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SPCD 1345
Genre: Blues
Released: 15 September 2009
$ 20 CDN
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Between A Rock And The Blues
- I'm Tide
 (3:57)
* free full length download *
- Eyes Like A Cat (3:50)
- Black Widow Spider (4:58)
- If There's A Heaven (6:41)
- Way Too Expensive (4:23)
- I've Been Down (5:33)
- Prisoner Of Mercy (4:08)
- Hallways (7:34)
- Tell Me Why (5:44)
- Blackjack (7:21)
- Big Fine Woman (4:47)
- Send You Back (4:17)
Reviews:
Guitar Edge Magazine
The music literally feels alive...
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One of the most striking elements of Between a Rock and the Blues-Walker's 20th album-is its enormous presence. The music literally feels alive, surely the result of Walker's dynamic guitar and vocal talents as well as having Duke Robillard calling the shots as producer (who also guests on "Tell Me Why"). Throughout, Walker's nimble yet stinging lines offer a reflection of the moment, emanating from deep within the soul of a man who takes life as it comes. The album also features a guest appearance from guitarist Kevin Eubanks on two tracks (which he also produced). Simply put, this delicious stew of blues, rock, gospel, R&B, and soul makes you want to get up and boogie. Really, what more could you ask?
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SPCD 1337
Genre: Blues
Released: 16 September 2008
$ 20 CDN
Release Sheet |
Witness To The Blues
- It's A Shame (6:16)
- Midnight Train (4:17)
- Lover's Holiday (4:14) Duet with Shemekia Copeland
- Hustlin' (5:16)
- Witness (6:07)
- Rollin' & Tumblin' (4:53)
- Highview (6:48)
- I Got What You Need (5:14)
- Keep On Believin' (4:27)
- 100% More Man (7:12)
- Sugar Mama (6:25)
Reviews:
Blues Revue - Dec/Jan 2009
By Hal Horowitz
No matter what he's singing, Walker's churchy approach is soulful, heartfelt, and spellbinding. He seems particularly inspired on this set, perhaps because he finally has found a producer (Duke Robillard) who brings out his best.
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The combination of guitarist/singer/songwriter Joe Louis Walker with producer/guitarist Duke Robillard is an inspired one. Robillard strips down Walker's sound, emphasizing his distinctive gospel-infused vocals while welcoming Walker's diverse influences. Soul, R&B, funk, rockabilly, and loose blues shuffles are elements of Walker's sound, and Robillard's typically warm touch is applied here with impressive results.
Inexplicably overlooked as one of contemporary blues' most dynamic and innovative musicians, Walker has been knocking around the blues scene since his 1986 debut, releasing consistently exciting music that hasn't received the commercial acceptance it deserves. Hopefully that will change, as Witness to the Blues is one of Walker's finest efforts. Eight of its 11 songs are Walker compositions, and even his versions of oft-covered chestnuts "Rollin' and Tumblin'" and "Sugar Mama" are given vigorous, creative arrangements that make them sound new. A guest appearance by Shemekia Copeland on "Lover's Holiday" - a lost gem originally recorded by Sixties soul duo Peggy Scott and Jo Jo Benson - is an album highlight. Walker and Copeland tear into the tune with a level of heat and enthusiasm that nearly equals the original.
Elsewhere, Walker takes a cue from Muddy Waters' slide and powerful grinding lope on the sizzling slow blues "100% More Man." Keyboardist Bruce Katz does his best Otis Spann impression here on a riveting solo that sounds as if Spann himself dropped by to tinkle the ivories. Walker's "Hustlin'" is a touch R&B-infused shuffle, and "Witness" is a lovely ballad that shows the subtle side of Walker's songwriting. No matter what he's singing, Walker's churchy approach is soulful, heartfelt, and spellbinding. He lets his voice crack naturally, and even if he's getting a little rough around the edges on the high notes, he seems particularly inspired on this set, perhaps because he finally has found a producer who brings out his best.
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JOE LOUIS WALKER FINDS THE VIBRANT PLACE BETWEEN A ROCK AND THE BLUES
ON HIS SECOND STONY PLAIN RELEASE
This bluesman’s ambition is to follow in the footsteps of two
American heroes, Louis Armstrong and B.B. King
“Play everywhere, all the time, as often as I possibly can. Travel
anywhere there’s an audience for my music, take every opportunity, and keep
playing and singing as well as I know I can.
“My dream was always to play my music in as many different places as I
can; that’s why I admired Louis Armstrong and why B.B. King and Buddy Guy are
heroes for me — they always kept their music fresh by reaching out to new
audiences all the time.”
It’s Joe Louis Walker talking, a man who travels so much his passport
has been used to cross more borders than 99 per cent of all Americans, and a man
who does everything he can to refresh his powerful, timeless music.
Music at the crossroads Now, with his 20th album — and his
second for Edmonton-based Stony Plain Records — he has put a spotlight on the
powerful crossroads where the blues and rock meet on common ground.
Between a Rock and the Blues is a breakthrough; a testament to the
truth of Muddy Waters’ assertion than the blues had a baby and they called it
rock and roll.
Walker’s own originals on this album re-affirm the depth of his song
writing that has been amply displayed over the course of his career. The opening
track, “I’m Tide,” reflects an attitude that seems prevalent in Walker’s
generation, dealing with the superficiality of the modern age. In contrast,
“Black Widow Spider” and “Prisoner of Misery” are autobiographical pieces
stemming from the emotions he’s experienced in some of his relationships. As
always, Walker manages to do this with a healthy combination of poignancy, wit
and sharp humor.
Ten of the album’s dozen tracks were produced by Stony Plain
label-mate Duke Robillard (who additionally guests on one track), and feature a
core band of Walker on guitars, Bruce Katz on keyboards, Jesse Williams on bass,
Mark Teixeira on drums, Doug James on sax, Carl Querfurth on trombone and Sugar
Ray Norcia on harmonica.
Kevin Eubanks, former music director of The Tonight Show, plays on two
of the tracks, both produced by Walker at Eubanks’ studio in Los Angeles. They
feature Joe and Kevin Eubanks on guitar, Henry Oden on bass, Jeff Minieweather
on drums and Ellis Blacknell, Jr. on keyboards. Minieweather has played in
Walker’s touring band at different times over a dozen years, and Oden has been a
stalwart bassist at various periods since the first JLW release on HighTone back
in 1986. Eubanks also co-wrote the two tracks with Walker, Blacknell and Joe
Russo— “If There’s a Heaven” (which manages to combine both blues and gospel in
one amazing brew) and “I’ve Been Down.”
Several of the other songs on Between a Rock and the
Blues were written by friends of the artist, who then gives his own
personal touch to contemporary blues songs written by Duke Robillard (“Tell Me
Why”) and Murali Coryell, (son of jazz/rock fusion guitar great Larry Coryell),
adding pepper to the mix. Coryell’s song, “Way Too Expensive,” is a pertinent
comment on the current economic situation. Songs from other Walker favorites —
Ray Charles’ “Blackjack,” Roy Gaines’ “Big Fine Woman” and Travis Phillips’
“Eyes Like a Cat — round out the CD.
As the album’s title implies, Walker pushes the boundaries of the
blues further than he has in the past, creating an exhilarating sound that has
an electrifying energy, while remaining firmly rooted in his foundation of
blues, soul, gospel and R&B.
Background:
In many ways, Walker’s story is unusual. Born in San Francisco (on Christmas Day 1949) and now based in Westchester, New York, he was part of the Bay Area blues scene in his early teens, and by the time he was 16 he had soaked up the sounds of the likes of T-Bone Walker, Amos Milburn, and boogie woogie pioneers Meade Lux Lewis and Pete Johnson. As he grew up, he found himself on stage with such disparate tutors as John Lee Hooker, Thelonious Monk, the Soul Stirrers, Steve Miller and Jimi Hendrix.
“I was hanging in Haight-Asbury long before it became gentrified; the old Fillmore Auditorium was the place I saw James Brown and Little Richard and Bobby Bland and the Temptations,” he remembers now. “I went to school a short block away — but I guess that the Fillmore was, in a way, my real school.”
By the time he was 19, he had built a close friendship with guitarist Mike Bloomfield — they were roommates for many years. It was Bloomfield’s tragic early death that persuaded Walker to change his life: He enrolled at San Francisco State University, earning music and English degrees — and performing regularly with a gospel group, The Spiritual Corinthians.
In 1985, he returned to the blues, fronting a new band he called “The Bosstalkers”, and making the first of five albums for HighTone, before signing to PolyGram’s Verve/Gitanes label, for whom he recorded another six albums. In addition to releases on several other labels, Walker has also performed on countless albums as a guest with artists ranging from B. B. King to Peter Green.
These early records served as an entrée into the European market. Sterling appearances at major festivals throughout Europe (North Sea Jazz Festival, Glastonbury, Nice, Notodden and Montreux among them) led to further tours and festivals in Japan, Australia, Taiwan, Ireland, Turkey and Brazil— a foreign touring schedule he continues to match, year after year, while continuing to compile an impressive list of awards throughout Europe.
In 1988 Joe Louis Walker performed for President George H. W. Bush at a non partisan roots musical presentation called “The Celebration for Young America, alongside such artists as Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan, Joe Cocker, Ron Wood, Willie Dixon and Koko Taylor, among others. He was also an integral part of the musical presentation to induct B. B. King into the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995 — a command performance for President Clinton by Etta James, Steve Cropper, Bonnie Raitt and others.
Witness to the Blues, Joe Louis Walker’s debut for Stony Plain (also produced by Duke Robillard), generated enormous critical acclaim and hit #1 on the Living Blues magazine radio chart; it was recently voted as one of the top best blues albums of the year in the annual Down Beat Critics’ Poll
Foreground:
Joe Louis Walker is a walking encyclopedia of blues history as well as blues vocal and guitar styles. “I think this new CD is self-explanatory,” Walker says. “It was also a challenge. At times musicians get jaded, and I try to guard against that. Like my heroes, my dream was always to play my music in as many different places as I can. That keeps you fresh. For sure.
And the future of the blues? Echoing a song by Muddy Water’s piano man Otis Spann recorded 30 years ago, Walker says the blues will never die. “Every new generation of kids coming up keeps it alive. I’ve heard young blues players in Turkey, the UK, Europe and the United States. Blues music is at the root of rock and roll — the blues is the building block that almost all popular music rests on."
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