I picked up my tickets at will-call and saw Robert Earl Keen’s guitarist pleading with the window to let his two guests in. They didn’t think he was in the band. I got in the door and heard an organ wailing. It was Geoff Hilhorst. It was Ryan Boldt singing soft like Orbison and the band was The Deep Dark Woods. They crushed with originals like Two Time Loser, All The Money I Had Is Gone, and a rollicking Peggy-O. REK came out and made a joke about them being from Saskatoon and their moose shitting all over the tour bus.
I kept in touch with Ryan. We bet Flyers vs. Oilers games. He said Dave The Hammer Shultz tried to pick up his mom in high school. I bought every record they put out. I paid attention to what he was playing on his Radio Hour podcast. Ryan has a Rainman-like knowledge of traditional songs, and his original arrangements bring the achingly beautiful sound of The DDWs while staying true to the song.
The new album feels very much like all the best parts of Ryan’s sound in one spot. From the early songs like Hallelujah to today’s The Circle Remains Unbroken, there feels like a throughline in his work. He writes of slain lovers and unrequited love, big cities and back alleys, whoring around and trading in your name––and, always in the background, birds softly singing.
Boldt and his many band iterations are Canadian Folk Award winners (2009, 2012), Western Canadian Music Awards Roots group recording of the year (2009, 2012), and a Susan Lucci amount of noms including Junos, Americanas, and, for Boldt himself, a songwriter of the year nod in the 2012 Western Canadian Music Awards.
Go out and buy Winter Hours and The Place I left Behind and Jubilee and lock into the groove that Hilhorst and Boldt lay down. Swipe the new album, The Circle Remains, from Victory Pool Records and go see them live.
When introducing The Deep Dark Woods to friends, it’s always one of two songs, depending on the friend. Since I don’t know what kind you are, I’ll suggest both River In The Pines and Teardrops Fell.
Thanks to Ryan for doing this. Thanks to The Deep Dark Woods for being the soundtrack of my life the past 15 years.
-Rob Kaniuk
Retsoor Asks: Ryan Boldt of The Deep Dark Woods
Retsoor: Can people change?
Ryan Boldt: Of course! I’m a different person upon return from each tour. It can be hard, sometimes I’m a person I like, and other times I can’t wait to get back on the road so I can come home again and hopefully be the type of person I like and others like, especially my wife and daughter. If I’m home too long without any scheduled tours, I start slowly changing in a negative way. I have to keep my mind straight and not watch news programs or sit on my phone looking at all the hellish garbage happening across the world. That’s the most important way to preserve the person I like when I return home.
I believe that in order to be a good artist, you have to allow yourself to age and change, or else you’ll end up like so many 1970s rock stars that still want to be 20 years old, which can be quite nauseating.
RS: Is the belief in God a choice?
RB: It starts off as inherited, and then as you age, you have to make a choice whether you believe in God or believe in nothing. I’ve made my choice, so, yes.
RS: Is everything singular or plural?
RB: We have choices throughout life, but those choices accumulate into one event.
RS: What percentage of the world is evil?
RB: It’s a lot more than I would’ve thought a couple of years ago. It’s quite depressing, to be honest.
RS: What % of your personality can you choose?
RB: I didn’t choose any part of my personality. I’m a mashup of all of my ancestors. I try to tame certain parts of my personality and nurture the good parts, but that can be hard, especially when we’re bombarded with hateful and angry internet content at all times. I have to get rid of my phone, but I keep making excuses to myself, and I never do it.
RS: How has mental health affected your creative life?
RB: It is the driving force behind most of my songs. Making music is a way to help with my mental health issues. When I’m playing music and writing, I try to achieve an almost trance-like state of mind where my body and my brain feel kind of numb and relaxed, like I’m high or something. When I’m playing piano at home, I get that feeling often. Onstage, as of late with the current band lineup, Geoff Hilhorst on organ and Mike Silverman on drums, I’m able to zone out most nights. The high I get lasts for several weeks after I return home. This is the reason I play music. It’s a hard thing to explain to someone who has never experienced it. I’m very lucky to have a very understanding wife who has also experienced that same state of mind.
RS: Which parent do you sound like when you’re angry?
RB: Both my parents are very calm when they get angry. I, on the other hand, get angry, and I’m not exactly sure who it came from.
RS: What % of utility have we lost or gained from the internet?
RB: Most of it. We’ve lost our empathy, creativity, and curiosity. We’ve lost our ability to forgive people and converse with people that we disagree with. It’s mainly the social media that has made us lazy and useless. The internet was fun when it was only available on a desktop computer in the corner of your dining room. Now we have been poisoned with a hellish anger that has been caused by the internet. I liked the world prior to the invention of the laptop computer.
RS: Do you do what you do so you don’t get sad or because you are?
RB: I started off playing music and writing songs because I was sad, but nowadays I have to play it to keep myself from being sad. I have to know that there are shows booked and recordings to be made in order to keep myself from being filled with dread. Aside from my family, it’s really the only thing that keeps me feeling sane, that and playing with electronics.
RS: Does answering questions in a public forum worry you or inspire you?
RB: It worries me. I change a lot, and I’m embarrassed by things I’ve said in the past, so I’m usually quite quiet and don’t say a whole lot. That being said, I find these questions much more inspiring than usual questions like “How did you come up with your band name?”
RS: Which list is longer: a list of everything wrong or a list of everything that isn’t?
RB: A list of everything wrong. I should probably change that and start looking at more of the positive things in life, I’d probably be a happier person. It just seems like the world is getting worse. It’s becoming harder and harder to make a living making music. I’ve been forced to work other jobs and after 15 years of being a full-time musician, that can be upsetting. That being said, my life is much happier than it was 10 years ago, I’m not sure if that’s because I’m not constantly on the road or what.
RS: If you had the choice, would you choose to live again without knowing you were given a choice?
RB: Yes. Maybe I would have become an electrician. I would’ve liked to have been an electrician.
RS: Bonus question: Drugs?
RB: No, thankfully.
RS: Bonus Jeopardy: one small regret (big ones also welcome) I have is:
RB: Wasting my time with people that have taken advantage of me over the years. I’ve realized that, unfortunately, some people aren’t as loyal as I’d hoped.
Ryan Boldt is the lead singer and songwriter of the Canadian roots band The Deep Dark Woods. He lives in Ontario Province with his wife, their child, and dog where he spends his spare time curing meats.
Jason Sebastian Russo is a founding member of Mercury Rev, Hopewell and numerous other bands and creative spaces. He holds an MFA from Bennington, was named Lead Scout, holds positions of spiritual guidance with several institutions, and runs the Retsoor accounts, worldwide.
Rob Kaniuk lives in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania with his wife, Erin, and their dog, Virgil Caine. He runs FT.