WNMC House Concerts Focus on the Music

Nov. 6, 2015

If you happen to drive by James Walker’s house on Kenona Woods Drive in Traverse City, you might hear some pretty fantastic music spilling out. At first, you might think Walker owns a top-drawer stereo system and has exceptional taste in music.

He does know what he’s doing musically; Walker is a DJ and one of the music directors at WNMC-FM Radio, but he’s got a lot more than just MP3s in his living room.

Walker (and his house) host WNMC’s House Concert Series, a fall and winter event that gives limited audiences an exclusive opportunity to see some of their favorite musicians and bands in an intimate, unique setting.

FROM IDEA TO REALITY

Walker grew up in the Detroit area and moved north around 2007. He was at Traverse City’s InsideOut Gallery a few years ago with WNMC Station Manager Eric Hines. He mentioned he might be interested in “doing the house concert thing” and Hines said the radio station would definitely get behind it.

“Their sponsorship isn’t really money, though,” Walker said. “The station is community-supported, so we can’t get behind the concert series that way, but the artists we book for the shows are people we play on the radio station. So I wanted to give our community the opportunity to see these musi cians in a more relaxed setting.”

Citing venues like the City Opera House, the Milliken Auditorium at the Dennos Museum Center, Connemara Concerts, InsideOut Gallery and Sam Porter’s festivals, Walker said there are already a lot of amazing places to see music in Traverse City, and he’s not trying to compete with that. He’s just offering something different.

AUDIO ATTENTION

“Those are all very large scale shows, so they’re just another kind of environment entirely,” he explained. “I remember seeing Greensky Bluegrass at, I think it was, Union Street Station, years ago before they got really big, and it was a great concert, but you could also hear people talking and clinking glasses, which was distracting. These shows are just quieter, more focused, with more attention directly on the music.”

Once the idea was formulated and the details ironed out, Walker hosted his first house concert in the fall of 2013 with Seth and May.

“They were doing a house concert tour and I was the Traverse City venue for it,” Walker said. “The interesting thing was that I’d never been to a house concert before, let alone hosted one. They played acoustically and it was so, so great. I realized the potential for my home, that it had such good acoustics and could comfortably hold probably 40 people.”

The first WNMC-sponsored show took place in May 2014, with a few members of The Appleseed Collective as the opening act and The Accidentals as headliners. Walker’s house was dubbed The Moon Tower and a new local venue was born.

“It was an incredible time, a sold-out show, and I decided I’d continue the series in my house based on that success,” Walker said. “I also decided we’d do the series in the fall and winter, since there’s so much already going on in the summer.”

ROCKIN’ THE ROOM

Since then, WNMC and Walker have hosted a plethora of well-known acts right in his living room: The Crane Wives; Laith Al- Saadi; Samantha Cooper, featuring Medicinal Groove; Bossazuzu (a California band that joined the WNMC series when one of their members was teaching at Interlochen last summer) and a return performance by the entire Appleseed Collective.

The 2015–16 fall/winter series is just getting started. Coming up are Dede and the Dreamers (Nov. 22), Time and Luck (Lindsay Lou and Joshua Rilko, Dec. 11) and Rachael Davis with Dominic John Davis (Dec. 23).

“They’re living in Nashville now — Dominic is Jack White’s bass player — but they’ll be Up North for the holidays, so it’s very cool we were able to get both of them here to perform at Rachael’s show,” Walker said.

The WNMC House Concert Series will run through May, with winter acts still to be announced. Those interested can keep up with the schedule on Facebook (facebook. com/wnmcconcertseries) and, of course, by listening to WNMC-FM. Tickets to individual shows range from $15 to $20 and season passes can be purchased for the entire series.

“I really enjoy cultivating these relationships between artist and audience,” Walker said. “And getting to meet people from around the area and beyond is so cool, but the biggest thing is the music — having it right in this space and seeing the interactions. This is an opportunity you don’t get in too many places.”