FREE TICKETS: TRIXIE WHITLEY @ THE MAGIC BAG 5/2

 

 

It’s only May, but one of the most anticipated shows of the year is almost upon us. Singer/songwriter Trixie Whitley may only be 26, but she already has a musical legacy most artists would kill for. She’s performed on record with her late great father Chris Whitley when she was just 10. Spinning at raves and parties in Brussels, Paris, New York and Amsterdam, she was one of the most successful house and techno DJ’s in the world by the age of 14. At 17, Trixie decided to concentrate on performing her own music. She’s gone on to work with Robert Plant, Marianne Faithfull, Joe Henry, Meshell N’degeocello, Joe Henry, Daniel Lanois, Marc Ribot, Black Dub and a host of others. With the release of her debut record, Forth Corner, Trixie is undertaking her first headline tour.
 

Though Whitley explores the gamut of human emotion in her music, there’s a sense of fearlessness in her that is unwavering. She dropped out of school at 17 and moved back to New York and started slinging burgers at a local dive. Meanwhile, she ground out her own material in the city. She learned piano, guitar and soon started playing solo shows, a preface to recording her first EP Strong Blood.

 

With that EP in hand, she and her mother went to a music festival in Belgium where Daniel Lanois was playing a gig with drummer Brian Blade, best known for his work with Joni Mitchell and Wayne Shorter. At her mother’s behest, she thrust a copy of Strong Blood into Lanois’ hand and returned to New York, thinking nothing would ever come of it.

“I went back to that shitty restaurant and it got to the point where I was going to ditch music and go back to school and get my GED,” says Whitley. “But when I got home that day, Daniel called. I screamed.” Lanois invited her to Boston to record. He was so blown away that he asked her to front Black Dub, working with Blade and bassist Daryl Johnson. The band’s self-­‐titled album was released in October of 2010 and the group toured well into 2011, with Whitley’s voice propelling the group’s unique groove to ultimate peaks.
With the Black Dub shows, countless solo gigs in New York and Europe, and buzz-­‐ building performances at festivals like Bonnaroo, SXSW, and Celebrate Brooklyn, Whitley has become one of the most talked about new artists of 2012. In November/December 2012, she embarked on her first solo U.S. tour, and currently continues to tour Europe and the US in anticipation of Fourth Corner’s 2013 release.

“I’m psyched and petrified,” says Whitley in her archetypal wide-­‐eyed wonderment mixed with a fierce determination. “As a songwriter, I want to go to places people don’t expect and with that is complete freedom of expression.” Perhaps that place is another version of a fourth corner: something spiritual perhaps, certainly emotional, but most definitely real.

 

Singer/songwriter Trixie Whitley drops by the Magic Bag on Thursday, May 2 for a very special intimate performance.  Johnny Nicolson of Echorev opens the show.

 

Email us right here at motorcityblog@earthlink.net for your chance at a pair of free tickets to this show!