Music is a snapshot of singer’s journey

“I’m at a point in my career that I feel I can move anywhere and still make music,” he explains. “I’ve always been inspired by jazz and blues and it’s really inspiring to be here.”

Before Walker can get settled, unpack and focus on new music, he will embark on a tour with The Mavericks.

“It makes it tough because I haven’t really gotten acclimated to my house yet and I have to leave,” he says. “On the other hand, I get to tour with The Mavericks. Raul (Malo) has been a great friend to me over the years and I’ve worked with him on solo projects. It’ll be nice to have a chance to open for the entire band.”

Walker says his latest album was a labor of love. In the two years it took him to get the songs together, his professional life had changed drastically.

	The Mavericks With Seth Walker WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 20 WHERE: Lensic Performing Arts Center, 211 W. San Francisco, Santa Fe HOW MUCH: $34-$49 at www.ticketssantafe.org or 505-988-1234

“I’d released my previous albums through a record label,” he says. “It was fine to have that support. Yet on the last album, I made the decision to release it independently on my own record label and it was liberating.”

To raise money, Walker turned to the online fundraising site Kickstarter.

“It was humbling to see that so many of my fans had faith in me to donate money,” he explains. “What I was able to do was get enough money to start a label and release the album. It was very successful and (I) am a grateful to have that kind of support.”

Walker’s life has always been a journey of change. His childhood in rural North Carolina was spent largely on a two-family commune with music as the backdrop to an unrushed way of life outside the city limits. Both his parents were classically trained musicians – his mother a talented violinist, his father an accomplished string player.

He says music was an integral part of each day, often running the gamut from Willie Nelson to J.S. Bach. He was exposed to, and subsequently absorbed, a sonically rich expression of life with all its inherent joy and pain.

Although he started sawing on a cello by the age of 3, it was the guitar that would ultimately be his true love. A musically inclined uncle introduced Seth to the blues and the rest is history.

“The album is a snapshot of movement in my musical journey of sorts,” Walker says. “A culmination of the continuing search for a way to write, sing and record in a new way. That’s the best part of my job. It’s always an evolution.”