RON SWARNER: ADD SOME AMERICANA TO YOUR NIGHT >>>

Robbie Walden & the Gun Slingers will perform a free show tonight at Doyle’s Public House.

While the band might be categorized as Americana, Walden tries to steer clear of labels.

“I’ve never been one to label my music ’cause I just write and whatever comes out comes out,” Walden told me in a previous interview. “When I write, I like to write stories and messages. Things people can relate to or get a chuckle out of. I will say that my major influences have been a lot of country artists. Edwin McCaine and Tracy Chapman have become influences in my later years. But I really like the stories country tells, especially old country. So even when I don’t write a traditional country sounding song I still write a story, like country.”

Walden and his trio blend country, folk, pop and rock, and quite well, I must add.

[Doyle’s Public House, Thursday, Nov. 12, 8 p.m., no cover, 208 Saint Helens Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.7468]