It doesn鈥檛 matter if it鈥檚 the Grand Ole Opry, where has performed twice, or a small club, the country crooner still gets stage fright.
Walker anticipates his nerves will always be present before he performs, but they haven鈥檛 been a roadblock to the rising star鈥檚 success.
The 32-year-old Dallas native has written and recorded three albums and played on 鈥�.鈥� He is criss-crossing the country on tour and will perform as part of the concert series May 13 in Fort Worth鈥檚 Stockyards.
鈥淚鈥檓 excited to be playing the Stockyards, to come back to Fort Worth and be part of the PBR showcase,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a hometown show, but it鈥檚 pretty darn close.鈥�
He has played guitar since he was 6 and performed in punk and metal bands when he got older, but never volunteered for solos in choir or at church.
For Walker, performing in front of friends, family and those he was closest to felt scarier than performing in front of strangers.
鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 sing in front of my family. I鈥檇 wait till everybody was at work or, you know, a lot of times I actually wrote my car,鈥� he said.
Sitting on the extra long bench seat in the back of his 1982 Crown Victoria, he still didn鈥檛 consider himself a singer, nor was he thinking about creating country music.
But when he eventually shared the song 鈥溾�� with a friend, they heard the connection immediately.
鈥淥ne of my friends was like, 鈥極h, that鈥檚 cool 鈥� you鈥檙e writing country music.鈥� And I was like, 鈥楴o, I鈥檓 not.鈥� Because at the time, I wasn鈥檛 even really listening to country music,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 wrote like one or two more songs, and they also sounded like country music. I realized my voice was taking me down that path. And so I just kind of went with it. Once I started writing country songs, all the songs started coming out more freely,鈥� Walker said.
He builds freedom into his shows by forgoing a predetermined set list and deciding what songs to play next on stage.
In Fort Worth, he anticipates that he鈥檒l pull favorites from all three of the albums in his catalog and promises to start off with something that will catch people鈥檚 attention.
Walker already has several hits to choose from and plans to keep growing that collection for as long as he can.
鈥淎s far as what the future holds, I鈥檓 15 or 20 years in now. I don鈥檛 really have a backup plan,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 plan on putting out more records, and this is hopefully what I do for the rest of my life.鈥�
Marcheta Fornoff covers the arts for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at marcheta.fornoff@fortworthreport.org or on . At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy .