For most people at least, the taste of success can often be an intoxicating one. But it’s not for Ryan Boldt, vocalist and guitarist for the Saskatoon-based folk-roots band The Deep Dark Woods.

The band was nominated at the 2008 Western Canadian Music Awards for Roots Duo/Group Recording of the Year for its song Hang Me, Oh Hang Me, and just this summer performed at the Winnipeg Folk Festival.

In response to the success, however, Boldt is nonchalant. He doesn’t let it go to his head.

“I’m playing for myself and the people that like my music,” Boldt said by phone last week.

Upon further inspection, it’s hard to understand this level of humility, being that the band is only a few years old. Furthermore, there is something truly haunting, yet altogether inviting about The Deep Dark Woods’ music. While listening to albums like 2007’s Hang Me Oh Hang Me and 2009’s Winter Hours, it’s easy to initially be wooed into a sense of enchantment by the melodic sound of the guitar.

“ When I was a kid, I generally liked melodies more so than rocking out.

Ryan Boldt

Boldt himself has always been a musical person. There was something about roots music that attracted him from a young age.

“When I was a kid, I generally liked melodies more so than rocking out,” he said.

Thus the transition towards the folk-roots scene was more than easy for him.

The Deep Dark Woods first formed in 2005 by Boldt and his friends. They always got along well and rarely run into conflict while on the road, despite periodic annoyances.

Boldt’s positive attitude spills over to his friends as much as to his choice of venues. Having already visited this city earlier this year for the Winnipeg Folk Festival – which he describes as incredible – Boldt and his Deep Dark Woods bandmates will return next week for the conclusion of their current tour.

Published in Volume 64, Number 5 of The Uniter (October 1, 2009)