Traditional styles takes the stage with the Walker Family Band
Black Mountain Center for the Arts hosts musical family
The Valley Echo
June 2, 2022
Scott Walker, left, Jennie Walker Brunner and Landon Walker will be joined by Linda Minke, June 4, when the Walker Family Band takes the stage at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts. Photo courtesy of BMCA
The traditional styles of Irish dance music and old time American tunes will take center stage in the Black Mountain Center for the Arts, beginning at 7 p.m., Saturday, June 4, when the Walker Family Band comes to town.
The Asheville-based performers, who have played shows throughout the southeast for more than two decades, offers a distinctive take on traditional styles. Tickets for the show are $15 for adults and $5 for kids under 17, and can be purchased online at blackmountainarts.org.
The band will share original tunes, rooted in their training and experience in classical music and jazz. Each member of the family is an accomplished musician, the Walker Family Band creates a confluence of sound that creates an energetic connection with audience.
Scott Walker moved to the mountains from Greensboro, where he developed his fiddle tune books that have inspired students all over the country. Originally a cellist and orchestra teacher, Scott began studying Irish music in the 1990s. For 20 years he has directed a student fiddle group in Greensboro called “The Walker Street Fiddlers.” Along with his brother Landon and his daughter Jennie, as the Walker Family Band, he has performed and offered a fiddle camp held in Blowing Rock, every summer since 2003.
Landon has a long history as a professional musician. After studying classical bass and composition at Florida State University, he moved to Jacksonville, Florida, and began a 40-year career as a successful jazz bassist. He had the opportunity to play with some of the world’s foremost players, including Lionel Hampton and Marilyn McPartland. Landon played bass (and tuba) in ensembles large and small, from big bands to opera.
Since his brother Scott introduced him to Irish music, he has taken up the accordion and the banjo and has composed quite a number of tunes that are Irish in nature, with a twist that reveals his very rich musical past. He and his wife, Linda Minke, are founding members of Celtic Ring, a group that performed in northeast Florida.
Minke is a classical cellist by trade, she presently enjoys playing with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra near her home and in the summers for over 30 years in Door County, Wisconsin with the Peninsula Music Festival orchestra. She added fiddle to her life about a decade ago, and is now a multi-instrumentalist, adding the Celtic harp to her list!
Scott’s daughter, Jennie Walker Brunner is versed in classical playing. She learned Irish fiddling from her Dad, and was introduced to American Old Time from her friend, Caroline Pond in Boone. Her inspiration to write and perform her own fiddle tunes was the impetus for the birth of The Walker Family Band.
After earning a degree in Music Education at Texas State University, and moving to Asheville shortly thereafter, she served as the concertmaster of Western North Carolina’s own Blue Ridge Orchestra. Presently, Brunner is raising a family, teaching orchestra at the local Waldorf School, playing with The Walker Family Band and has formed a student group of fiddlers who perform in the Asheville area.
True to Irish and American tradition, they share their experience and knowledge by conducting multi-instrumental workshops and by hosting an annual summer camp. The Walker Family Band Music Camp is attended by families and students from coast to coast.
For tickets or more information go to blackmountainarts.org or call 828-669-0930. The Black Mountain Center for the Arts is located at 225 West State Street.