The Music Jockey

Amazon.com
Guest-star projects can be such tiresome affairs. Too often, the high-profile "friend" is nothing more than the record label's idea of someone they can feature on the front cover to generate additional sales. Additionally, these performances are frequently overdubbed, so the artist and the guest never actually come in contact with each other. Thankfully, neither is the case on Walter Trout's first studio album of new material since 2001's Go the Distance. Not only has the hotshot guitarist worked and maintained friendships with these players, but they convened in the same studio at the same time to nail these tunes. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of Trout's friends are guitarists who--like him--prefer to charge through songs with the intensity of a salmon swimming upstream. Joe Bonamassa, Bernard Allison, Guitar Shorty, Jeff Healey, Junior Watson, and Coco Montoya all share guitar-duel duties, and while the results aren't exactly subtle, there's enough explosive firepower here to level a small building. Even an acoustic session with Eric Sardinas--a neighbor of Trout's--attacks like an unplugged Rory Gallagher on a hot Belfast night. John Mayall (keyboards/vocals), James Harman (harp), Finis Tasby (vocals), Deacon Jones (Hammond B3 organ), and Little Feat drummer Richie Hayward also bring their game faces, and sometimes songs, contributing to various tracks with energy and intensity. Trout plays with his usual all-stops-out bluster, but there is an obvious affection for his guests on every track, which both energizes and spurs him on to new heights on what is arguably his best and most diverse effort yet. --Hal Horowitz

Product Description
With the release of FULL CIRCLE, Walter Trout has realized a long held dream – to invite musician friends from his 35+ year career together to compose and play together. His first new studio release in five years, FULL CIRCLE reflects Walter Trout's remarkable story, from his humble beginnings as a sideman in many a blues legends' band through his rising solo star, arriving as one of blues music's beloved interpreters.

The project is a full circle in time and place, a journey through the range of styles that represent the blues music genre – a celebration of where the blues world is, where it has been and where it's going.

Among the 25 musicians appearing are John Mayall, Coco Montoya, Bernard Allison, Jeff Healey, Joe Bonamassa, Eric Sardinas, Guitar Shorty, Finis Tasby, Junior Watson, James Harman and Deacon Jones.

FULL CIRCLE is the most accomplished and satisfying release of Walter Trout's discography, and demonstrates his passion for music is just as great today as it was when he started playing as a teenager more than 35 years ago. He considers the new album a tribute to the people and the times that have helped shape his musical appreciation, demonstrating how the many styles within the blues genre can co-exist and mutually enhance each other without fight for rank or authenticity;