Tal Wilkenfeld wanted to open for The Who on tour. So she sent guitarist Pete Townshend an email with some of her music — her first tracks as a singer-songwriter — to see what he thought. “He liked it and asked me to open for them,” she says. “It was pretty surprising. I put it out there to do that, but I didn’t actually think it would actually happen.” It helps that the Australian musician is no ordinary singer-songwriter. An in-demand bass player, Wilkenfeld has been playing on major stages since her early 20s as a member of Chick Corea’s, Herbie Hancock’s and Jeff Beck’s backing bands. Now, Wilkenfeld is trying to make it as a solo artist, opening for the legendary British rock band in arenas across America while mixing in her own headlining dates. (She’s at the Birchmere on Tuesday and opens for The Who at Verizon Center on March 24.) Here’s what else you should know about the 29-year-old bass sensation.
Ace of bass
At 14, Wilkenfeld picked up a guitar for the first time and “knew instantaneously, within the first chord that I played, that this was my calling,” she says. “I didn’t know why — it’s not like someone told me to play the guitar.” At 17, she switched to playing bass because she was always “drawn to the rhythm section.” She started focusing exclusively on the instrument and, at 20, recorded her first album as a bandleader, “Transformation,” which included seven instrumental tracks that fused jazz, blues and prog rock.
Her own voice
This week, Wilkenfeld released a new single, “Corner Painter,” the first from her forthcoming debut as a singer-songwriter. The hard-edged rock song is a departure from her 2007 debut in more ways than one: Besides having vocals and a traditional song structure, it doesn’t have bass guitar. Instead, Wilkenfeld plays the baritone acoustic guitar and recorded the bass parts on an organ. “This one encapsulates the new direction and so I thought it would be a good one to put forward first because if someone gets this, then they’ll get the album,” she says. (Wilkenfeld is currently raising funds through PledgeMusic to finish mixing and mastering the as-yet-untitled record.)
Back to the start
For her tour, Wilkenfeld and her band are alternating between nights in arenas with The Who and much more intimate spaces like the Birchmere. Despite the dramatic range in venue size, Wilkenfeld approaches each concert in the same manner. “I’m just so excited to be playing my own material and singing my own songs that if I’m playing to two people or if I’m playing to 20,000, it just feels great,” she says. She also realizes that, despite her famous friends, she’s approaching her new direction much like a new artist who hasn’t spent years touring with music legends. “I gotta put things into perspective and build from the ground floor up,” she says.
Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria; Tue., 7:30 p.m., $25.
Verizon Center, 601 F St. NW; March 24, 7:30 p.m., $49.40-$149.50.
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