BLUES MASTER JOE LOUIS
WALKER TO RELEASE HORNET'S
NEST ON FEBRUARY 25,
2014
"Powerful,
soul-stirring, fierce and gritty. A legendary boundary-pushing icon of modern
blues." --NPR Music
"Fine
and fierce...gritty gutbucket blues, joyous Stones-style rock and aching
R&B." --Billboard
"Commanding
and wide-ranging blues-rock...sheer passion and defiant authenticity."" --Living
Blues
Award-winning
blues master, Blues Hall Of Fame member and Alligator recording artist Joe
Louis Walker will release his new album, Hornet's Nest (AL
4959), on February 25, 2014. Walker is among the greatest bluesmen of his
generation. He is known worldwide as one of the genre's top musical trailblazers
-- a mesmerizing guitarist and soul-testifying vocalist. On his dynamic new CD,
Walker's music is equal parts rock ‘n' roll fire and blistering, passionate
blues.
Hornet's
Nest was
recorded in Nashville and produced by songwriter/ drummer Tom Hambridge
(producer of James Cotton' Grammy-nominated Cotton Mouth
Man, Buddy Guy's Grammy-winning CDs Skin Deep and Living Proof, as well as
albums for Susan Tedeschi, George Thorogood and Walker's previous CD,
Hellfire).
Hornet's
Nest -- featuring 12 songs, including nine new originals --
blends Walker's boundless energy and his myriad influences into a contemporary
blues tour-de-force. His always-inventive guitar playing is matched
note-for-note by his fervent vocals. From menacing, hard rocking electric blues
to cool Memphis funk to R&B rave-ups to Sunday morning gospel, Walker's
blues-fierce and untamed, adventurous and fun -- continue to define the genre.
The
band -- Hambridge on drums, Reese Wynans on B-3 organ and piano, Rob McNelley on
guitar, and Tommy MacDonald on bass -- pushed Walker to deliver his absolute
best performances. "It comes through loud and clear," Walker says. "If I don't
believe it, nobody is gonna believe it. And ain't nobody is gonna listen to it
or buy it. Tom made everything exciting."
Joe
Louis Walker was born in San Francisco on Christmas Day of 1949. His parents
were both from the South and they brought their love of blues with them when
they headed west. Joe's dad played blues piano, and his mom played B.B. King
records. Walker picked up the guitar as a child, and by the time he was 16 was
regularly backing touring blues artists rolling through town. San Francisco's
music scene was quickly becoming a melting pot of blues, jazz and psychedelic
rock, and Walker was right in the center of it.
As a 16-year-old, Walker
was the house guitarist at San Francisco's famed musical playground, The Matrix,
where he played with or opened shows for everyone from Lightnin' Hopkins to Jimi
Hendrix to Thelonious Monk. He was also a regular at The Fillmore West. The
blues legends Walker accompanied shared not only musical knowledge but also
their personal wisdom with the teenage up-and-comer. Fred McDowell, Ike Turner,
Albert King, Freddy King, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Lightnin' Hopkins and many others
taught, fed, and chastised the youngster. Inspired by what he learned, Walker
developed his own fiery, melodic, and always unpredictable guitar
attack.
Walker met guitarist Michael Bloomfield in 1968 and the two
became fast friends. Bloomfield helped push Walker's blues in a more rock-fueled
direction, and he became the single biggest influence on Walker's sound. The two
shared an apartment for years and remained close friends until Bloomfield's
death in 1981. From 1975 to 1985, Walker performed nothing but gospel music,
playing and singing as a member of The Spiritual Corinthians. In 1986, after
Walker returned to playing the blues, Hightone Records released his debut CD,
Cold Is The
Night. Firmly rooted in blues, gospel, R&B and rock, the album
caught the attention of music fans around the country.
Prior
to joining Alligator Records in 2012, Walker had released 23 albums and toured
the world virtually non-stop. He has garnered four Blues Music Awards (and has
been nominated a whopping 52 times) and holds an international reputation as one
of the blues' most prolific and talented stars. He's also recorded as a guest
with some of the blues world's best-known artists, including appearances on
Grammy-winning records by B.B. King and James Cotton.
His
Alligator debut, Hellfire, took
the blues world by storm in 2012, receiving the Living Blues Critics'
Award for Blues Album Of The Year. The Chicago Tribune said,
"His playing is ferocious. His solos spin wilder and wilder with the kind of
fierce embellishments that Jimi Hendrix might've conjured." The success of the
album helped land Walker and his band on TBS's CONAN.
In 2013
The Blues Foundation inducted Walker into The Blues Hall Of Fame. "I am honored
to be in the company of the great artists already inducted," Walker said at the
time. "I hope to live up to the honor." Joining the ranks of previous inductees
including B.B. King, Hound Dog Taylor, Koko Taylor, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters,
Etta James, Howlin' Wolf and other blues greats while still at the peak of his
musical powers, is, as Walker says, "a dream come true."
With
each subsequent release, Walker's audience continues to grow, as his touring
schedule continues to expand. He's played all over the U.S. and Canada, major
European festivals including The North Sea Jazz Festival, Glastonbury, Notodden
and Montreux, as well as festivals in Japan, Australia, Taiwan, Ireland, Turkey
and Brazil. Now, with Hornet's Nest,
Walker is excited about bringing even more people to his music. "Blues is a big
tent," he says, "morphing into a bigger tent. Young folks like good blues when
they hear it, and I'm here to make sure they want to listen."
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