Trixie Whitley plays Asheville in support of Porta Bohemica

TRIAL AND ERROR: “Before I could walk and talk, music was already the oxygen that I breathed,” says Trixie Whitley. But her professional path has been circuitous, from performing on her father's albums and in Daniel Lanois’ supergroup Black Dub, to a recent successful collaboration with Gus Seyffert. Photo courtesy of the artist

UPDATE: This show has been canceled. According to The Grey Eagle’s website, “Due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, our show with TRIXIE WHITLEY on 3/12/16 has been canceled. We hope to reschedule this show for later this year, but in the meantime we are issuing 100% refunds for ticket purchase.” Visit The Grey Eagle’s website for full details.

A little over a year ago, Belgian-born, Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist Trixie Whitley recorded an album’s worth of songs. These were intended as the follow-up to her 2013 debut, Fourth Corner. But after a break — during which she gave birth to her first child — she listened to those recordings and thought, “This just doesn’t seem right anymore.” With a totally new approach and new collaborators, the rock, soul and blues artist re-entered the studio and created Porta Bohemica, released in January. Whitley’s current tour brings her to The Grey Eagle on Saturday, March 12.

“After touring the previous record, I was inspired by how the band was sounding live,” Whitley says. Her initial goal had been to reproduce “the live energy that I hadn’t felt like I captured on my first album.”

Yet months later, she recognized that her vision had changed along the way. “And the material didn’t seem strong enough to be on my second album,” she says. “I needed to make more of a statement than just that. So I wrote a bunch of new stuff.” Whitley also found a new collaborator in Gus Seyffert, who has worked with Beck, Norah Jones, Danny Elfman and many others.

In its finished state, Porta Bohemica has it both ways. Some of the tracks held over from those initial sessions — “Eliza’s Smile” and “Faint Mystery” — demonstrate the live-in-the-studio power of Whitley’s band. Whitley believes that on the other, newer tracks, she succeeded in opening up the palette and expanding more of the sonic direction.

Though she’s only 28, Whitley has had a lifetime in music. “Before I could walk and talk, music was already the oxygen that I breathed,” she says. Daughter of the late singer-songwriter Chris Whitley, she began her performing career at age 11. Approached by a modern art museum, she began doing DJ sets. “At the time, they probably thought that it was a fun sort of performance art installation/experiment: ‘We’ll set up this child on a bunch of beer crates and have her spin this weird, experimental music!’”

She learned a great deal from the DJ gig. “Those years were another extension of finding and defining my own sense of musicality, and how I could translate that language to an audience,” Whitley says.

At the same time, Whitley was learning to play her own music. “I started playing drums when I was 10 years old; a year later I got recruited by an avant-garde performance collective in Europe,” she says. “For several years, I went from one production to the next. Usually I was the only child.” Whitley believes those experiences were formative, “especially since I’m a self-taught musician and performer. I didn’t go to school for any of that stuff.”

At 16, she quit the collective, quit school and moved to New York. “I was very aware it was going to take a lot of hard work and craftsmanship to stay true to my vision; it was going to be a long journey. I’m still on that journey,” she says. “It’s inevitably a challenging yet extremely fruitful path to go on.”

After developing her skills on guitar (“I’m not and never intended to be a virtuoso guitarist; I’m not interested in shredding”) and keyboards, Whitley played and sang on three of her father’s albums. Then she joined Daniel Lanois in the supergroup Black Dub. Whitley began releasing music under her own name in 2008.

“I think that part of me was very naive when I was doing those EPs,” she says. “I was just exploring. I did not want to confine myself to one linear style.”

The new album, Porta Bohemica, is a more realized effort, one that makes full use of Whitley’s songwriting, contralto vocal range and musicianship. Those same qualities are on display — albeit in different ways — when Whitley is onstage.

“The beautiful thing about live performance is that it’s more of a freewheeling thing. How do you allow unexpected moments to flourish into something that is beautiful? I share that with the audience. I really embrace that aspect of unexpected momentum and its visceral energy,” she says. “I don’t shy away from that element.”

WHO: Trixie Whitley with Lonnie Holley
WHERE: The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave., thegreyeagle.com
WHEN: Saturday, March 12, 9 p.m. $12

SHARE

Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

About Bill Kopp
Author, music journalist, historian, collector, and musician. His first book, "Reinventing Pink Floyd: From Syd Barrett to The Dark Side of the Moon," published by Rowman & Littlefield, is available now. Follow me @the_musoscribe

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

2 thoughts on “Trixie Whitley plays Asheville in support of Porta Bohemica

  1. burnsey

    You may want to update this, according to the Grey Eagle web site, this show has been cancelled.

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.