Music Box: Out of the Saskatoon woods

By Aaron Davis (for JHWeekly.com)Jackson Hole, Wyo. - Restraint could be the single best word to accompany Canada’s The Deep Dark Woods. Since 2005, there’s a very steady hand that guides its exploration into chilling, goosebump-inflecting decadence and minimalism. Living in an alt-country down tempo space, the elements that nod a comparison to fellow Canadians, The Band, is nearly inevitable. The aching of Gram Parsons, the lyrical insightfulness of Townes Van Zandt, the hooky quality of Harvest-era Neil Young – The Deep Dark Woods are cold weather, mid-winter song creators.The low range, gently rolling clarity of guitarist Ryan Boldt’s croon anchors the Saskatoon-based quintet. His folk melodies are enriched by subtle orchestration and the girth of Appalachian tradition. The band could be from Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina. But growing up on American and British music is no different for Boldt as it would have been for someone in the States.“Dylan would be my absolute favorite singer,” Boldt answers without hesitation. “It actually bothers me when people say ‘he’s a great songwriter but a terrible singer,’ which is total bullshit. The guy’s got the vocal phrasing of Billy Holiday or Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin. He’s amazing in that he knows exactly what he’s doing … even nowadays. I think it’s gotten even better. The gravelly voice can really grab ahold of that crooner style.”The layered folk-rock instrumentation of The Deep Dark Woods and the accessibility of Boldt’s vocal aesthetic suddenly brings to mind Dylan’s Nashville Skyline. Its relative comparisons that make listeners feel good; like finding a classic band that has been around for years that has somehow escaped one’s listening capacity. And the mainstream has taken notice, rewarding the independent band with Best Roots Group at the 2009 Western Canadian Music Awards, Ensemble of the Year at the 2009 Canadian Folk Music Awards, The Place I Left Behind [2011] was nominated for Roots and Traditional Group Album of the Year at the 2012 JUNO Awards, and most recently, they were nominated for Emerging Artist of the Year at the Americana Music Awards.“Its really nice that we are getting nominations and winning stuff, but I can’t really read into that too much,” Boldt said. “It can mess you up a little bit. I try to think what a goal for the week is, and stop thinking about that stuff. I don’t want to have that in the back of my mind when writing songs. It is kind of a hard balance. You really have to keep trying to keep it the same as it always was instead of how people feel about it.”Though Wyoming is a lot closer to a lot of their shows across Canada, it will be The Deep Dark Woods’s Wyoming debut. The quintet will roll in from Denver via Austin City Limits Music Festival – a big stage event featuring several dozen bands ranging from Red Hot Chili Peppers and Neil Young to Thievery Corporation.“Some of my favorite shows are at smaller venues, but it really depends on the crowd. You can have a festival where a bunch of people are not listening and then a show with 100 people that are paying attention and that to me is more fun,” Boldt said. “I like them all, really.The Deep Dark Woods performs at 10 p.m., Wednesday, at the Pink Garter Theatre. The Flannel Attractions open. Tickets are $12/advance, $15/day-of-show, available at The Rose or PinkGarterTheatre.com. 733-1500.