"I'm looking forward to that; It has been a while," said a very happy Joe Louis Walker as he prepares to hit the road for the first time since November of 2022 with a new album in tow; an album that is perhaps one of his best to date and high on the charts.
"Weight Of The World," it seems when I get the weekly reports that people like it because it's charting pretty well and that's good considering that I've been off for about six months taking care of some health issues," he said with an appreciative tone. "I had a long tour booked of the United States, England and all over the world in March and April that I had to postpone and push back. So, now, just being able to play the songs that we were stoked to play in February and March and playing them now is good because it's the same band that played on the record. We do all of the harmonies, we do all of the singing and we do all of the playing and being original material, it's like putting on a new pair of shoes; you know?"
No stranger to releasing new music, Walker's latest effort has opened quite a few eyes and ears. A veteran blues man and recording artist who is much sought after, he often performs with different musicians and enjoys hearing their perspective; especially when they play his music. This time around, Joe has gone with a different record label, producer and supporting cast.
"I think Eric Corne at Forty Below Records has had a lot of success with John Mayall and good success with Sugaray Rayford and of course he's been a producer for Walter Trout for 20 years or whatever and Eric gets a good sound; he knows what he hears and he's a good singer and a good songwriter. We wrote some stuff together, he wrote about five songs and I wrote about five songs and we wrote one together so, it was a good match. The sound is different; a lot of that is production and a lot of that is the musicians that played on it. The band; you can give them a Chuck Berry style rocker or something a little more intricate like, "Hello, It's The Blues" or something that we have to co-create like, "Weight Of The World" and they don't miss a beat. We were just rehearsing yesterday and as a singer, you never get too overconfident but it was like, oh man, this is gonna sound good because we were working on the intricate stuff."
Rehearsing and touring were on hold while Joe battled some health problems but now that they are pretty much in his rearview mirror; he is chomping at the bit to get back to business.
"I haven't played live since November of '22," he explained. "I had a medical procedure that just stopped everything; stopped my life, stopped everything. I actually just left physical rehab and just started rehearsing with the guys a couple of weeks ago. So, my time has been spent at physical rehab and dealing with some other things that were connected with the procedure that I had. So, I had to take off my music hat and put on my physical therapy hat three days a week You're either gonna talk yourself into liking it (Physical Therapy) or you're gonna be looking at the clock and I prefer not to be looking at the clock because I know it's for the good and I'm feeling better and I'm singing better, my health, for all intents and purposes is pretty damn good considering what I've been through. So, I'm really looking forward to getting on stage. I've got shows in Woonsocket, and at Towne Crier, The Iridium, Saratoga Springs and then The Lizzie Rose and after that I go to Falls Church for a nice festival; I'm just glad to be up and at'em. I'm doing every weekend in June and then on July 4 I fly to Europe for a week-and-a-half of shows in some nice big venues with a lot of musicians I know. One of those shows is just me and Bonomassa which is sort of cool because I've known him since he was a teenager. We were both on Shrapnel Records and he has come a long way. I was very impressed with Joe's sound; I'm still very impressed."
Joe Bonomassa is one of today's Blues artists who over multiple years now has led a resurgence of the genre but there are also plenty of females who are bursting onto the scene or who have always been there that are just now getting the kudos they deserve.Walker understands the necessity of attracting new and younger audiences to perpetuate the music and its history.
"I agree that we all know that the Blues needs a younger audience. So, when Joe came out and hit it hard he was someone relatively young; he is a veteran player but when he started he was 12 years old but it took him several manifestations to where he could get the business part and make it work for him; where as it didn't work for everyone else but he made it work for him. He pulled a very genius move and used the old Led Zeppelin move; why not just rent the hall and take all of the chance? When you do that, you can put on the opening act that you want and do what you want. Just make sure that you promote the hell out of it and have the musical chops to back it up; which he did. You have a lot of young ladies now that are sort of walking through the door that Ana Popovic and Shemekia Copeland knocked open. I think Bonnie (Raitt) knocked it open before that but there's only one Bonnie. You've got all of these young women that are really good; you've got Venable out of Texas, Jackie Venson out of Austin, you've got Misty Blues, you've got so many and they are all handling their business very well (laughs)."
"Eliza Neals is a perfect example of what we are talking about," he continued, "She didn't wait for a record company to come help her. Her and her husband did it all together and Eliza is such a force of nature; she's got songs that everybody likes and she's a talented person. Another one of my good friends that is doing well is Vanessa Collier, Vanessa is like my daughter in music and she is doing great. I'm so proud of her, I was proud of her when she was in my band too!"
Joe Louis Walker hits the stage at The Lizzie Rose Music Room on Friday June 9 at 7:30 p.m. and in the intimate setting of this venue, this is a show you don't want to miss and according to Joe; it is going to be a good one.
"We are going to go heavy off the new album, probably play all of the songs but one and some of the other original things that we've done. We're going to mix it up a bit, a lot of singing in four-part and three-part harmony; it will be a varied show. It will be a snapshot of me and the band as well as some stuff that I've done with other people that people perhaps may not have heard. The set is about 90 minutes plus the encore; I've been practicing for three hours at a time so I'm good."
To obtain tickets or read more about this blues master; please visit https://www.joelouiswalker.com/.
Don't blink because you'll miss the next evening at The Lizzie Rose which is Laurie Morvan. A resident of California and another veteran of the Blues scene; Laurie makes her debut at everybody's favorite old Victorian home. Still playing "Covid catch up" and making up for lost time, she has a lot of spunk and pent-up energy coming our way.
"My latest release is called "Gravity" and we're still working that album because we lost like two-and-a-half years because of COVID and it came out right before all of that," she said with enthusiasm. "So, we're still pushing that record and still touring as we always do. We got booked on the Billtown Blues Festival in Pennsylvania for June 9, a Friday and we're going to be right in the area and we've had some people from New Jersey kind of hollering at us; "Come play in New Jersey" so, here we come. This will be the first time we play The Lizzie Rose and I can't wait."
An Illinois native who discovered the West Coast in the '80s, Morvan was not always a Blues music fan but like many others, once she started down that path she had no choice but to continue to follow it.
"I grew up in small town Plainfield, Illinois; I'm not sure there is a more Midwestern name than Plainfield and then I moved out to California when I was in my twenties and thought that I'd only go for a couple of years to have an adventure and I made a life out here in Southern California; I love it and it all happened after I moved to California because that is when I was exposed to Stevie Ray Vaughn and that changed my life. I heard Stevie Ray Vaughn; I had been playing in power trio cover bands doing Clapton, Joan Jett and Pat Benatar in the late '80s and I heard Stevie Ray Vaughn and I just thought, this is where I want to go, this is what I want to do. Stevie opened up the floodgates; Albert King, Freddie King and in small town Illinois, you don't really hear about the Blues but then you find out about B.B. King and Buddy Guy and then you start hearing Etta James and then Big Mama Thornton; it's endless. You just keep going into the labyrinth that is the beautiful, diverse, eclectic, full-spectrum of the Blues. I love all of them, I love acoustic blues, I love bright energy electric blues; that's my favorite. I love Country Blues, it's all so delicious and uplifting. I feel like it's what I call a sacred calling that all of us musicians have to get out there to spread love in the world. I want people to come to a show and no matter what their mood was, good, bad, sad, happy; wherever they were at, I just want to take them higher. I want them to feel like they can forget about all of the hardship that's going on and they get to enjoy themselves and be completely immersed in the music, like taking over their soul and healing them just a little bit."
"Healing" is definite if you are going to one of her shows and it's not as if her audiences have a choice. Morvan's stage personality is infectious, vivacious, vibrant and guaranteed to suck you in and if that doesn't happen; check your vitals because you just may have an issue. Laurie says that her show "Varies" but one thing is sure this go around; there will be a healthy dose of "Gravity."
"We do a lot of songs off of this album and our fans seem to love it. I had a great time recording the album. I got to play with a lot of heavy hitters in the blues world on this album and I'm really proud of it and it's still very joyful to play the songs from this album. "Gravity" is my sixth CD and I work really hard on my records; the album previous to this was nominated for, as well as my fourth album for Blues Music Awards."
"My set varies a lot but in a club; some clubs want like a 90-minute straight through set and some clubs want like a three hour show with a break in the middle so, we kind of do every variation of it. I'm comfortable with shorter or longer shows; longer shows we get to do more diverse material. We do mostly my music but if I'm going to do a cover, I'm gonna do it up and we're going to bring something special that is very esoterically Laurie Morvan Band to that song. We're going to make it interesting for the audience, maybe add some cool harmonies or change up the groove to pump it up a bit or maybe even write a chorus for a song that doesn't have one. We try to bring something unique and still be artistic even when we are covering something."
Shall you wish to attend her Lizzie Rose performance or read more about this talented songstress; please visit http://www.lauriemorvan.com/.
Alastair Greene caps off the Lizzie Rose trifecta on Thursday June 15 with a 7 p.m. appearance and this one is just as hot as the others as he is touring in support of his recent release called, "Alive In The New World."
Greene put out his first record in 2001 and hasn't stopped since. Having provided guitar support touring with The Alan Parsons Project, Starship featuring Mickey Thomas and Sugaray Rayford; he and his band have, "Drawn comparisons to Gov't Mule, ZZ Top and Cream" as they cut a power trio swath across the globe. Currently working with friend and fellow blues man Tab Benoit; Greene couldn't be more optimistic about his future.
"I have a new record that just came out in January on Tab Benoit's label, it's called "Alive In The New World," it's a live record that was recorded in Chicago in 2021 and it was a follow-up to my studio record that I did with him called, "The New World Blues" and it's basically a lot of live versions of songs from that record. I've been touring to support that record and it has been going great. I did a bunch of shows with Tab a couple of months ago, kind of all over the South and a little bit on the East Coast, I just got back from two weeks in the United Kingdom supporting Walter Trout and I'm gearing up to do these shows in June on the East Coast and in July I'm going out to the West Coast."
"The album is 10-tracks," he went on "And it was recorded in Chicago when I was opening for Tab; we did five nights in a row at The City Winery and it turned out that we were going to be recording the shows so, I got my pick of five shows and I picked the best versions of each song from those five shows and we decided to release it."
A funny thing sometimes happens in the life of a songwriter; a song is written and in the process it inadvertently becomes what many people term as "Prophetic." Such is the case with Green's last studio album, "The New World Blues." Little did he know that his words would become reality during the unforeseen COVID outbreak but that same outbreak and ensuing lockdowns forced him to find other ways to get creative.
"The New World Blues," obviously we went through some interesting years with the pandemic but I wrote the songs before the pandemic and it was recorded before the pandemic so, something like "The New World Blues" or "Living Today" and various things that were written before then seemed to take on new meaning and be a little more relevant once the world shut down and things got even stranger than they already were. During that time, I did a series of Thursday afternoon performances from my former home in Southern California. I did a streaming live thing called, "Throwdown Thursdays" during the pandemic. When we did release the record, I did a streaming show that people could pay to watch and then I went back out on tour fairly early on; I started back in April of 2021 and I've just been back out on the road ever since then."
Obviously a road warrior, Greene, like Laurie Morvan, has yet to enjoy the confines of The Lizzie Rose; so what can we expect when he rolls into town on the fifteenth?
"I've not ever played The Lizzie Rose but I'm really looking forward to it. I've heard nothing but good things about it from my musician friends and we'll be playing some songs off of the new record and some older tunes, a few covers; we're a Blues Rock band but we try to cover a lot of different bases dynamically. We will definitely bring it down and take it up and give everybody a ride that they will remember. I'm not sure if we're doing a 90-minute set or splitting it up; those are things I can't keep track of (laughs). I tend to steer towards; I know a lot of Chicago Blues. I spent a lot of time as a guitar player in other peoples bands and backing people up. So, when we do covers; I've met a lot of harmonica players over the years so, I'll take a Junior Wells song and do it power trio style or a Muddy Waters song and kind of make it my own a little bit, rock it out a little bit depending on what it is or sometimes we'll keep it close to the original and just be playing it on overdriven guitar amps. Sometimes we'll do something newer like Johnny Winter or ZZ Top occasionally; kind of depends on the vibe of the room. I'll just throw some things in as needed; you know?"
To discover more about Alastair Greene please visit https://agsongs.com/home.
That's it for this week! Please continue to support live and original music and until next week....ROCK ON!
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