Seth Walker established himself as a vital part of Austin’s scene of bluesy singer-songwriters over the course of nearly two decades—so of course he capped that experience by leaving Texas behind for Nashville and New Orleans in recent years.
Still, the Texas runs deep in both Walker’s music and his career plans. The first place to notice that is in the stomping, riff-heavy single “Trouble,” from his forthcoming album, Sky Still Blue. The video for the song, which features a besuited Walker jamming in an attempt to impress a mysterious woman, is below—and it captures one of the several kinds of trouble that Walker had on his mind as he wrote the song.
“‘Trouble’ came to me while walking on the west side of New York City,” Walker explains. “It was way past midnight, and I saw a little crew of apparent ‘trouble’ raising hell on the sidewalk up ahead of me. I pressed on hoping for an uneventful stroll home, and out of the blue and out of the dark, a song just appeared. My hard sole shoes on the concrete started the beat in my head, and out jumped the melody for the chorus—’don’t want no trouble… step aside and let me pass.'”
Walker’s brand of trouble will take him throughout various parts of Texas in the coming months—and not just the bigger cities, either. His list of dates balances stops in Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and the Houston area with shows in places like Midland (tonight) and La Grange (tomorrow), giving Walker some perspective on the state that those who focus on the biggest population centers miss. “I love hitting these smaller Lone Star towns,” he says. “People are of the music-loving, boot-scootin’, Texas talkin’, over-all friendly variety—I don’t think most people from outside of Texas realize just how big a role music plays in the culture here.”
(Photo © 2014 Zack Smith)
