The Coyote Kings Are Still the Best Argument for a Free Saturday in Walla Walla

Some bands you have to explain. The Coyote Kings you just point at. When guitarist Robin Barrett kicks into a shuffle and vocalist Tiphony "Tiph" Dames leans into the microphone, the case for high-desert blues rock makes itself, no liner notes required. On Saturday, July 11, they open the Downtown Walla Walla Summer Concert Series at Heritage Square from 5–7 p.m., with the Chris Eger Band headlining after — a free double bill and one of the better ways to spend a July evening in this valley.

The Coyote Kings are Eastern Washington veterans, formed in 2006 out of the Tri-Cities, and they've spent close to two decades doing the unglamorous work of being reliably great. The current core pairs Barrett's guitar with Dames on lead vocals, alongside a rhythm section that has anchored the band across records and Empire Award nods from the Inland Empire Blues Society. Their calling card is their 2019 album Rocket, cut for Tim Langford's (Too Slim & the Taildraggers) Underworld Records label — the kind of regional blues record that got real ink, including a full review in Blues Blast Magazine that singled out the opener "Mojo Run" for the way Dames declares her freedom over a howling guitar.

Dames is the story within the story. She landed in Eastern Washington by way of Harlem, made an immediate impression on the local circuit, and took the 2016 Empire Award for Best Female Blues Performer. That's a specific kind of arrival — a New York voice dropped into a wine-and-wheat town — and it shows up in the phrasing, which has more grit and swagger than the tasting-room circuit usually asks for.

Here's why a free Saturday show matters more than it looks. Markets like this one lose their best working bands to attrition: the gigs are seasonal, the pay is patio pay, and the nearest big-city club is a long drive in any direction. A series like the Downtown Walla Walla Foundation's — nine weeks, two acts a night, no cover — is the closest thing the valley has to a farm system. It's where a band like the Coyote Kings stays visible to the people who'll book them into winery patios and festival slots the rest of the year.

So go stand on the grass at Heritage Square on the 11th. Bring a chair, buy a taco, and watch a band that could be coasting decline to. The Coyote Kings don't need explaining. They just need you to show up while they're still this good.

Sources: Summer Concert Series: Coyote Kings with Tiph — Downtown Walla Walla Foundation; Coyote Kings – Rocket, Album Review — Blues Blast Magazine; Coyote Kings — Bio