What started as a co-working creation during the pandemic has developed into a streaming program for Chatham’s Pat and Megan Whalen.
The two parts of the duo Deep Southwest are about to launch the streaming show Due Southwest, in partnership with Bell Fibe TV1.
The show will feature the Whalens performing and sharing life moments.
It is expected to be streamed sometime in 2025 and has been signed for a five-year run.
Gavin Michael Booth and Ben Srokosz will direct and shoot the project.
The show will focus on the Whalens, “two small-town country stars with big dreams. Just making it day to day is hard enough. With the rising costs of gas, groceries, and have you seen the price of guitar strings?”
Each episode will feature original country songs as well as “hick hop,” which the Whalens describe as a blend of country and hip hop.
Produced by Whalen Entertainment and partially financed by Bell Fibe TV1, Due Southwest is seeking additional funding through regional sponsorship opportunities.
“We’re looking for local businesses and investors to sponsor and showcase everything our community has to offer,” the Whalens said in a media release. “When we’ve done this project will be shown to two-million subscribers across Canada.”
Deep Southwest evolved out of a need in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Professional entertainers by trade, the Whalens were anchored in their home like so many others during the lockdowns.
“The first couple of weeks of COVID, we were at home, kind of staring at each other. As performers, we’d never had time to work together. Well, we never took the time to just have fun in a musical sense,” Megan told The Voice in 2020. “Public performances, that wasn’t our goal at first. Our goal was to take some really fun photos and play some music. Pat wanted to sharpen his video skills too.”
But perform they did; at the end of cul de sacs, curbside, or in driveways. They went out and became pickup truck performers, singing and playing out of the back of a pickup to entertain families from a safe distance.
The couple continues to perform together post pandemic and has now reached the deal with Bell.
