Going Back Home-PhillipWalker

Thu 24th May, 2007 in Music Reviews

Philip Walker is a bluesman with style and some chops that have been developed playing with his bands through the decades. Mr. Walker, a second cousin of the late (and sadly missed) Clarence – œGatemouth’ Brown, brings us a wonderful little release here on Delta Groove Productions. Mr. Walker gets loose with some pretty nice licks on his Gibson and the feel of the album is comfortable, just like going home.

Going Back Home, is the title of Phillip’s latest, and quite possibly the most solid recording he has ever made. The mix of up tempo and slow blues tracks is just about equal and Phillip gets to shine on guitar throughout. The trade off between guitar, saxophone and piano on – œMama Bring Your Clothes Back Home’ and the rollicking – œLay You Down’ is superb. David Woodford plays a honking, bluesy sax and the superior piano playing of Fred Kaplan really makes a lot of these songs groove.

Phillip, as many guitarists of his time were, was influenced by T-Bone Walker. Also having played many years with the Zydeco chief, Clifton Chenier, these songs are filled with spice. With covers of Lightnin’ Hopkins (‘Don’t Think ‘Cause You’re Pretty’), Percy Mayfield (‘Lying Woman’) and Ray Charles (‘Blackjack’) this is an agreeable gumbo of tunes. Randy Chortkoff, the producer and songwriter, contributed a handful of the songs. Randy’s – œHappy Man Blues’ and – œHoney Stew’ show some upright blues songwriting skills and he’d be worth checking out some more when you get a spare moment!

There is no age limit on having or playing the blues, as we all know. Mr. Walker shows that at 70 years on he is still able to bring delight to the ears and this is one of those records that sounds timeless and simple in its recording and delivery. Check out Mr. Walker, bring him into your household today and shuffle to the blues he so ably delivers.