What’s Up with Doc Walker

Recently I had a conversation with Chris Thorsteinson as they were getting ready to hit the road in Western Canada with Sawyer Brown, Lonestar and George Canyon.

This country cabaret was rocking its way across the wheatbelt and beyond with stops in Dawson Creek, Medicine Hat, Penticton, Calgary, Moose Jaw, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and wrapping up in Brandon Manitoba. Chris adds, “I’m really excited about playing Brandon at the Keystone Centre. We always play the bigger cities like Regina, Calgary, Winnipeg, which we are playing, but I like to get to the smaller places where the farmers and rural people hang out. Brandon is going to be special.” This tour sold out in every venue. People are eager to see live music again.

Chris says, “It’s nice to be back out on the road. We do this so we can take our music to the fans. I feel a sense of excitement I haven’t seen in a long time. We do this so we can get out and play for the fans and when that’s taken away. There’s a new sense of excitement and the live show reflects that. Our audience is diverse. I’d like to say a lot of folks our age, but kids are coming to the show and singing Rocket Girl. It’s good thing all around that people are enjoying live music again and getting out. The connection with the audience is what we are doing this for. We didn’t do a lot of social media concerts during the big pause because there was a lot of that going on. We wanted to wait and see people face to face.”

There seemed to be a refreshed energy on stage for all involved. George Canyon opened the night when he ambled onto the stage in Edmonton. The tour stop was a part of Farm Fair, the annual cattle show and sale. This left a permeating stench of cow patties across the air to which Canyon said, “That smells like money.” Doc Walker then joined George and they jammed together for a song or two and then Doc Walker poured their hearts into the too short 28-minute set. They covered a lot of ground over that time. And yes, lots of couples cozied up to each other and danced to ‘Rocket Girl.’

It was well worth the wait. The energy was genuine. We were also treated to seeing the whole band. Something we haven’t been privileged to in a while. As Chris stated, “Dave and I do a lot of acoustic small community hall shows and we love that stuff. I’m from a small town of 50 people. I know in order to keep the lights on in the halls you need to do fundraisers. It’s quite rewarding to go to these small places knowing that when we leave, they can pay the hydro bill for 6 months. It’s been fun.  Now getting on a bus and hitting the road with a couple of legendary acts is a pretty cool way to finish it off.”

I was wondering if there was some new music to expect.  “Always working on something new. It’s not like we recorded a bunch of songs and we are going to keep playing “Rocket Girl” or “Beautiful Life.” Dave and I are always trying to write new music and in the next couple of months we are going to get together with Murray (long time collaborator and band mate Pulver) again and do some writing. At this point of our career, we are able to something unique and different. It’s an exciting time to be able to branch out do something off the wall.”

As for new music, “Dave wrote a song called ”Come On Baby”  and I really like this one. We just need to fine tune the song and in the next couple of months you’ll hear something new from us.” What does the future hold for Doc Walker, “I think we are going to try to do some small-town touring in the spring. The summer is always busy hopping from festival to festival. And in the fall we are looking to do another tour in Canada with a couple other artists such as Michelle Wright and Jason McCoy. Judging by the success of the Sawyer Brown/Lonestar, Doc Walker and George Canyon tour, this will be a hit.

For more info check out https://www.docwalker.ca/