From a very young age, Trixie Whitely nurtured a singular creative spirit, springing from her restless inner directive. At the ripe age of three, she made her onstage debut alongside her father, the internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter Chris Whitley. Never resting on her lineage, Trixie set out to craft a unique personal and artistic identity. At age 10, she picked up her first instrument, the drums. The following year, she emerged an intrepid DJ spinning electronica, free jazz, and hip-hop.
Throughout all of this, she developed an affinity for punk rock’s nonconformist and D.I.Y. ethics that permeated her fearless genre-bending and daring life choices. After a nomadic transatlantic existence, living between New York and Belgium, and touring throughout Europe with several contemporary dance companies in her early teens, she quit high school at age 17 and took a job slinging burgers at dive while steadily advancing her music career. One of her early efforts impressed the iconic producer Daniel Lanois (Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris). He enlisted her to front his own band, Black Dub, with drummer Brian Blade and bassist Daryl Johnson.
Since 2013, Trixie has emerged as a compelling solo artist with three EPs and one full-length in her catalog. Fourth Corner, her full-length debut, garnered acclaim from MOJO, Interview, ELLE, Relix, The Village Voice, NPR and The New York Times, among many other publications. Through its success, she’s toured internationally and earned three nominations, as well as a win for Best Female Artist at the 2013 Belgium Music Industry Awards (MIAs).
Trixie’s prismatic artistry reflects electronica, R&B, the vulnerable ethos of singer-songwriters, and the unapologetic individuality of punk rock. Although her previous effort reflects her broad tastes, it is with her latest that Trixie creates a transcendent musical miscellany. It even took chucking an earlier version of the record and starting over to achieve the meaning and mastery displayed in Porta Bohemica, which flourished with the help of producer Gus Seyffert (Beck, The Black Keys) and Joey Waronker (Atoms for Peace, Ultraísta).
