Joe Louis Walker released Between A Rock & The Blues two days ago. Now you will hear Joe talk about this new record and hear some new tracks from it.
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As you may recall at the beginning of this year I spoke to Joe about his last record Witness to the Blues (To hear that show click here) which came out on September 30, 2008. One year later Stony Plain Records blesses us with another great Joe Louis Walker record Between A Rock & The Blues. As you will hear in this weeks show Joe was in an up beat and fun mood. He jokes about how rock artists go out to find their blues roots, but he went out to find his rock roots. From the opening track of “I’m Tide” with a it’s wonderful scorching guitar solos to the back porch sound of the last track “Send You Back” everything is first class, with a band that can make every song a special treat. Bruce Katz is back again on piano and organ. Duke Robillard is also back as the producer, as well as playing guitar on one of the songs he wrote called “Tell Me Why”. Joe explains in the show why Duke is so important to have as a producer. Two of songs “I’ve Been Down” and “If There’s A Heaven” are done with a different band but you would never know by listening. They fit in just right with all the other songs. “Eyes Like A Cat” is a fun jazzy-blues dance song with Bruce Katz laying down great piano, while Doug James on saxophone and Carl Queforth on trombone make the song swing. Joe’s playing on “Hallways” is just beautiful. This is one of the songs you really need to buy the CD for. Its seven minutes long so the radio stations will probably not play it, but wow it really is a good example of why Joe Louis Walker is at the top of his game. “Blackjack” the old Ray Charles song is another example of Joe showing how talented he is. In blues its not about how many notes you can play but the feelings you can draw out of those notes. Joe as well as his band has this down pat. Joe’s vocals always sound good, but on “Black Widow” he takes it to new highest. Though there are many songs on this record that deserve airplay like “Eyes Like A Cat”, “Black Widow”, or “Way Too Expensive,” which the band really goes to town on. For me “I’m Tide” should be the hit off this record. As you will hear in the show this really is a great song. Please call your local radio station to request songs from this record if you’re not hearing them already. Joe Louis Walker has had a long career of putting out great blues records, and this new one on Stony Plain Records is no exception.
One last thing I’d like to talk to you about is that over the years I’ve always asked you to support the artists by buying their CD’s. Another thing you should think about is when you support the blues artists you support their labels too. These blues labels are small. They don’t have the big million seller artists like the bigger labels do. We all know the blues genre is not very big, and the artists, as well as their labels, are working hard to stay afloat just like the rest of us. From time to time I speak to Bruce Iglauer of Alligator Records. This is perhaps the largest of the blues labels, which is still very small compared to Columbia or any of the others labels. Even Bruce says, “Business is a struggle.” With so many people not paying for the music they get, both the artists as well as the small blues labels are getting hurt. When these labels go under we will have far less good music to listen to. The big labels have shown they have no interest in our music. In the end we will be the losers, with very little music to choose from. PLEASE support the artists and their labels BUY their CD’s. Keep the blues alive.
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Joe Louis Walker’s MySpace
Buy Joe Louis Walker’s CD Between A Rock & The Blues
Buy Joe Louis Walker’s last CD Witness to the Blues
Check out Stony Plain Records for some other great artists like Ronnie Earl, Duke Robillard, Maria Muldaur, Rory Block, Ian Tyson, Sunny And Her Joy Boys, & Jeff Healey.
I would like to thank Joe Louis Walker for taking the time to do this interview. Thanks also to Dave Jones at Cathouse Music for setting everything up and Stony Plain Records for permission to play the songs. Photos by Robin Poritzky-Walker.
Blues Music and Interviews A1Blues.Com
formerly A1 Artist Spotlight. Com
by A1 Mark
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