Respect is a word that comes up more than once when the Georgia Straight reaches the mother-and-son duo Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear at home in Kansas City. That’s not by accident. There’s a reason that both Madisen and his mom, Ruth Ward, prove as charming as they are unfailingly polite. What you hear on their retro-folksy debut album, Skeleton Crew—namely, two musicians in easygoing harmony—is also what you get off-stage.

“I don’t know how tailored to music my answer will be, but respect is important, no matter who you’re working with,” Madisen says with Ruth by his side on a conference call. “None of us are bigger than life, but it’s easy to get wrapped up in your own world and head and own way of thinking. Respect can then go out the window, especially in this business, where people can be disrespectful really easily. I always hear people talk about artists that they meet, and going, ‘He was soooo nice.’ I think it’s crazy that being nice is a rare trait these days. What they probably mean was that he was just normal, and wasn’t mean. My dad always instilled in us that you be respectful. It just makes everything in life easier.”

Skeleton Crew is a record built on strong familial bonds. No stranger to the stage, Ruth spent years playing coffeehouses, with her children often watching from the sidelines.

“When the kids were younger, I’d take them with me and they’d sit in the audience,” she says. “That’s always been who I am and a big part of my life—it’s always been about the music. As far as something bigger, I never really pursued that. It was more like if it happened, great, and if it didn’t, then no problem.’ ”

Things definitely happened for Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear, even before the release of Skeleton Crew, which was tastefully produced by Jimmy Abbiss (Adele, Arctic Monkeys). During their first couple of years playing together, Ruth and Madisen did gigs that might best be described as intimate, with audiences sometimes limited to a couple dozen people. Then the two got the idea of sending out video clips to club owners instead of CDs, giving folks a better idea of what Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear were about. That led to some big breaks, including an appearance on Late Night With David Letterman and featured slots in publications like Rolling Stone.

In some ways Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear haven’t changed much since their beginnings—Madisen still sings and plays guitar while his mom mostly keeps in the background, happy to provide six-string support. The formula works beautifully on Skeleton Crew, where songs swing lazily from the simple, old-timey folk of “Live by the Water” to the fiddle-laced back-porch country of “Whole Lotta Problems”. Madisen and Ruth sound like they’ve seen the inside of a whitewashed church or two on the gospel treasure “Fight On” and hint they’ve spent a day or two on the bleak side of the tracks with the ode to dying alone “Dead Daffodils”.

Not much has changed from the early days of Madisen and Ruth playing together, except for the songs that they play.

“When Madisen was first working with me, we were doing a lot of covers,” Ruth recalls. “He was also writing a lot of material, and finally he said, ‘Mom, let’s just stick with the things that I write.’ I thought we had to depend on the covers, but he’s taught me a lot since then. Originals are what make Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear so special. He’s made a believer out of me.”

The cool thing about her praise for her son? You can hear the respect in her voice.

Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear play the Cultch’s Historic Theatre next Thursday (October 15).