Contributed by John Barth
The Wardens entertained 78 folks from the Lakes District on March 15 at the high school theatre in 亚洲天堂 Lake.
The Alberta-based group blends guitar and fiddle music and stories about national parks and wardens past and present with slides and videos that complement both the music and the stories.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like they are reminiscing in this really warm and intimate way around a camp fire with a cup of coffee, and they invite you to sit around the camp fire and listen in. And we鈥檙e so happy they invited us to take part in their conversation,鈥� one audience member said when describing The Wardens performance.
Since the guys were here in 2016, Ray Schmidt and Scott Ward on guitar and vocals have added Scott Duncan on fiddle. Scott adds musical interest and variety to the group with fiddle solos, and included his own story about learning to play the fiddle as a kid growing up in Saskatchewan. Scott was mentored by his grandfather, who himself was still fiddling away past the age of 106.
The Wardens played an engaging mix of Warden classics with tunes from their newer albums, Sleeping Buffalo and Sold Out at the Ironwood.
The Lakes District audience applauded warmly throughout, and it is still a pleasant surprise to hear an audience burst into applause at a live performance. The Wardens ended their generous set last night with a delightful instrumental, after which the audience demanded and got an encore. The guys responded with a Warden classic.
Now, on to Kitimat and Prince Rupert for the band. Happy trails to The Wardens, until we meet again.
The Lakes District Art鈥檚 Council is still operating with COVID-sized audiences, but they are slowly growing one concert at a time. The last show was estimated to be up to about 35 per cent of pre-COVID audience numbers.
