Whitney Walker (EP Release) + Chris Côté (Album Release)

Whitney Walker (EP Release) + Chris Côté (Album Release)

Mon 6/9

6pm doors/7pm show

All Ages | $12 adv./$15 day of

Whitney Walker began his music career playing psychedelic gutter blues in the Pacific Northwest during the mid nineties. His early band, Pay The Coyote, cut their teeth in the local dive bar circuit, then Walker has spent the last couple of decades playing countless solo and band shows throughout the country and in almost as many bands (Happy Inside, Dixon Bendejo Trash, Arthur C. Lee & Whit Walker, For Morning). In 2005, Walker's life veered way off track when he began using drugs, which led to a life-long addiction struggle, divorce, custody battles, and even gang violence. His life went so far off track that by 2009, Walker found himself homeless in Portland, Oregon, living under an overcoat in Laurelhurst Park. This pattern would continue throughout Walker's adult life. His experience with homelessness inspired the song "Reverse Cowboy," which was written as an ode to the 'King Of the Homeless', a legendary transient man in Portland, whose nose was broken seventeen times as Whit was told from the the King's mouth (the King being "Cowboy").
Whitney's life brought him front and center to the suffering of the destitute, the junkies and the addicts, the thieves and even the gangsters. His music career ultimately became fully derailed when Whit's life became occupied with a steady stream of tribulations, trials, and tragedies, all of which would finally, after many years, become the foundation for Whitney’s new material, but his battle took a turn for the worst in 2009 when he attempted suicide by stabbing himself in the heart multiple times, leading to two open heart surgeries and a month-long coma.
Walker was finally able to turn his life around in 2011 by getting sober. He then became a social worker and now helps addicts find treatment and rehabilitation. Because of his own personal struggles with mental illness, he holds an active position in the Portland, Maine community through assisting the destitute. In 2014, Walker became friends with Will Bradford, bandleader of SeepeopleS, and during the recent Covid lockdown, Bradford and his band mates, alongside Whit's current bandmates and extended musical family (including legendary baritone saxophonist, Dana Colley of Morph*ne), helped him bring his songs to life.

A Dog Staring Into A Mirror On The Floor was a result of these collaborations. It was released on March 3, 2023 on RascalZ RecordZ. The album takes a deep look at mental illness, homelessness, addiction, travel and hope.

Chris Côté is a prolific composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist from Portsmouth, NH, whose work has ranged from classical and musical theater to pop and experimental music. As the creative force behind veteran seacoast band Almanac Mountain, he released 4 full-length albums and 2 EPs. In recent years, He’s established himself as a valuable collaborator with a variety of artists, including Burst & Bloom Records regulars Tiger Saw, Guy Capecelatro III, and Jim Rioux, with whom he’s had the opportunity to make broad use of his talents as a performer, producer, and arranger. 

Recent achievements of note include The Gospel of Holden Brown and the Wishes (2022); orchestration and production on the Jim Rioux EP Mercury (2023); and the final Almanac Mountain LP Almanac Mountain is Breaking Up With You (2024).

Chris’s new full-length release C’Era Una Volta, for Burst & Bloom Records, finds him looking into his past for inspiration. The songs are a mix of newly composed songs that consider the inevitable alteration and fluidity of memories, and new recordings of previously unreleased songs.

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