Porch Hounds launches new album with Revelstoke show

Nik Winnitowy knows first-hand the support found within the Revelstoke music scene and throughout Interior B.C. It’s support that’s found in his solo act name, Porch Hounds, a name that started off as a group project.

“I started with releasing music under my own name,” Winnitowy told Revelstoke Mountaineer. “But after every show I’d tell folks to check out my music. Good luck spelling my name, though!”

Originally hailing from Saskatchewan and coming to Revelstoke with plans to be a ski bum for a season, Winnitowy started making music connections in town. Jumping in to help local favorite Shoestring Necktie with vocals and steel guitar, they all eventually created a honky tonk-loving cover band, Slick Nik and the Porch Hounds.

When Winnitowy made the jump to a solo career, he checked in with the rest of the Porch Hounds to see if he could take the whole name and skirt previous spelling struggles.

Now, Winnitowy is hitting the Interior open road for his album release with a show at Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre Saturday, April 6. While members from the former Porch Hounds ensemble can’t join him on the tour, Winnitowy was able to source talent from former Nelson-based band Dirt Floor, including special guest Peter Reed.

“It’s kind of a fun little reunion on the side, this tour.”

Winnitowy categorizes himself in the folk-rock-country fusion that he said Canadian musicians seem to have a unique hold on.

“That prairie rock with a lot of inspiration from those wide open fields and skies,” Winnitowy explained when asked what elements influenced his songwriting and music. “But also the frequent isolation that happens in these smaller towns, these mountain areas where you get cut off.”

Going Home, one of the songs released on the upcoming Porch Hounds album, was written with the themes of leaving and returning to Revelstoke top of mind for him. 

“I moved here in the middle of a blizzard. I’ve definitely been inspired by those November rains we get, that quiet that really takes hold of everything. And just coming back to that quiet, missing that.”

Folk blends with humor in some of the other album songs, including one lamenting being stuck in ferry lines and losing one’s guitar capo in the middle of a song.

“I was in the middle of a show when it just sort of fell right off my guitar,” Winnitowy said. “And I was kind of looking at it, just sitting there on the floor, thinking about how this was like all the bad relationships I read about. And then here I am writing a breakup song that’s actually about me breaking up with my capo and thinking about all the good times we had together.”

Revelstoke was an easy pick for Winnitowy’s album tour, and not just because he calls it home.

“I’ve played in a lot of bands while I’ve lived here, and there’s always been this sense of comradery,” Winnitowy said. “That’s not something you always find in bigger centres, where everyone kind of feels more in competition with everyone else.”

It will also give him a chance to say goodbye to a community that has shown Winnitowy so much love, with him moving at the end of April after the tour.

“I spent this whole last winter focused on playing one more show with all the bands and artists I’ve played with. I get to perform my music with my band in my favorite venue in Revelstoke. It’s all kind of a swan song.”

“I’m really thankful for the last seven years and all the open mics in this town,” Winnitowy said. “People that gave me a show, gave me a heli lodge to crash in. Everything that allowed me to make this band a thing.”

Catch Nik Winnitowy as Porch Hounds at Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre Saturday, April 6 at 7 p.m. Pick up a copy of the newly-released Porch Hounds album and enjoy special guest Peter Reed and his album release.