Bio
Spirit Village first came to be in 1990 when Bob Ryan and Eugene Smith came together as a duo. They played regularly around the Okanagan Valley Coffee-Houses and Folk Clubs in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Their sound was an acoustic guitar and conga blend, playing mainly original songs.
Over this period of time, Bob and Eugene met and played with many regional musicians, often joining in on the sets of fellow coffeehouse performers. In the Fall of 1993, when a particular idea to put on a larger theater performance was conceived, and wishing to flesh out the Spirit Village songs with fuller arrangements, Bob and Eugene invited a group of like-minded musicians to join them in putting on the concert, “Spirit Village and Friends – A Concert For the Arc.” The ‘Arc’ referred to a special building project the international Baha’i Community was doing on Mt. Carmel in Haifa, Israel.
As a fund-raiser and musical event, the night proved very successful – and fun! So much so, that this ‘ad hoc’ band decided to form a larger version of Spirit Village. And so Spirit Village became a six member band.
Along with Bob and Eugene, there was now Mike Ward, an experienced musician bringing skills on Guitar, Bass Guitar, Flute, Harmonica, Keyboards, and Vocals; Laurel DeWitt on Keyboards and Vocals; Auberte Campeau on Keyboards, Guitar, Percussion, and Vocals, and Isabelle Charland on Guitar and Vocals. This larger Spirit Village began playing regularly throughout the southern interior of the province, now performing in larger venues.
Bob and Eugene had produced demo tapes in Bob’s small home-recording studio to get gigging opportunities, but now Spirit Village decided it needed to record an album to be made available at shows, as people had started asking for one. So in the spring of 1994, armed with a DAT recorder, a fairly good live mixing console, and all their live gear, the band rented a small theater to serve as a recording space. They proceeded to record, ‘live-off-the-floor’ direct to tape, over the period of a couple of days and produced a cassette entitled, ‘On Similar Ground,’ which became a staple at the band’s live shows over the next year.
The band expanded its touring range and began performing farther afield, doing shows in the lower-mainland and into the Cariboo and Kootenay regions of British Columbia. During the first number of years the band had been primarily performing songs written by Bob Ryan, but now their repertoire was being filled out by songs written by other members of the band, and co-writing efforts amongst band members was increasing. This was also leading to experiments in adding more ‘rock’ to the somewhat ‘folk’ sound of the band. Electric guitar and drums were vying for the space the acoustic guitar and congas had heretofore occupied.
By the end of 1994, Isabelle Charland left the band, bringing the members of Spirit Village to five. In the following years, Isabelle was able to join in informally on occasion, adding her unique vocal once again to produce that blend that made so much of the music special.
In the winter of 1994 -1995, the band felt it was time to enter into a commercial recording studio and try their hand at another recording project. They booked some time in ‘Lakewood Media Recording Studios,’ then owned and operated by Ric Johnson, who was the recording engineer for the project. Over the space of four twelve-hour intense recording sessions in the early weeks of 1995, the CD, ‘Before the Moon’ was recorded. A young painter named, Tahirih Goffic, was commissioned to do a painting to use as the CD cover.
The next couple of years following the recording of that album witnessed the band working at a very intense level. Gigging throughout southern British Columbia, the band used its music and performances in the service of many local, regional and national service programs, doing fund raisers in support of the ‘Canadian Mental Health Association’ and the ‘Women In Need Society' among others. The band also teamed up with a number of visual artists and others to create interesting public events.
By the Fall of 1996 the band felt ready to tackle another recording project. This time they gathered in Bob Ryan’s home recording studio. The studio was in a new location with an improved recording space with some better gear. Bob had produced the band’s earlier recording efforts and had served as well as a recording engineer on those projects. Over the next year, between gigs and other commitments, the band recorded a wide range of tracks, all in various states of completion.
Before the recording project could be fully realized, circumstances arose that brought an end to Spirit Village as a working and touring band. All the members of the band were saddened by the circumstances but were determined to see if some version of Spirit Village might yet endure. Gathering those members who could get together, a consultation was had to see if there was a way to carry the essence of Spirit Village into the future.
A decision was made to have a core group of the band members who were able and willing to maintain a space where further writing, recording and, when feasible, performances as Spirit Village, could be maintained. And whenever possible any of the previous members of the band could participate. In addition, invitations were made to other like-minded musicians who, if they wanted to, could participate in making new music and perform under the Spirit Village name. Spirit Village was to change from being a band to being a kind of creative umbrella under which many might participate.
So Bob Ryan’s improved recording studio, now named, ‘Lightkeeper Music Recording Studios’ became the production home of Spirit Village. Bob Ryan, Mike Ward and Laurel DeWitt became the core group of people organizing and serving the project, and in ensuing years most of the previous members of the band did return whenever they could to contribute to the ongoing creative work. There were some notable musicians who joined in on many creative endeavors such as, Mike Garner, a talented Bass player; Dave Sopel, a sought-after local session player who contributed Bass and Mandolin; as well as Philp Patenaude, a singer-songwriter, lead guitarist and recording engineer in his own right. For a time a Spirit Village web presence was maintained on music hosting sites such as Soundclick and ReverbNation where the songs enjoyed great success.
This version of Spirit Village steadily worked up until around 2010 when the project wound down. Bob Ryan soon moved to Vancouver Island, relocating his recording setup. Many of the participants of the Spirit Village project still stay in contact and gather for visits whenever possible.
In the summer of 2024, Mike Ward, Laurel DeWitt and Bob Ryan began discussing the idea of recreating an online presence that could host the Spirit Village musical catalog, making it available in one place to fans old and new. Bob’s current recording and mixing setup has improved since those days back in the 90’s and it was thought that perhaps where they had access to old multitrack tapes and audio files, they could ‘freshen up’ the body of tracks for the new site. So that’s what they’re doing. Over time, the whole recorded back-catalog will be available here.
And you never know, over time, some new Spirit Village songs may appear!