The favorite stop of the Redhead Express

PALMER — For the Walker sisters, better known as the Redhead Express, much of their seemingly nonstop touring season is spent at state fairs around the nation. And even if it wasn’t their homestate, the sisters say the Alaska fair would still be their favorite.

“I love coming back. We’ve been touring for 10 years and this is home,” said Larae, the banjo player. “First of all, the mountains jetting out from the ground, 3, 5, 10 thousand feet — it’s breathtaking. And the people here are down to earth, friendly, welcoming and the food is incredible. It’s a lot more authentic, there’s a lot of passion in the vendors and a lot of Alaskan pride.”

So it was fitting that the pride of Palmer played the last show on the Bluebonnet Stage leading into the state fair’s premiere agricultural event, the Giant Cabbage Weigh-off Friday night, a packed affair, followed by a steady stream of well-wishers and autograph seekers.

Saturday night, Redhead Express capped its run at the Alaska State Fair with a single show, breaking the daily routine of two shows each day.

That, at the end of a breakneck tour of Tennessee, Illinois, Idaho and Montana, sometimes playing three and four shows each day, was no small feat of endurance.

“We got some really good feedback and we got to open for Trace Adkins in Montana,” said lead singer/songwriter Kendra, who is the oldest of the sisters. “That was a sold out crowd for him, so we’ve been opening a lot of doors and meeting new people. After this tour, we’re taking a week off, a few more fairs, and then Nashville.”

The plan in Nashville is to eventually record an album made up entirely of original songs, a departure from their last two albums, which were their uniquely Americana strings and four-part harmonies on known favorites.

“We’re working towards an original album,” Kendra said. “We’ve been doing a lot of videos on YouTube, building on songs people know from all age groups, and that’s also shaped our sound. The next album will be all original music.”

Though she doesn’t have a title yet for the new album, Kendra said the original tracks, figure to be an amalgam of the influence they’ve discovered in years of barnstorming.

“It may be a little more folk-rock and pop than it has been,” she said. “We’re still kind of figuring that out.”

LaRae is looking forward to that opportunity.

“It’s been a few years since we’ve recorded an original,” she said. “Those are my favorite because they come from the heart and I’m looking forward to it very much.”

The last two albums have also been self-produced, but in heading to Nashville, the sisters are looking to change that trend.

“We’re wanting to work with a new producer who can help us with new sounds, push us harder and help us as a band to come up a level,” Kendra said. “Everytime (we go on tour) it takes us to a new level…When we were first starting out I would wear out, vocally, now not so much and some places we do three to four shows a day.”

The Alaska Fair in their rear-view, the sisters are taking a week’s vacation in Idaho before hitting the road again, playing the Mohave County Fair in Kingman, Arizona on Sept. 15-16, which kickstarts another whirlwind tour coast to coast and border to border that aims to lead to a recording studio in Music City.