Walter Trout’s 21st album Blues for the Modern Daze will be released in the UK on Monday 23rd April (24th April in the US). The new album showcases the contemporary guitar legend’s return to his hardcore blues roots, with songwriting at a creative and personal zenith. Blues For The Modern Daze is Trout’s sixth recording for Provogue Records, a division of the Mascot Label Group, and his first full-fledged blues album in 23 years as a bandleader.
Trout’s practical schooling in blues started when he arrived in Los Angeles in 1973 and secured gigs behind Hooker, Big Mama Thornton, Finis Tasby, Pee Wee Crayton, Lowell Fulsom, Percy Mayfield and Joe Tex. By 1981 he joined the remaining original members of Canned Heat.
The real turning point for Trout was his tenure with British blues giant John Mayall. Trout became part of the Bluesbreakers’ lineage of great guitarists along with Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor.
Beginning in 1984 he shared six-string duties with Coco Montoya in Mayall’s band, creating a flexible guitar dynamic that helped provide the Bluesbreakers a renaissance that returned the group to the apex of the international blues touring circuit.
Trout began leading his own group in 1989 and cut his debut album Life In the Jungle, and rapidly became a star in Europe. His first US release, 1998’s critically heralded Walter Trout, made him a permanent fixture of the American blues-rock scene that he is today.
Trout’s travels over the past 39 years, and his wide appreciation of his predecessors, yield a significant influence on his new album Blues For The Modern Daze.
”My main inspiration for this album,” says Trout, “was the country bluesman Blind Willie Johnson, an early blues innovator who recorded such timeless gospel informed blues numbers as Soul of a Man and Nobody’s Fault But Mine. His music is beautiful, primal, direct and deeply spiritual. I wanted to feel it at my back when we were cutting these songs.”
Continues Trout, “The new album explores a side of my music that’s rooted in my first musical love, and it reveals something about me, too. It sums up the thoughts and attitudes of somebody who is getting a little older and is feeling like he’s a part of another era, with different values and a different perspective on life that’s prevalent today. I stand behind compassion, authenticity and honesty, as strongly as I stand behind my music.”
Blues for the Modern Daze was recorded at Entourage Studios in North Hollywood, California, with Trout and engineer Eric Corne producing. It’s the fifth time Trout has collaborated with Corne, who contributed to the arrangements and sonic palette of the songs that Trout wrote and demoed on acoustic guitar during the year before the sessions.
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Southampton, The Brook
Tuesday 6th March
Tickets: £15.00 (advance), £17.00 (door)
Box Office 023 8055 5366
466 Portswood Road, Portswood, Southampton SO17 3SD
www.the-brook.com
Newcastle, O2 Academy
Wednesday 7th March
Tickets: £17.50 / Box Office: 0844 477 2000
O2 Academy Newcastle, Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SW
www.o2academynewcastle.co.uk
Leeds, City Varities
Thursday 8th March
Tickets: £22.00 / Box Office: 0113 243 0808
City Varieties Music Hall, Swan Street, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS1 6LW
www.cityvarieties.co.uk
Sheffield, O2 Academy
Friday 9th March
Tickets: £20.00 / Box Office: 0844 477 2000
O2 Academy Sheffield, 37-43 Arundel Gate, Sheffield, S1 2PN
www.o2academysheffield.co.uk
Clitheroe, The Grand
Saturday 10th March
Tickets: £20.00 / Venue Box Office: 01200 421599
The Grand At Clitheroe, York Street, Clitheroe, Lancashire, BB7 2DL
www.thegrandvenue.co.uk
Salford, The Lowry
Sunday 11th March
Tickets: £20.00 / Box Office: 0843 208 6000
The Lowry, Pier 8, Salford Quays, Salford, Lancashire, M50 3AZ
www.thelowry.com
Pontardawe, Arts Centre
Monday 12th March
Tickets: £17.00 / Box Office: 01792 863722
Pontardawe Arts Centre, Herbert Street, Pontardawe, SA8 4ED
www.npt.gov.uk
Cardiff, The Glee Club
Tuesday 13th March
Tickets: £17.00 / Box Office 0871 472 0400
The Glee Club, Mermaid Quay , Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, CF10 5BZ
www.glee.co.uk
Wolverhampton, Robin 2
Wednesday 14th March
Tickets: £15.00 (advance), £17.00 (door)
Box Office: 01902 401211
The Robin 2, 20-28 Mount Pleasant Bilston Wolverhampton, WV14 7LJ TE
www.therobin.co.uk
Bristol, The Tunnels
Wednesday 15th March
Tickets: £17.50 / Box Office: 0845 6050255
The Tunnels, Arches 31 & 32, Lower Station Approach Road, Bristol, BS1 6QF
www.thetunnelsbristol.co.uk
Tavistock, The Wharf
Friday 16th March
Tickets: £18.00 / Box Office: 01822 611166
Wharf Community Art Centre, The Wharf, Tavistock, Devon, PL19 8AT
www.tavistockwharf.com
