PHILLIP WALKER "GOING BACK HOME" Source: Music City Blues Date: 07/2007 Writer: Don Crow

Louisiana-born Phillip Walker, a second cousin to Gatemouth Brown, was influenced by the Cajun and Creole rhythms of his homeland.  He also listened to a lot of T-Bone Walker, which shows up in the jazz-inflected tone of his guitar playing.  He began his recording career in the late Fifties, even making an album for Hugh Hefner's Playboy label in the Seventies.  With the release of "Going Back Home" on the Delta Groove label, Phillip and some fantastic guests roll thru thirteen cuts of down-home blues with a Louisiana flavor!

This set swings with an "uptown" feel, too, thanks to a punchy horn section led by Jeff Turmes and David Woodward.  Check out the leadoff "Lying Woman," with its funky backbeat behind Phillip's rich vocal and guitar.  "Happy Man Blues" has some fine piano work from Rob Rio, while a cover of Ray Charles' "Blackjack" has a blistering solo from Phillip at the bridge. 

We had two favorites, too.  "Mama Bring Your Clothes Back Home" is a stop-time rave-up reminiscent of its composer, Lowell Fulsom.  And Rusty Zinn and Al Blake add acoustic guitar and harp to a stripped-down version of Lightnin' Hopkins' "Don't Think 'Cause You're Pretty."