Walter Trout at The Brook :: Wessex Scene Online

Walter Trout at The Brook

17th December 2009
Alex Payne

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Walter Trout was a real crowd pleaser. His lack of set-list allowed the gig to flow freely, which suits his style: we couldn’t have asked for more. It was utterly amazing!

For those who don’t know, Walter Trout is an electric blues guitarist/singer from New Jersey and played as a sideman to other artists in the 70’s such as John Lee Hooker. In the 80’s he joined the band Canned Heat and then John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, sharing guitar duties with Coco Montoya. Finally, in 1989, Trout went solo, and after releasing over 10 albums, he is celebrating 20 years of relentless touring and bringing his fiery blues to the masses, with his new album Unspoiled by Progress.

It was a typical blues gig, in that the average age was at least 50, only lowered by the presence of a few of us young ‘uns. Nevertheless, as the venue filled up, so did the atmosphere. The Brook is superb; the acoustics are great and there is a great intimacy between the audience and the artists.

With everyone pint in hand and no support band, the excitement was building - finally Walter Trout and his band emerged from the mysterious black stage door and the crowd cheered and whistled. Trout sound tested his guitar and showed his skills by attacking the fret board with some fast blues licks, which pleased the crowd, and then burst into the opening track ‘Outta Control’.

He then slowed it down a little with the next few songs, with his soulfulness and heart-on-sleeve playing really coming through. This is something that I find lacking in much current music, but it’s good to know that this way of playing will never leave the blues.
Ever the joker, Trout asked us to show our appreciation to the imaginary support band and had a few jibes at Yoko and Heather Mills along with numerous other funny quips. The good thing about Trout is that he has a good time on stage and doesn’t take himself too seriously, which enables the crowd to have a good time.

Trout rattled out some of his self-penned classics including ‘Collingswood’, ‘Helpin’ Hand’ and ‘Welcome to the Human Race’. He paid homage to his early mentor John Lee Hooker by playing in Hooker’s favourite key – E minor – as Trout joked that’s the only key he played in with Hooker. Nevertheless, it was a good tribute both stylistically and structurally.

Then something very strange happened. Trout invited his tour manager, Andrew Elt, to play guitar on 2 songs and then he took over lead vocal duties for a rendition of ‘Mercy’. He sounded like a mix of Ronny James Dio and David Coverdale, screaming the house down on the high notes but maintained the rawness needed for blues.

In all the band was tight and very good at what they do, with a drum solo, a bass solo and several Hammond organ solos thrown in for good measure.

After nearly 2 full hours of blues, Trout left the stage, but came back on for a well deserved encore and closed his set with a cover of the classic blues track ‘Going Down’, which features on the new album.

Score: 100%