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The Wardens third album set for January release

Like many bands, the Wardens don’t fall easily into a genre. They have been described as a folk-roots trio, but singer-songwriters with western music stylings and a little Americana mixed in, is not far off base either.
Wardens-Sleeping-Buffalo-2017
Banff-based band the Wardens have a new album set to be released in January – Sold Out at the Ironwood. SUBMITTED PHOTO

BANFF – Like many bands, the Wardens don’t fall easily into a genre.

They have been described as a folk-roots trio, but singer-songwriters with western music stylings and a little Americana mixed in, is not far off base either. One can detect a whisper of bluegrass in there too.

What is undeniable is that the Wardens are superb storytellers.

The Wardens are Scott Ward on vocals and fingerstyle guitar, Bradley Bischoff on vocals, as well as lead and rhythm guitar, and Ray Schmidt on vocals, upright bass and mandolin. The Banff-based trio are known for their soul-stirring harmonies and a staple of their live performances is the storytelling between songs that help set up the songs themselves.

What they could not have foreseen as they recorded their third full-length album, Sold Out at the Ironwood, was that it would come out at a time when in-person concerts would be impossible to stage because of COVID-19 restrictions.

“We’ve played nearly 50 shows a year for the last five years all across western North America,” Schmidt said in a press release. “We’ve done it with stubborn grit and determination, creating audiences where audiences don’t traditionally exist.”

Schmidt goes on to describe a concert the band did at the Hoadley Community Hall in rural Alberta, roughly 90 kilometres northwest of Red Deer. People came from many of the small farming and ranching communities in the area to see the show.

“By the time we got called onto stage, there were 300 people packed into the hall to hear us play,” Schmidt said. “They may have come for the pie, but they stayed for the Wardens.”

With that connection to their audience on hold for the time being, the Wardens are reflecting on the decade spent up on stage. While not a live album, the record is designed like a set list for a live performance, with each of the songs perfectly capable of standing on its own, but also fitting into a larger story thread consistent with a full concert experience.

“Generally, what we try to do with a set list,” Ward said in a telephone interview this week, “is that first of all balance the songs between, you know, kind of a slow ballad, and the next song more of a lively song. So that there’s a mixture of tempos.

"And then all three of us are songwriters, so we each contributed four songs to this CD … we all write quite differently, so that also adds variety.”

The songs on the record are new, with the exception of two bonus live tracks – the poignant and heartfelt Neil Colgan and the decidedly lighthearted Supper on the Trail – that appeared on the band’s original EP.

The official release date for Sold Out at the Ironwood is Jan. 29, 2021. The first single – and title track – premiered on Friday (Dec. 4), and is available on Spotify and Apple Music/iTunes.

Part of the band’s appeal is the unique authenticity the trio brings to the work. All of their songs have a strong connection to the western landscape because all three of the Wardens are in fact current, or former, park wardens.

Ward worked in Banff National Park for over 30 years as a horseman and search and rescue specialist, Bischoff patrolled the South Boundary region of Jasper National Park, and Schmidt still works in the Rogers Pass area in B.C.

When the time comes, the Wardens will be more than ready to return to the stage with their engaging style of storytelling and song.

“That’s what we’re all about, is live touring band,” Ward said. “So, that’s a big gap in our life right now, which who knows how long that will be until that’s over with, but for now all we can do is release this album and hope it gains some ground.”

The Wardens discography includes the 2017 release Sleeping Buffalo, and their first album, Bear 66 came out in 2014. A self-titled EP dropped a year earlier. Go to thewardensmusic.com for more information. 

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