Moving to her own rhythm
From unorthodox guitar tunings to mixing up genres, singer-songwriter Trixie Whitley defies categorization
For Trixie Whitley, it started with bass and drums. The unique, hard-to-label musical approach that has created such buzz around the 27-year-old singer-songwriter has its roots in a childhood desire to play standup bass, which, she said, was not exactly encouraged by her music teachers.
It was only when Whitley was needed to sit behind the drum kit to help out some adults rehearsing at her school that the rhythmic drive, which defines even her acoustic guitar playing today, began to get approval. It quickly seemed more like a mission to her. She was 10.
“It happened so naturally, with the drums. It was almost like I understood the instrument before I had even played it. It was a very physical reaction,” the singer said during a recent telephone interview. “Rhythm is something that was in my body since I was a child, before I was really aware of it. But I do love constantly exploring the marriage of all the worlds: rhythm, melody and phrasing and the poetry of lyrics.”
And there’s an extra spinning plate: some guitar tunings that shift the melodies slightly off-centre. (Curious musicians, take note: Whitley favours open C and open D tunings, with a few of her own variations thrown in.)
This complicated stew is both the magnet for her growing fan base and a thorn in the side for a business ob- sessed with categories and genre labels. It would be hard to know whether her music should be filed under rock, alternative, indie, singersongwriter or contemporary R&B. Record execs looking to market her powerful voice as the sound of the next Adele would, no doubt, begin tearing their hair out.
“That has been the biggest challenge overall: navigating my way through the music industry without following other people’s agendas,” she said. “With the kind of voice I have, a lot of labels would have preferred if I didn’t play and I wasn’t a writer. It would have been easier to package me in a pop-star formula.”
Whitley is the daughter of acclaimed roots musician and songwriter Chris Whitley, a background that saw her spending some of her childhood in recording studios and on the road. She began to be noticed on a large scale with the 2010 appearance of Black Dub, a band started by musician-producer Daniel Lanois, and its selftitled debut album. She was the group’s singer. Her debut album, Fourth Corner, was released last year to positive notices, including a four-star review in Mojo magazine.
Whitley, however, is all too aware that a respectable fan base and critical kudos don’t get you all the way there. That much has become clearer to her in the six years since she made her Montreal International Jazz Festival debut at 21, with two free outdoor shows in 2008.
“I was very much DIY, where you kind of disregard the industry, yet I have also realized that I’m not like a punk band, not something completely underground, so I need certain support systems to get me to the next levels — both musically and from a business aspect,” she said.
There have been internal changes since those early jazz fest performances, too. “I think I’ve also learned, within the craziness of this industry and this life on the road, how important creating some kind of stability at home is for me,” she said. “Because I came up in such a bohemian, artistic upbringing, it also meant there was a tremendous amount of chaos in my childhood. And that chaos continues within the profession I have. That being said, it’s beautiful to find a balance between the chaos that exists within the art and stability within that.”
A self-described loner and introvert who cherishes her “alone time,” Whitley has found herself required to communicate more strongly as she develops her own musical turf. Like all introverts, she must, at times, slip into pretend-extrovert mode.
“I’ve always had a small survival instinct and a lot of urgency to what I do,” she said. “When I’m thrown into situations that are quite challenging for me, I tend to warrior myself through it in some way.”
Whitley made the point more than once in the course of the interview that she is still young and trying to find her place in the world. Her tone was, on the whole, one of optimism about her future. There will inevitably be more disagreements with music-biz forces, but Whitley said she seeks inspiration in the work of role models when the demands of this week’s trends bring out her insecurities.
“What I learned at a young age from studying musicians, writers, philosophers, activists, actors and other people that inspired me was that all of them were rebels,” she said. “They basically went against the system, and that was what sustained their work and made them really stand out. That’s why, years after they died, people would still be gravitating back to their work.”
For Whitley, there is, indeed, more than short-term success at stake.
“Being an artist is not really a choice you have,” she said. “If anything, it was a big responsibility I had to take on — to really serve the art and the music. And then when I looked at my values, I knew this was never going to stop, because it runs so deep in my blood. It’s not like I woke up one day and thought it would be a fun idea to become a musician or an artist. I knew it would consistently colour my life. So within that, I just felt that what I create has to have a very strong voice that is as true as possible to my own identity and that is not conforming to any of those stylistic confinements.
“Within this journey, if I can continue to create things that are very true, they will stand strong — stronger than if I’m trying to compromise as something I’m not,” she said. “I don’t think I would be able to survive that.”
Trixie Whitley performs Friday at 7 p.m. at Club Soda, 1225 St-Laurent Blvd., as part of the Montreal International Jazz Festival. Tickets cost $30.50. Call 514286-1010 or visit clubsoda. ca. For more details on the festival, visit montrealjazzfest.com.