Texas singer-songwriter to bring 'rock with a positive vibe' to Wenatchee

The last petals of the Washington State Apple Blossom Festival will still be drifting through downtown when Mark Winters rolls into Wenatchee with a guitar, a keyboard, a pocketful of stories and what he calls "rock with a positive vibe."

The Texas singer-songwriter will perform Sunday, May 3, at McGlinn's Public House from 6 to 8 p.m., bringing his Good Vibes Highway Tour to a city already humming with festival energy. For Winters, who is based in Sugar Land, Texas, the stop is one of 63 spring performances on a cross-country tour schedule.

"It's awesome, man. It's a great way to be out and see the world," Winters said.

That world - and the people in it - tends to become material. Winters writes songs inspired by places he visits and strangers who become, for a moment, fellow travelers. His music blends acoustic rock, pop and blues with a streak of poetry and touches of science.

A former aerospace engineer, Winters speaks easily of equations and emotion in the same breath. He describes his perspective as having "an engineering bias," and promises audiences "a little extra protons for everyone's day."

Before he was a touring musician, he was simply a man trying to learn one song for his wife.

"I grabbed a guitar and learned a song to sing for my wife for our anniversary, and that was my first foray as a musician," he said.

What followed, he said, was a feeling he could not quite explain - connection, joy, something bright and difficult to name. So he kept chasing it.

"I love singing and performing for people that I care about," Winters said. "I had things to say. So I started writing my own music."

Now he carries that instinct from town to town, reading rooms, meeting people before shows and trying to turn unfamiliar spaces into temporary communities.

"I love to create a sense of community when I come into a place," he said. "I usually spend some time saying hi to everyone before the show starts just to kind of get a feel for the room and the energy."

Those expecting a polished, distant performer may instead find someone more interested in warmth than spectacle. Winters said the evening will feature mostly original songs, a few meaningful covers, acoustic guitar, piano ballads and stories from the road. Humor often slips in as well - not stand-up comedy, but the kind that comes from being honest enough to laugh at yourself.

"I lost my wife in the middle of a national forest, and that became a song," he said.

Wenatchee will be Winters' first visit to the area, and he said he is eager to discover what kind of welcome awaits him.

"I'm just looking forward to finding a little bit of community there," he said.

On the final night of Apple Blossom, when carnival lights glow and the streets remain busy, McGlinn's may offer something smaller and steadier: a traveling songwriter, a room of strangers and the chance to leave feeling slightly lighter than when you arrived.

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