PHILLIP WALKER "GOING BACK HOME" Source: Blues Source Date: 03/2007 Writer:Tim Richards

What’s not to like about Philip Walker’s music. It’s everything wrapped into one complete package. The 69 year-old guitarist has quietly become a driving force of Texas-blues. His guitar playing can run the gambit from stinging to stroking, and his vocals are unparalleled.

Walker is backed by the crack team of Rusty Zinn (guitar), Jeff Turmes (bass), and Richard Innes (drums), along with guests Fred Kaplan, James Thomas, Rob Rio, Al Blake and David Woodford. From the horn filled funk of Percy Mayfield’s Lying Woman to the traditional treatment given to the Lightin’ Hopkins penned Don’t Think ‘Cause You’re Pretty, Walker shows his understanding of not just Texas based blues, but blues as a complete genre.

While Walker wrote none of the tunes included on this 13 track effort, it doesn’t matter. His command of the music is enough to make this one of his best efforts to date and I’m hoping there will be many more.