CONTEMPORARY BLUES

Joe Louis Walker, vocals and guitar Julien Brunetaud, piano Gary Frazier, electric bass Tony Mason, drums

His skills as a singer, songwriter and producer have earned blues artist Joe Louis Walker multiple Grammy awards and W.C. Handy awards. His dynamic and charismatic singing and playing won him his first Contemporary Male Blues Artist in 1988 and this year he has already been nominated for five awards.
A professional musician since the age of 14, Walker comes from a musical family that has worked with an incredible variety of artists, from blues giants like Muddy Waters and B.B. King to jazz icons Thelonious Monk and Branford Marsalis.
Walker grew up in San Francisco when the city was the centre of youth culture and he met and played with many big names including veteran bluesmen. “I was lucky because I was around Lightnin’ Hopkins and Earl Hooker. Me and Mike Bloomfield shared a room for a long time and in Chicago I met Otis Rush, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. Those old guys saw something in me. They saw themselves in me when they were young.”
This mskes Joe Louis say, “I hope to be able to say that I shared what the older guys shared with me.”
At Blues to Bop he will be doing just that, playing with a group created specially for the event featuring French pianist Jules Brunetaud, and appearing as special guest with our young local musicians “The Flag”.
His three concerts are certain to be highlights of the four days.