Like the bison recently turned loose into Banff National Park’s Panther River Valley, The Wardens will turn loose their second full-length album in May.
Dubbed Sleeping Buffalo, the album pays homage to the bison that have been returned to Canada’s flagship national park. In fact, both the title track (“Sleeping Buffalo”) and “Ya Ha Tinda Bound” were written by The Wardens in reference to the great beasts’ return and a 100th anniversary, respectively.
The Wardens – Brad Bischoff, Ray Schmidt and Scott Ward – will officially release the 12-track Sleeping Buffalo on April 28, before appearing live at the Banff Centre’s Rolston Recital Hall on May 4 and Canmore’s artsPlace on May 6. In between, the trio will perform at Woodcliff United Church in Calgary, May 5.
The Wardens’ brand of mountain music is a three-part harmony melding of folk, roots and western styles with a focus on Canadiana and the vast Rocky Mountain wilderness – something the trio is well acquainted with.
Ward and Bischoff (vocals, guitar) are retired wardens, while Schmidt (bass, mandolin, vocals) works with Parks Canada in communications.
In all, the trio draws on more than 60 years of experience when it comes to penning original songs such as those found on Sleeping Buffalo, which follows a self-titled EP in 2013 and the full-length Bear 66 in 2014.
The band “is all about teamwork, just like the warden service,” said Schmidt, who is also the tech guy in charge of website, etc. “We all bring good stuff to the table and we work well as a band.
“There’s a lot of work; deciding what songs to write, the arrangements, and we all have other interests – it’s a lot of work to piece it all together.”
In putting together the dozen tracks, Bischoff said “we’re really proud of this record; we all shared in the writing and brought songs to the table that’s all part of the creative process. Then we had to decide which songs to use on this album, which was a challenge in itself.
“Ray is now writing as well, and has some fantastic songs.”
Sleeping Buffalo, recorded at Leeroy Stagger’s Rebeltone Ranch Studio in Lethbridge, also features guest artists like Stagger himself, Bob Remington (mandolin), Gideon Freudman (cello) and Calvin Vollrath (fiddle) and took a year to finish.
“We did a lot of pre-production in the U.S.,” said Ward, “with about three weeks in the studio and a couple months of rehearsing and mixing.”
In stepping into songwriting mode himself for this album, Schmidt said he couldn’t have done it without support from Bischoff and Ward.
“They gave me the courage to bring songs to the band; I think things like that are what makes each album stronger and sharper.”
Songs that highlight The Wardens’ love of place and career by way of personal experience include an ode to the working warden life in “Government Cowboy,” a take on today’s high-tech career in “WTF (Warden of the Future),” which highlights the changes from horse, compass and binoculars to GPS, cellphones and computers, and the danger of working with bears in “Wheels On The Wildlife Trap.”
Storytelling includes an armed standoff in 1935 that pitted a warden against bandits in “The Ballad of Bill Neish” and a disastrous railway crash in “Troop Train.”
“I Can Hear Alberta” is a tribute to all the working Alberta artists out there.
“Most of the songs are personal experience,” said Ward, with Bischoff adding, “You write about what you know, you just can’t make up most of this stuff.”
The general theme that runs through the album, said Schmidt, “is warden stuff, the landscape, the mountains, being on the land and the West.”
The Wardens’ songs are also a tribute to the warden service and all the changes that have affected it.
“Back in the day,” said Ward, “it was a full on cowboy culture. Wardens handled horses, spent a lot of time in the backcountry – months or years at a time. Some even home schooled their kids in the backcountry.
“When it started, it was a matter of trying to make a cohesive unit out of fiercely independent men. Technology didn’t play a big part in their lives.”
With a new album out, and some CD release events planned, The Wardens hope to take it easy over the summer months before hitting the road in Western Canada this fall. After spending a year on Sleeping Buffalo, they look forward to more time with family, and some holidays for the trio.
“Then it’ll be full steam ahead in September,” said Bischoff. “We’re now booking into 2018 across Western Canada and into the U.S.”
Among their stops has been a Folk Alliance conference and trade show in Kansas City, where they perform and make contacts along with other Alberta artists. Sponsored by the Bow Valley Folk Club, the trio work to make valuable business contacts in KC.
“Folk Alliance International is huge,” said Schmidt. “There will be about 1,600 musicians and it will be full on pandemonium with people hawking their wares.
“It’s funny, we’re all comfortable in the woods, and there it will be all insanity, but as we go down the path of being musicians, you have to get your product out there. An event like Folk Alliance is all about the business end of the band. We each have to bring something to the table.”
“We want to keep moving this forward,” said Bischoff. “We’re where we want to be right now.”
“But you have to keep being creative,” said Ward. “You keep polishing and you want to have more songs in your back pocket and you can do that if you keep things creative.”
Interestingly, the day Sleeping Buffalo went to press was the same day the bison were flown into the Panther River valley.
While the upcoming show at artsPlace has sold out, Schmidt said there are still tickets available to the concert at the Banff Centre’s Rolston Recital Hall.
