Venture into Canada’s untamed wilderness without ever leaving Hillsboro.
The Wardens play the Walters Cultural Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22, taking listeners on a musical trek through tales of the mountains and the beauty of nature.
Rooted deeply in their connection to the great outdoors, the trio consists of three Canadian park rangers telling stories shaped by over 50 years of collective experience. The band was founded by Ray Schmidt and Scott Ward in 2009 during the centennial celebration of Canada’s national park warden service, with Scott Duncan joining as a fiddler in 2017 to complete the ensemble.
In a blend of folk, roots and western styles that effloresce through haunting harmonies and vivid tales, the Wardens give a glimpse into the adventure and isolation of life in the Canadian wild — recounting times of wrangling grizzly bears and reflecting on the environmental crisis.
“There are few places in the world where wilderness exists in abundance, where you can jump on a horse or slip on hiking boots and disappear for weeks on end. Don’t miss The Wardens as they bring these experiences to the stage, painting a picture so vivid that you’ll almost ‘smell the Pine forests and hear the Grizzly Bear in the woods,’” Hillsboro’s Public Arts Division said in a release.