad.
“It’ll be nice to see the town when things are good.”
In all, The Deep Dark Woods has been touring and putting together albums, five in all, for nearly nine years; with the self-titled inaugural effort in 2006. The band’s folk rock sound is a throwback to the early days, largely because Boldt is a fan of the 1960s.
“I really like traditional English, Irish, Scottish and U.S. folk,” he said, “and a lot of our music is based on that sort of structure. But I also really like ’60s revival folk rock, I grew up on it. My dad listened to B.B. King and the blues and from there I found Dylan (Bob, that is) and from there, John Hurt and others, like England’s Shirley Collins and Fairport Convention.
“Our music is also influenced by the R&B of the ’60s and our rhythm section is very influenced by a Muscle Shoals (Alabama) sound.”
Boldt handles the majority of songwriting for the band, leaning on personal life experience, community, even history (“The Banks of the Leopold Canal”).
“I usually write most in winter and I like to set aside blocks of time,” he said. “But not last winter. We toured for three months solid after the album came out.
“I’m always trying to write new songs; I don’t like to be rushed to write a song. Sometimes that works, but usually not for me.”
Avoiding a rush was a major factor in The Deep Dark Woods recording Jubilee in a cabin near Bragg Creek. “We had some time booked at The Banff Centre, but then we decided against that. At the last minute we got (producer) Jonathon Wilson from L.A.
“Then we decided to set up our own studio and we got into Folk Tree Lodge, where we recorded. It was great; we’d go in there, cook and eat, jam, record. Sometimes we’d go from three in the afternoon to three in the morning.
“We spent five days rehearsing songs, then three weeks recording and I think you can tell how relaxed we were. The sound is very similar to how we are live. We only had a couple of overdubs; we pretty much did it all live.”
With Jubilee, The Deep Dark Woods revel in the jangly, freewheeling days of psychedelic and electric folk while keeping their compass aligned with the magnetic, hypnotic north. Jubilee journeys through folk and rock history, from California to the U.K., from the 1970s to the present day.
The Deep Dark Woods have appeared at numerous high-profile festivals and stages, including Newport Folk Fest, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, and at Terrapin Crossroads in San Francisco, where they were joined by jam-band legend Phil Lesh. The band has made a fan of influential BBC roots guru Bob Harris, and recently made their silver screen debut in Safe Haven, the newest Nicholas Sparks blockbuster.
In travelling the festival circuit, Boldt said workshops are a challenge the band embraces. “When you’re paired up with people with similar musical styles, it’s really nice. Last week, we played with The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer (who attended the 2013 Canmore festival).
“That was amazing. They’re a lot of fun and they know their music history. So workshops mean a lot of fun, making new friends meeting new people in new places.”
