The four members of Real Ponchos grew up in Vancouver, but their hearts belong in the country. Everything about the band, from its twangy tunes to its naturalistic album covers to the honky-tonk–chic fashion sense of singer-guitarist Ben Arsenault, oozes with backwoods charm.

“I just love country music,” confirms the soft-spoken Arsenault. “The times that were most formative for me were in the mountains or out on the water, in wild, natural places.” His bandmates share his affinity for the outdoors—if not his rootin’-tootin’ wardrobe—and they frequently camp while on tour.

And yet, despite their rural aesthetic, they are by no means country purists. At different points in the course of a nearly hourlong conversation with the Georgia Straight at Elysian Coffee on Broadway, co-frontman Emile Scott extols Aphex Twin’s synth virtuosity and drummer Emlyn Scherk tells a lengthy anecdote about Miles Davis’s recording process on Bitches Brew. They agree that Pink Floyd is a formative influence, and point out that Real Ponchos’ band name is an obscure Frank Zappa reference. Bassist Michael Wagler isn’t present for the interview, but his cohorts note that he has a soft spot for U2 and Dave Matthews Band.

“I always thought that it was weird to have a country band from Vancouver,” Scherk admits, “but more recently I’ve realized that, first of all, there are quite a few country bands here, and second of all, everybody that does that type of music here makes it their own thing, which I think is really cool.”

The affable drummer continues: “We’re a country band, but that’s not the only thing we are.”

The friends have been honing this nontraditional approach since high school, when Arsenault, Scott, and Scherk all attended Lord Byng Secondary in different graduating classes. (Wagler went to nearby Kitsilano Secondary.) They’ve played together in various projects over the years, eventually forming Real Ponchos and issuing a self-titled EP in early 2013.

Their sound came to fruition on the debut full-length Since I Let You Go, which they independently released this spring. At times, the band sounds like vintage country-rock: “Outta’ This Place” is a rustic romp with weeping pedal steel, honking harmonica, and salt-of-the-earth vocal harmonies, while “Deep Dark Pool” is a tear-in-my-beer ballad featuring the inspired metaphor “Maybe you’ll cut a hole in the ice/Of the deep dark pool of love.”

Arsenault and Scott split frontman duties evenly, trading off the microphone on a song-by-song basis. Each singer perfectly captures the music’s pastoral spirit: Scott’s voice is smooth and clear, and his delivery is powerful enough to project across an open prairie; Arsenault’s vocals, on the other hand, have a raw and creaky quality that is suited to intimate campfire serenades.

But despite the musicians’ obvious affection for roots music, they show off plenty of stylistic breadth on the album’s back half. This includes the jangling, Real Estate–esque instrumental “Buenas Vibras”, plus two epic 10-minute jams (“Along the Way” and “Take Me Back Home”). The collection’s final three minutes consist solely of gossamer ambient tones.

“Even though we didn’t release it on vinyl, I think we almost had the idea of it being like a Side A and a Side B,” Scherk explains. “We have our pop songs on Side A, and then our spacey jams on Side B.”

Unfortunately, Since I Let You Go is currently only available digitally and on CD. “We’d love to put it on vinyl, we just don’t have any money. So put that in there,” Scott quips with a nod toward the Straight’s digital recorder. “We need money. We’re open for grants or whatever.”

The quartet estimates that its recording session lasted around two weeks—“Whatever nine grand is,” Scott jokes—with tracking taking place at the now defunct Hive Creative Labs in Burnaby with coproducer Jesse Gander. During this time, the band recorded the bulk of the parts live off the floor and didn’t obsess over small details.

“I just listened to The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan again. On ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right’, he messes up that first guitar part in that. He’s fingerpicking it, and it’s pretty bad,” Scott points out. “Even if there are mistakes, most people don’t notice those mistakes. As long as it’s mostly in tune and has soul behind it, it should be fine.”

Due to time and budget restrictions, the Ponchos opted to capture the album digitally, rather than on tape, as they would have preferred. Still, they were grateful for the opportunity to record in the Hive before its closure last September.

“We were one of the last bands to track in the Hive,” Scott notes. “That was pretty cool, just because there were so many great records made in that place.”

This observation leads into yet another stylistically diverse musical discussion, with the Ponchos citing Black Mountain’s self-titled debut, Dan Mangan’s Oh Fortune, and White Lung’s Sorry as some of their favourite albums recorded at the Hive.

But even though the band is decidedly nonconformist in its approach to genre, Scott is quick to note that Real Ponchos has been embraced by country-music crowds. “We do really well in Alberta,” he says with a smile. “They can’t believe we’re from Vancouver. They go nuts.”

Real Ponchos plays Electric Owl on Friday (October 24).