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“We
had so much fun
on this cruise,
there was no way
I was going to
miss the
occasion to put
it on record,”
says Joe Louis
Walker of the
tremendous
artistic and
personal
experience he
had on the
Legendary Rhythm
& Blues Cruise
at the beginning
of this year.
And fun it was!
Music cruises
have been the
rage for the
past decade, but
never have so
much
flamboyance,
exhilaration and
good music been
featured on a
blues sailing,
making Blues
Conspiracy: Live
on the Legendary
Rhythm & Blues
Cruise the
most incredible
party record of
the year.
Recently voted
Most
Outstanding
Guitarist by
Living Blues
critics, Joe
belongs in the
very select club
of original
blues greats who
revolutionized
the art of the
electric guitar.
Sharing the
stage with
younger members
of the blues
crowd was a way
for him to enjoy
this sunny trip
through the
Caribbean, but
it was also much
more:
“When B.B. King
asked me to be a
part of his
‘Blues Summit’
album back in
the early 90s,
it was a way for
him to pass on
the torch. The
time has come
for me to do the
same.”
Walker’s career
is unique.
Unlike those who
came in his
wake, Joe never
had to learn the
blues, simply
because it was
his mother
tongue, although
he doesn’t hail
from the Delta.
When other blues
legends grew up
in the pre-war
South, Walker
was raised in
the Fillmore
district of San
Francisco in the
late fifties and
early sixties,
at a time when
black blues and
white rock lived
hand in hand.
And while honing
his skills
locally with the
likes of
Lightnin’
Hopkins, Fred
McDowell, Magic
Sam and Earl
“Zebedee”
Hooker, he was
very much part
of the local
psychedelic
scene.
“I knew them
all. Carlos
Santana and the
guys from the
Jefferson
Airplane and the
Grateful Dead as
well as Sly
Stone and Larry
Graham. My
roommate at the
time was Mike
Bloomfield,
fresh from
introducing Bob
Dylan to the
electric
guitar.”
Enrolling at San
Francisco State
University,
Walker then
earned degrees
in music and
English, ending
up playing
guitar for 10
years with a
gospel ensemble,
The Spiritual
Corinthians.
“I got my blues
from my Dad, and
my gospel from
my grandmother.
She lived with
us, but her head
was still in
Arkansas, so
that’s very much
part of my
heritage too.”
By 1985, Walker
was ready to
move back into
blues territory.
“There’s no
contradiction
between blues
and gospel. They
are the two
faces of the
same coin, with
soul music
somewhere in
between,” he
says. At the
head of his
Bosstalkers, Joe
rapidly worked
his way to the
top of the
profession with
a series of
stellar albums,
produced by such
luminaries as
Steve Cropper
and Scotty Moore
(Elvis’s
original guitar
player) that
radically
changed the
blues landscape
of the late 20th
Century.
Considered one
of the last of
the great blues
guitar heroes,
alongside B.B.
King, Buddy Guy
and Otis Rush,
Joe gives more
than a hundred
fiery
performances on
all continents
every year,
appearing at
major festivals
from the US and
Canada to
Australia,
Europe to Japan,
the Far East to
Southern
America, while
collecting
awards like
others collect
pennies.
“Glowing like a
blue beacon”—in
the words of
noted blues
critic Bill
Dahl—Walker is
certainly the
most brilliantly
innovative
guitarist on the
contemporary
blues scene
today. A fact
that owes him
the unbridled
admiration of
certified fans
like Sir Mick
Jagger, Herbie
Hancock, The
Edge, Bono, and
B.B. King, who
show up at his
concerts
whenever the
occasion arises.
• Blues
Conspiracy: Live
on the Legendary
Rhythm & Blues
Cruise is
Joe Louis
Walker’s third
album for Stony
Plain, the
Edmonton-based
roots music
label.
• It follows
Between a Rock
and the Blues
(2009), voted
Blues Album of
the Year at the
Blues Awards in
Memphis, and
Witness to the
Blues
(2008).
• Blues
Conspiracy: Live
on the Legendary
Rhythm & Blues
Cruise is
yet another
testament to the
truth of Muddy
Waters’
assertion than
“the blues
had a baby and
they called it
rock and roll.”
• Joe Louis
Walker’s motto:
“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. |
