KEEPING IT ALL IN THE FAMILY
After shooting to fame in the 1980s, The Walters Family band plays on with a dinner theatre on their rural property
After shooting to fame in the 1980s, The Walters Family band plays on with a dinner theatre on their rural property
The story of the Walters family is a little bit country, a little bit rock ’n’ roll, a little bit folksy with a healthy dose of gumption. It’s the story of three siblings with innate musical talent who formed an act and took it across the country, eventually dragging their parents onto the stage with them. And it’s the story of a family that has taken their 40 years’ experience on the stage and opened their own stage – a summer dinner theatre that attracts musical acts from across Canada and the United States.
As they cosy around the kitchen island for an interview in their 200-year-old farmhouse near Bright, Ont., it’s clear this family has worked so long and so well together they practically complete each other’s sentences.
Darren, Kimberly and Bradley Walters were introduced to musical instruments at a young age thanks to their grandfather,
George Matheson. The three children took to music naturally and before long they were calling themselves the Walters Family Trio and performing at local fairs and concert halls.
They were just four, seven and 10 respectively when they started, and they were adorable. Country and gospel was their specialty and they began to make a name for themselves.
“Eventually we got bigger bookings and we needed a drum and a bass player. Since mom and dad were driving us to the gigs anyway, we figured they should join the band,” Kimberly says. “So Darren taught mom and dad to play, and we became The Walters Family.”
Mom – that’s Shirley – learned to play bass, and dad – Garry – played the drums. They too picked it up quickly and The Walters Family started touring.
Their local fame earned them a 26-week TV show in the 1980s – “The Walters Family Live,” recorded in the CKCO studio in Kitchener.
Their first big tour was in 1986 when they travelled across Canada to perform at Expo ’86 in Vancouver.
“We were staying in a condo in Vancouver and the TV was on, and suddenly we saw ourselves on TV. They were airing our show out there. For us it was the coolest thing,” Kimberly recalls.
The family had an onstage chemistry and repertoire that was on the mark. They worked hard. Their audiences loved them.
“We toured all over the world and it was fantastic. But it was also really hard. We were on the road so much that after a while we missed our home base. So we decided to open a theatre here instead,” Kimberly said.
They transformed the 200-year-old barn on their 150-acre property into a stage and dinner theatre, maintaining the rough-hewn beams but adding elegance with fancy chandeliers and dining tables. Walters Theatre opened in 2000.
The sound and lighting systems are stateof-the-art. The meals are catered by Quehl’s Restaurant and Catering in Tavistock. And the grounds are beautiful, with walking trails, hanging baskets, a pond, lush greenery and benches to sit and take it all in.
“The barn has great acoustics – there’s a really great sound,” Shirley says. “What’s really unique though is how intimate it is. Even the furthest seat from the stage is still close.”
They knew Canadians were travelling to Branson, Missouri, for unique theatre experiences and used that as their model.
“We wanted to do up here what they were doing down there,” Darren says. “So we get artists who don’t otherwise play in this area. It’s constant work to find new shows and good shows and shows that will fit in our-sized theatre. But now when we call people up, they’ve heard of us. And our audiences come back year after year.”
Cape Breton singer Rita MacNeil graced their stage in the years before she died in
2013. Larry Gatlin of the Grand Ole Oprey also made the trek to the Walters Theatre. Carroll Baker, dubbed Canada’s First Lady of Country Music, is scheduled to do five performances this summer.
“You can see the new ones get nervous when they come down the drive and see this farmhouse and barn. They must wonder what they got themselves into,” Darren says, chuckling. “But we get to know our artists. We welcome them into the house. They get comfortable and they want to come back. It’s pretty great when they do.”
Much to the family’s delight, audiences keep coming back too.
“Some people come for every act we have. A lot will bring visitors if they have them. And some will come for one show, love it, and come back for the rest of the season. It snowballs and that’s what we like,” Darren said.
“We don’t have a huge advertising budget so word of mouth really matters.”
Judi Meadows is a neighbour of the theatre, a patron, a volunteer – so she can see more shows – and is arguably The Walters Family’s biggest fan.
She says she and her husband used to go to Stratford for theatre but found the distance and expense a bit daunting.
“We wanted to find something more local, so when I heard that a performer I like was coming to the Walters Theatre, we decided to try it out. Well, once gone, once bitten,” Meadows says with a laugh. “We’ve been seeing shows there for 10 years.”
Meadows says it’s not just the calibre of entertainment or quality of meal that keeps her coming back, but the intimacy of the entire event. You really feel the show is just for you, she says.
“There’s not a bad seat in the house and the performers are all available to talk after the show. Where else can you do that?” Meadows asks.
“I live so close. Why didn’t I go sooner? It’s crazy that we don’t know what’s in our own backyard.”
Although Garry Walters and George Matheson have both passed away, their presence is still felt by the family and that motivates them to bring new and interesting shows to their theatre.
“We always wanted to stay in the music industry,” Kimberly says. “This is a way to stay and sustain all of us. And we have so many ideas to evolve things here.”
“We just discovered we’re not normal,” Shirley jokes. “Apparently not all families are like ours.”
Theatre season is June to October but it takes the whole year to book the acts and deal with promotion, ticket sales and the other details. Indeed, some of the acts are booking two years ahead.
But winter is also when the family can squeeze in some of their separate, personal interests. Brad, for example, runs a travel business, Bradley Walters Journeys, and is often out of the country on cruises and guiding tours. He was in Costa Rica the day the family was interviewed for this story.
Darren has a recording studio at the back of the farmhouse where performers can book recording time. He also produces other shows, “so I’m on the road a lot,” he says. Darren is also a Canadian fiddle champion and occasionally plays with other groups, although not as much as in the past.
The youngest member of the family band is Kimberly’s son, Schyler Lambert. The 15-year-old plays violin, guitar, piano and sings. As a member of the family, he also pulls his weight with other aspects of running the theatre.
And he has appeared with his mother on a YTV reality show called “Driving Me Crazy,” in which Kimberly taught him to drive.
“I love everything in the entertainment business,” Schyler says. “And I have the opportunity to see how to do everything. It’s what I know and it’s what I love.”
“We’re curious to see the path he takes,” his mother says. “It’s up to him though, as it was for us.”
The 2017 theatre season was 75 per cent sold by January, which is a solid position for an independent theatre. The Walters Family was to open the season in June with its own brand of music and entertainment. They will also do a gospel show in September.
Among the other acts this season: The Toronto All-Star Big Band and tribute concerts to Elvis Presley, Abba, Patsy Cline, Don Messer, Michael Bublé and bands from the 1950s and 1960s.
The theatre usually runs matinees during the week and evening shows on weekends, although the schedule changes depending on the performer. The theatre seats 160 people at tables of eight, so it’s entirely likely you’ll be seated with people you don’t know, adding to the communal feel of the place.
It’s a tough business and every season is a gamble. Darren noted most theatres are either city-owned or not-for-profit, “so we have to look at every dollar to make this work. We can’t afford to have a bad show.”
For more information about Walters Theatre, visit walterstheatre.com.
Local fame led to ‘The Walters Family Live,’ a 1980s TV show recorded at CKCO in Kitchener