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With a friendship that stretches back to the beginning of the ‘80s, RanchWriters’ Barney Bentall and Geoffrey Kelly have logged a lot of miles together. At his Vancouver studio in 1984, Barney produced the self-titled debut album by Spirit of the West – the legendary folk-rock group that Geoffrey co-founded with bandmates John Mann and J. Knutson. A couple of years later, Geoffrey played flute on a track for Barney Bentall & The Legendary Hearts’ major label debut. Throughout the careers of these two iconic Canadian bands, Barney and Geoffrey’s respective paths would occasionally meet at festivals and on the road as each group crisscrossed Canada.

While music was a common interest and an evolving career path for Barney and Geoffrey, their friendship really grew from their families. The Kellys and the Bentalls both resided on Vancouver’s North Shore, and for many years Sunday night dinners were epic (and usually accompanied by an episode of Masterpiece Theatre). Kids were born, kids grew, kids moved, kids had kids, and friendships endured and deepened.

In recent years, there have been many more Kelly/Bentall-family gatherings at the Bentall ranch, nestled up in the Cariboo of British Columbia. While hiking, snowshoeing, giant crossword puzzles, ranch golf, and horseback riding were generally the activities of choice, it was during these gatherings that guitars would often come out by the creek or in the cabin. After a few years of woodshedding, Barney and Geoffrey struck on the idea of recording an album at the ranch. This album came to be in October 2020 through the capable hands of producer John Raham, recording live off the floor using a mobile rig. The experience offered a warm respite from a year the world won’t soon forget.

Barney, primarily known for his unmistakable voice, and Geoffrey, known for his flutes and whistles from the Celtic tradition, settled on the idea of recording an instrumental album based around the two fingerpicked acoustic guitars. RanchWriters would be a challenging departure, and this held great appeal for both musicians. It was only fitting to enlist drummer Geoff Hicks and bassist Rob Becker, each of them West Coast legends, to provide the album’s backbone and foundation.

After the recording session at the ranch, Barney and Geoffrey invited many friends to contribute to the RanchWriters’ album tracks, which were eventually mixed in Vancouver at Afterlife Studios – formerly Mushroom Studios – where both Spirit of the West and the Legendary Hearts have each enjoyed a long recording history.

The resulting self-titled album evokes a cinematic Canadiana feel – very Cariboo, very BC – perhaps not surprising given the duo’s musical journeys and the idyllic surroundings in which RanchWriters was recorded.