Bluesman Walter Trout on the records, artists and gigs that are of lasting significance to him.
Iwas really lucky that I heard so much great music growing up,” says Walter Trout. Over a fifty-plus year solo career, including shifts with Canned Heat, John Lee Hooker and Big Mama Thornton, Trout has let everything from blues to rock to jazz flow through his writing and virtuoso playing. His latest album, Broken, with guest appearances from Beth Hart and Dee Snider, is a soulful, 12-song enquiry into our fractured world, with all the blistering guitar breaks fans have come to expect from Trout. About to turn 73, and on the eve of a world tour, he says: “I’ve been through it. I’ve been a heroin addict and an alcoholic and everything else. But now I want to savour every moment that I’m here. And music lets me do that.”
THE FIRST MUSIC IREMEMBER HEARING
My parents loved big-band and swing. In the mid-fifties, when I was a kid, they used to take me to black jazz clubs in Atlantic City. And I wanted to be a jazz trumpet player like Miles Davis or Clark Terry. When I was ten I got to spend the day hanging out with Duke Ellington and his Orchestra! All that music sunk in.
THE FIRST SONG IPERFORMED LIVE
In Collingswood, New Jersey, a guy opened a record shop, and for opening day he had me and my eighth-grade buddies come in and try to play some blues. I was paid with a Dean Martin album and a Frank Sinatra album.
THE SINGER
When I was five, I saw a movie called The Jolson Story, with Larry Parks portraying Al Jolson. What I remember is the beauty of performance, and how it could affect an audience; how a man could just sing a song and be filled with joy. That had a big impact on me. Later it was Ray Charles.
THE SONGWRITER
Bob Dylan. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall, Masters Of War, Blowin’ In The Wind. Those are astounding songs. He’s still writing astounding songs. There’s a reason he won the Nobel [Prize In Literature in 2016]. At the same time, on a very different track, I love Anthony Newley – What Kind of Fool Am I? and Who Can I Turn To? As someone who had a rough childhood, I related to those songs. It felt like Newley really got who I was.
THE GUITAR HERO
In 1965 I heard the Paul Butterfield Blues Band album, featuring Michael Bloomfield. I liked George Harrison and Keith Richards, but Bloomfield was on another planet, playing blazing blues licks with this rock’n’roll fire and aggression. Just astounding. To this day, he remains the guy who made me want to do what I do.
THE CULT HERO
Just out of high school, I got into a band with a guitarist named Craig Farley. One of the greatest players I’ve ever heard in my life. To this day, he did things on t
