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Spruce Grove Examiner (Spruce Grove, AB) - March 7, 2008
Prairie poets play folk mix
Five-piece band has played across Canada and U.S. with original and cover tunes
Distributed across the country, the Dust Poets are light-hearted, self-described irreverent Canadian folk-pop. "We don't like to sledge people over the head with a sad theme, so we like to keep it fun and interesting," said band member Murray Evans. Evans writes the majority of the band's material, which can include elements of bluegrass, swing and folk. He said the subjects of their most recent material have been small-town losers, apparent on their latest album Lovesick Town. "We're all from rural Manitoba and for some reason that plays into our psyche. Being from the prairies, we've got a bit of a cynical edge," Evans explained. "We like songs that mean something. We don't do a lot of fluff. Whether it's anti-war tunes or just interesting takes on life in general, it seems to go over fairly well."
Formed in Brandon, Man. in 2001, the Dust Poets are a five-piece acoustic band that have released three records and toured across Canada and the United States. On the phone from Memphis, Tenn., Evans said it was a necessity to start performing in the U.S. "The old story goes if you string every good gig across Canada back-to-back, you'd be playing for 12 nights of the year," Evans joked. "This makes it so we can play in Canada once a year at different venues and that way it's fresh for the audience and that way they don't get tired of it." And the response they've been getting in the U.S. have been positive. "It's pretty flattering when you can write a song about your small town and you can come down to Nashville and play it and people can identify with that," Evan said. "It tells you that the songs can travel, they can mean things to people that you don't know. That's the whole reason you play music, to try and reach people." Touring south of the border also gives the band the opportunity to polish up old material and write new material. The latter task is a feat in itself as the band members don't live in the same city or province, distributed across Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick. "Even though we live in different parts of the country, we probably tour 10 days a month," Evans said. "We tend to really appreciate the time we have for hanging out and working on new material."
Evans credited the band's influences to having a mélange in the members - four classically-trained musicians and a jazz player. Also, he noted there is a subtle influence in their music by musicians like Wilco, Elvis Costello and Tom Waits, whom the band also cover. "People like to hear cover tunes and we like to play them, but we don't want to play the obvious ones," Evans acknowledged. The group is currently working on material for their fourth album, which Evan hoped to begin recording in the fall. Although they have done a number of performances in Edmonton, this weekend will be the appearance of Dust Poets at Horizon Stage. Tickets for the Saturday evening show are still available by calling 962-8995.