courtesy photo by Michael Weintrob Photography
by Jeremy Fifield
Joe Louis Walker has been a convert to gospel, a disciple of rock 'n' roll and a member of a national congregation of the blues.
But it's all one broader church in the spirit of music for the singer and guitarist, who has been a staple of the American blues landscape since the mid-1960s and has played with or opened for the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Thelonious Monk. A native of San Francisco, he became the house guitarist at the legendary Matrix club at age 16.
Walker has been releasing solo albums since 1986 and joined Alligator Records in 2012 to release his 22nd record. His second album on Alligator, Hornet’s Nest, was released in February and blends styles from across Walker’s career, borrowing from blues, gospel and rock.
Walker will perform Wednesday night at the Zoo Bar at 6 p.m., and he recently spoke with Hear Nebraska contributor Jeremy Fifield about his 2014 release, stories from the span of his music career and the joy of watching his young grandson embrace music.
Hear Nebraska: Your latest album, Hornet’s Nest, contains a lot of different musical styles, everything from straightforward blues to rock to gospel. Was there a particular stylistic theme you were going for with this record, or was it more spontaneous?
Joe Louis Walker: Well, you know, it’s basically a Joe Louis Walker record. I have a lot of different wells that I draw from. Sometimes, I may do a record with a purpose; I’ve done several jazz- and gospel-infected records. This one is more of a continuation of my last record, which was called Hellfire. I just turned the guitar loose and the voice loose and just looked for material that I’d like to bring to people who listen to the blues and people who don’t normally listen to the blues and who might be wondering what blues is.
HN: Speaking of oldies, you’ve played with people like Jimi Hendrix and B.B. King. I was wondering if you could tell me some of your favorite memories of being in San Francisco in the ‘60s.
JLW: My favorite memory of being in San Francisco in the ‘60s was the variety and the camaraderie of old meeting new, young musicians being around older musicians, and being able to see them all on the same stage. Bill Graham would have The Grateful Dead with Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Howlin’ Wolf on the same bill. You just got a well-rounded idea of music, it was good learning ground.
HN: How did having such a wide variety of music at your disposal affect the qualities of your music?
JLW: Well, I was already familiar with music. My cousins and I had a band and we played a lot of different things. We grew up in the same neighborhood with people like Sly Stone, and I lived right around the corner from The Grateful Dead. So everybody was cutting their teeth, and everything started to converge because we had a sexual revolution, an identity revolution and a race revolution in terms of people finding their identity. There were people coming in from the South and the Midwest, and there was also a great jazz scene in San Francisco.
HN: You went through a period in your life from 1975 to 1985 where you played only gospel music. Can you describe that time in your music career?
JLW: Well, I just got tired of, you know, like John Lennon said, just watching the wheels go ‘round and ‘round. When you get so immersed in one thing for so long, you can’t enjoy it. And I had a lot of other friends who weren’t enjoying it. And all the managers and what I call “music business vultures” came out and really just did a job on a lot of great guys. I figured that if it was meant for me, it’d be there when I got back.
I really enjoyed playing gospel music because it was like the Young Men’s Club, where they teach you how to sing and it’s a family thing. You’d eat together on a Sunday and then go out on the road and do programs. For myself, I was in a life where I needed that kind of structure, with my grandmothers and the rest of my family having come out of where the church was a go-to place. And I’m not a really religious, Bible-thumping person. To be honest, I went with the camaraderie in the music. And that really helped me to have my feet on solid ground.
HN: How did you get back into blues after that period?
JLW: Well, I got back into blues because my religion is music, straight on. My group Spiritual Corinthians played the [New Orleans] Jazz and Heritage Festival. I heard the blues again, and at that time the musical lines were beginning to be even more blurred. If you listen to gospel now, like Kirk Franklin, you might think you’re listening to LL Cool J. But back then when I was doing gospel, they would say “it’s too rock ‘n’ roll,” or “you’re blurring the lines.”
Whenever it gets to a situation where someone says you can’t do something in music, that’s when I say, “Well, you know, maybe you’re right, maybe you’re wrong. But for me, being a musician first, I’m gonna go where my music takes me.”
HN: You’ve been all around the world, what excites you most about playing in Lincoln and Omaha?
JLW: Well, I have a lot of history in Omaha. I lived with Buddy Miles for awhile. And I have connections to Lincoln, with the Zoo Bar and with Magic Slim having lived down there.
HN: Did you ever get to play with Magic Slim?
JLW: I played with Magic Slim, Steve Cropper and Magic Slim’s brother in Toronto years ago. And my wife took pictures of it. I have that picture. I don’t have it with me on this tour, but I will have it next tour.
HN: You’ve won several Blues Music awards, and you were inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame last year. Of all the different awards you’ve won, what are you most proud of?
JLW: You know, what I’m most proud of is that both my daughters are grown now, and one of my daughters sings and models. My grandson is two years old, and he’s beating on pots and pans, and he was born two days after Christmas. I get to take him with me to Hawaii and other places every year, and to me that’s the most important.
HN: So, he’s something of a percussionist. Do you see him maybe getting into percussion later on in life?
JLW: You know, he could be playing the violin and leading a philharmonic orchestra in several years. I just want to be there to see it.
Jeremy Fifield is a Hear Nebraska contributor. Reach him via chancesp@hearnebraska.org.