Search - Joe Louis Walker :: Blues of the Month Club

There may not be a finer all-around blues artist in the U.S. than Joe Louis Walker, whose third album for the Verve label impresses from start to close. Emotionally connected with gospel and soul as well as blues, he injects his confident singing and sophisticated, lyrical guitar-playing into an appealing program of eight originals and a song apiece from R&B great Ike Turner ("You've Got to Lose"), world-famous R&B scribe Dan Penn (with songwriting help from fellow Nashville resident Gary Nicholson on the title cut), and his dependable Bosstalkers band ("Second Street"). For certain, Walker's individual way with a song is memorable, inviting return listens. Special guests this time around include bass great Steve Cropper, who helped Walker produce the record; the ever-busy Memphis Horns; and, not least, the church singers The Spiritual Corinthians. --Frank-John Hadley