Redhead Express (RHE) is a country/bluegrass/pop quartet composed of sisters Kendra, LaRae, Alisa and Meghan Walker, originally from Palmer, Alaska. They are based out of Nashville, Tennessee with a summer home base of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, since so many of their summer fair shows are on the west coast this year.
These gifted ladies are no strangers to this reviewer, as he has been following them since being introduced to their music almost two years ago. A review of the first concert he saw was published on AXS.com on September 17, 2014, followed with the publication of an interview with the band on November 27, 2014.
RHE has also amassed quite a few nominations for the LA Music Critic Awards, and won the award for best video (cover) in 2015 for their version of OneRepublic’s hit song “I Lived.”
Montana has seen a lot of RHE this year at fairs across the state. Indie Voice caught up with them during their performance at the Northwest Montana Fair in Kalispell on August 17. The ladies did a pair of performances that day, with their evening slot being the opener for country superstar Trace Adkins. This review is of their afternoon slot on the Huckleberry Stage.
The ladies kicked off their 45 minute set with a stirring cover of Alabama’s song “I’m in a Hurry.” As always, harmony is king (or is it queen?) when RHE hits the stage, and this performance was no exception. Instrumentally, Kendra is on acoustic guitar and mandolin, LaRae is on banjo and acoustic guitar, Alisa is on fiddle and mandolin and Meghan is on Eddie, her trusty double bass.
RHE mixed their own stirring cover versions of such popular songs as Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” with original songs, including “Roots,” a song they wrote about their childhood home in Alaska, and “Lose My Mind,” a song about the craziness of getting married. They even played a request by yours truly for one of their latest cover songs, Meghan Trainor’s “Better When I’m Dancing,” from the Peanuts movie.
While every member of RHE is accomplished on their respective instruments, on this day LaRae truly shined. She played with such confidence it was as if she owned the stage. In the two years since this reviewer last saw RHE perform live, LaRae’s performance skills have truly grown, allowing her to shine next to her sparkling sisters.
Even the brothers, Sean, Joseph and Ammon, who are usually in the background supporting their sisters, got the chance to shine when The Walker Boys took the stage for a short two-song set during their sisters’ show. Like their sister LaRae, The Walker Boys have grown in their performance skills and nailed their short set. Besides the wonderful harmonies and impressive musical skills of Ammon on bass, Sean on banjo and Joseph on mandolin, Sean truly wowed the audience when he lept from the stage and played his banjo throughout the crowd before returning to the stage.
The performances of both RHE and The Walker Boys were stellar and worth well more than the cost of entry into the fair. Although we were unable to catch their opening slot later that night, we did catch snippets of the performance through a live recording done for members of RHE’s Patreon supporters.
To find out more about RHE, check out their website and Facebook pages, follow them on Twitter, subscribe to their YouTube channel and support them on Patreon.
