Phillip Walker

Despite recording somewhat sparingly following his debut as a leader in 1959 on Elko Records with the storming rocker "Hello My Darling," Louisiana-born guitarist Phillip Walker enjoyed a sterling reputation as a contemporary blues guitarist with a distinctive sound honed along the Gulf Coast during the '50s. A teenaged Walker picked up his early licks around Port Arthur, Texas from the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:4aoS04mCVj1CMam1LiHngo">Gatemouth Brown</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7z5ixtgDexP9ffmFvFoRlW">Long John Hunter</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6EZzVXM2uDRPmnHWq9yPDE">Lightnin' Hopkins</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:56tyBq8Ta1BdSTBs0gGhog">Lonnie "Guitar Junior" Brooks</a>. Zydeco king <a href="spotify:artist:3LzQVHowQWbzJBwBBNRPfY">Clifton Chenier</a> hired Walker in 1953 as his guitarist, a post he held for three and a half years. In 1959, Walker moved to Los Angeles, waxing "Hello My Darling" for producer J.R. Fulbright (a song he would revive several times thereafter, most effectively for the short-lived <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Playboy%22">Playboy</a> logo). Scattered 45s emerged during the '60s, but it wasn't until he joined forces with young producer Bruce Bromberg in 1969 that Walker began to get a studio foothold. Their impressive work together resulted in a 1973 album for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Playboy%22">Playboy</a> (reissued by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22HighTone%22">HighTone</a> in 1989), The Bottom of the Top, that remained one of Walker's finest recordings.

Walker cut a fine follow-up set for Bromberg's Joliet label, Someday You'll Have These Blues, that showcased his tough Texas guitar style (it was later reissued by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Alligator%22">Alligator</a>). Sets for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Rounder%22">Rounder</a> and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22HighTone%22">HighTone</a> were high points of the 1980s for the guitarist, and 1994's Big Blues from Texas (reissued in 1999) continued his string of worthy material. His 1995 set for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Black+Top%22">Black Top</a>, Working Girl Blues, showed Walker at peak operating power, combining attractively contrasting tracks waxed in New Orleans and Los Angeles. I Got a Sweet Tooth followed in 1998, and displayed no letdown in quality or power. Walker got together with fellow blues legends <a href="spotify:artist:56tyBq8Ta1BdSTBs0gGhog">Lonnie Brooks</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:7z5ixtgDexP9ffmFvFoRlW">Long John Hunter</a> in 1999 to record Lone Star Shootout for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Alligator%22">Alligator</a>. Walker was featured as lead vocalist on four tracks and backed the others on the rest of the record. In the fall of 2002, a live recording of a spring concert was released on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22M.C.+Records%22">M.C. Records</a>, and 2007 saw the release of Going Back Home by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Delta+Groove+Productions%22">Delta Groove Productions</a>. Phillip Walker died in July 2010 at the age of 73. ~ Bill Dahl, Rovi