The work of performer guitarist and electric blues musician Joe Louis Walker captures the breadth of the genre, who died late last month. He was 75 years old at the time. Walker's family confirmed the musician's death, adding that the cause was a heart-related illness. He was surrounded by his 16-year-old wife, Robin, and two daughters, Leena and Bernice.
Walker was honored by his peers of the "Musician Musician" during this time working with artists like Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, Mark Knopfler and Steve Cropper while earning praise from Herbie Hancock, as well as Herbie Hancock (Chickea Corea of Blues of Blues") and Aretha Franklin (Aretha Franklin (Aretha Franklin) (known as Walker's the Blues Malues"). He was included in the Blues Hall of Fame, named an American Fellow by American artists, and received multiple WC Handy and Blue Music Awards and received the Mississippi Valley Blues Society Lifetime Achievement Award.
Born and raised in San Francisco, Walker started playing guitar as a kid, and by the late 1960s, he wandered around the Bay Area as a teenager. He found himself dabbing in the blues, like the burgeoning psychedelic rock scene, hanging out with Jimi Hendrix, working at the legendary rock club The Matrix and Michael -Michael Bloomfield and Michael Bloomfield, playing with Mississippi Fred McDowell.
But Walker’s efforts to build his career faltered himself. He drank alcohol, took drugs, and eventually went to jail in the early 1970s. "I'm a wild kid," he told Rolling stones In 1990. “I just made money to make money or make a lot of money.” By the mid-1970s, Walker was working on odd jobs and soon started playing with the gospel group, the Spirit Corinthians. But the performance with the band at the 1985 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival drew him back to the blues.
Interviewed in 2023 Prime Minister Guitarhe recalled his revelation to the Gospel tent of the festival. “I just said, ‘What do you know? I’m a disturbed soul with music.’ Anyone who listens to me with over 30 albums, they’ll hear me do all sorts of things.
Walker releases his first album It's cold at nightin 1986 and forty years, showcased such adventure albums that explore the vast world of blues along with electric blues, jazz, soul, rock and R&B. In 2016, he received nomination for his first (and only) Grammy Award, the best contemporary blues album Everyone wants one.
Walker released his last new material album, World Weightin 2023. Earlier this year, he returned to his debut album and re-recorded it as The cold is reimagined at night. "We reimagined it because we were excited," Walker said in a clip.
Talk to it Rolling stones In 1990, as he stood out in his career (although late), Walker said quietly, “If I keep doing what I love and keep enjoying it, that’s the main thing for me.”