Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
There is a genuine light in the playing of Walter Trout that few can match or even should really be allowed to preoccupy themselves with. The light of a man who plays the Blues knowing he has lived it, not just existed in its shadow but breathed it in, made love with each note running through each finger and thrived in each display of melancholic artistry.
In his 25th year it’s only right that Walter Trout releases a new studio album, The Blues Came Callin’, for his fans and perhaps new adoring devotees to the one man guitar mission. Yet the album is tinged with a sadness, the calling card of a man who has been under immense strain and ill health and yet throughout each and every track that sadness is only in reflection, never in the blissful style of a man who constructs a note out of something almost hallowed, sanctified by a power that his faithful immediately smile upon. Reflection is what people do, they muse and ruminate and if they have had half as good or interesting a life as Walter Trout then perhaps the odd note of positive, certainly upbeat and full of life melancholy will show through.
The Blues Came Callin’ is an album of indomitable courage, lyrics that touch upon the torment of life but refusing to give in, to yield to the night, to keep being certain that nothing can and will beat you. The only thing that should ever be able to beat you is you and Walter Trout is a man who cannot be beaten.
If ever there was an album that had the hall marks of an autobiography, of capturing a slice of time and holding it hostage for the world to understand that time can be treated with care and attention, then The Blues Came Callin’ is that album. Direct and to the point, tracks that toy with your own emotions and views on life and above a beautiful listen. Songs such as Wastin’ Away, the excellent The World Is Goin’ Crazy (And So Am I), Born In The City and the cracking Tight Shoes all make this collection of songs the lyrical equivalent of gazing upon the Venus De Milo for the first time, the beauty of it will never leave you.
Walter Trout’s The Blues Came Callin’ is released via Provogue Records on June 2nd.
Ian D. Hall