REDHEAD EXPRESSBy VICKI NAEGELEFor the FrontiersmanPublished on Thursday, July 22, 2010 10:30 PM AKDTA passel of redheads from Palmer is showing the Nashville scene a thing or two about musical success.Members of Redhead Express, the Walker family band from Palmer, are proving they can keep their feet firmly on the ground while reaching for the stars.Redhead Express is based in Nashville, Tenn., while the nine family members tour in their 38-foot motor home. They’ve been crisscrossing the nation since they rented out their newly built home on Trunk Road and took the family on tour in June 2008. Brett and Apryll Walker, their four daughters and three young sons appear together on stage night after night.Photo courtesy the Walker family It’s not hard to see how Redhead Express got its name. Sisters (from left) Meghan, LaRae, Kendra and Alisa Walker have become the focal point of the Palmer bluegrass-country-gospel music band. Youngest sister Meghan is the band’s bass player: “It took me a while to build that internal metronome and feel confident to keep everyone on track.”(Use arrows above to view more photos)Upcoming venues include festivals, fairs and special events from Marian, Va., to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, to Craig, Col.It’s a very different lifestyle from growing up in Palmer, Alaska, but the family thrives on performing.“I love it,” said 19-year-old LaRae, a high tenor, the second oldest daughter. “It’s a dream come true. I love the sound we’re creating.”The dynamics of Redhead Express are changing as the family members grow up. The band’s focus is on the quartet of sisters, and one of the big pushes is for the girls to get airtime on country radio stations.“All of the kids would like to see that happen,” Brett said.“And maybe even on TV,” added 17-year-old baritone-voiced Alisa.Brett Walker has been working with producers and publicity agents in Nashville to help the girls and/or the family make that next big move.From 20-year-old soprano Kendra, the musical leader of the group on and off the stage, to 7-year-old Ammon, the family’s all in, according to Brett.“What really surprises me is all of my family really loves what we’re doing,” Brett said. “If everybody loves it, there’s something going on and we should pay attention to it.”Redhead Express’ ride to musical success has been relatively quick. But the roots go back more than 20 years to Brett and Apryll’s first date, when the love-struck Brett crooned “I Can’t Help Falling in Love,” and Apryll was hooked. Brett insists he had never sung to his other dates.“She caused music to come out of me,” Brett said.Pairing two musicians — Apryll came from a family of more classical musicians — resulted in four musical daughters, then three musical sons.When third daughter, Alisa, was about 6 or 8 years old, she recalled, the family toyed with giving themselves a name for the band, should they ever form one. She came up with Redhead Express. Remarkably, she is the only brunette in the family other than her dad.The name stuck.But it wasn’t until the fall of 2007 and two sons later that the family got serious about music. It was Apryll who devised the plan for the family to leave Alaska to study bluegrass and old-time music.“When we left Alaska, we barely knew how to be a band,” Apryll said.“We knew we sucked,” Brett added.They spent about five months in Nashville learning how much they didn’t know. But, they did catch the eye of a promoter who arranged for them to perform in Branson, Mo., the following June. The family scrambled to put together a show, watching old episodes of “Hee Haw” for ideas.“That was scary,” Apryll recalled. “We didn’t know how to do a show. Things got a lot tougher, but we got tougher, too.”Instead of being the big break they thought it might be, their promoter disappeared soon after they hit the Branson stages. With well over 100 acts performing in Branson on any given night, it’s up to the promoter to bring in the crowds. Being left high and dry in Branson has happened to many bands, Apryll said. But with sales-minded Brett at the helm, the family soon learned to promote itself. In two seasons, they put on more than 700 shows.“It was a lot of work, but it sure taught us how to entertain,” Apryll recalled. “When we got to Branson, we had to make people laugh, make people cry … take people on an emotional roller coaster ride. At the end of two hours, we made people forget their troubles.”But that was just the beginning. When the Walkers decided to leave the frenetic “Live Music Show Capital of the World,” they revamped their act with the help of a choreographer, stage manager and wireless mikes.“People want a ‘Sesame Street’ experience — very fast-paced,” Apryll explained. “To get up there and just sing for two hours, you’d have to be Barbra Streisand.”Now Redhead Express relies on more medleys and choreographed movements, routines and touches of comedy than lengthy ballads.“It’s a constant improvement,” Apryll said.That means constant practice.On the day of this interview, the Walkers were in the midst of a short break, parked on a 20-acre parcel with a fishing pond near Richmond, Mo., reeling in bass and bluegills. Not exactly trout and halibut, but enough to keep Ammon, Sean, 11, and Joseph, 9, busy with their poles, though perhaps not quite as satisfying for Brett, a fly fisherman.“I really do miss the summers in Alaska,” Brett said. “I get a twitch in my wrist.”On a show day, the family is up at 7 a.m. for exercise, followed by breakfast. Then there’s Scripture reading and prayer before 14-year-old high tenor Meghan and the boys do their home-school lessons. After school, the kids fan out as best they can to practice their own instruments — from LaRae and Sean’s banjos to Alisa and Joseph’s fiddles and mandolins. Then there are the practices together — the girls and boys in their own small bands, or the family together. Meanwhile, Apryll and Brett are busy with marketing. By midafternoon, it’s time to set up the venue. Then it’s the costumes and makeup, followed by a two-hour performance and as long as it takes to greet fans after the show.It’s exhausting, they admit, but exhilarating.“It kind of amazes me that all these people came to watch me, so I want to do my best,” said Meghan, an inspiring writer and the human metronome of the group with her bass. “I love it.”And people love the family band, Apryll said. She credits her outgoing, personable children, who respect the people who come to hear them perform.“They put everybody else above themselves,” she explained.The children have found their own niches in the band. Kendra writes Redhead Express’ original songs, drawing them further into the acoustic country sound, ala Alison Krauss or the Dixie Chicks. Some of her songs follow tried and true formulas, like the joy of love in the old-fashioned “Maple Sugar Candy” and heartache in “Missouri Rain.” She has put her old home to music in songs like “Kenai River Blues” and a yet-to-be-finished ballad about Sleeping Lady. She just needs a little inspiration and a quiet place to work her magic, even though quiet corners in a 38-foot RV with eight other people and a chocolate lab named Cocoa can be hard to find.“I get it done,” said the 2007 Palmer High graduate, who credits PHS music teacher Stan Harris with being a “huge influence.”Neither she nor her sisters anticipated the morphing of the band into a showcase for the four sisters.“It just kind of happened,” LaRae said. “I always felt like it would get bigger, but I didn’t know how.”The Walkers may know where the literal road will take them — the Country Pickin’ Opry Show in Richmond on Saturday night and down to Texas at the end of July — but the figurative road is a bit harder to track. They’ve got their sights set high.“We have dreams of playing the Grand Ole’ Opry and touring the world,” Kendra shared.Sean has already approached his dad about “billing out” his act with his brothers — The Walker Boys. Sean arranges the songs for the trio and has the boys on pace to learn a song a week.“He’s done a fabulous job with his arrangements,” Brett said of his oldest son. He told the boys if they worked hard, they could compete in the youth contest at the 2011 Silver Dollar City World-Fest next spring.With the independent success of their children, Apryll and Brett see themselves becoming “bookends” to the acts of the younger generation and handling the business end. And they are fine with that.Brett said before they started this adventure, he was looking for purpose in his life. He never thought performing music would be the solution to his midlife crisis. While touring has been financially challenging, the coming year looks to be more successful than his best years in real estate.Brett said Apryll was right when she set them on this red-headed scheme.“It’s only looking up from here,” he said.People can keep track of Redhead Express or listen to or order the group’s music by going to the website at redheadexpress.com.