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Kootenay Western Star (Rossland, BC) - March 18, 2008
Dust Poets coming to Rossland
"Out on the edge of town/Everything's on the edge of town/Box stores they are piling up/How I wish I could knock them down."
So goes the opening verse from the Dust Poets' song Walk Away, a tongue-in-cheek critique of small-town life fallen victim to sprawl and the bigger-is-better mentality so common across the Canadian landscape. Who better to play Rossland's own historic Miner's Hall, then, than the quintet from the Canadian Prairies? The contrast between mountainous Rossland and the Prairie provinces, while striking, only serves to better illustrate just how similar small-town life is throughout the country's rural areas.
Self-described and self-confessed as "irreverent Canadian folk-pop," The Dust Poets' unique sound flits between a tip of the hat to The Pogues and a slap on the wrist of homogenized country tunes. There's nothing bland or cliché about the clever and well-delivered lyrics, and the instrumentation is a perfect match for the musical and lyrical insights that come compliments of the five-piece acoustic ensemble. Guitar, accordion, stand up bass, The Dust Poets have these and more in their folksy, pop-inspired arsenal. The horns and decidedly bluegrass-feel to Hillbilly Love are a terrific example of genre bending that The Dust Poets so perfectly examine and execute. While the song could easily venture into the trite or obvious, it is instead a perfect stand-alone piece that illustrates the humour and irreverent streak so often attributed to The Dust Poets by themselves and by others (and the song speaks volumes to hillbillies the world over).
Presented by the Rossland Council for Arts and Culture, the Dust Poets will be appearing for one night only at the Miner's Hall (1768 Columbia Avenue), on Saturday, April 5. Tickets are $18 and available in advance at the Cellar (2067 Columbia Avenue, Rossland) and the Charles Bailey Box office in Trail (1-866-369-9669), with any remaining tickets to be made available at the door for $22. Please note, tickets do go fast, and we recommend you purchase well in advance to avoid disappointment. For an audio sampling of The Dust Poets' discography, visit http://www.dustpoets.com/ and prepare to be impressed.