Walter Trout In Concert

Show Date: March 9, 2011

Venue:  The Granada Theater

  Dallas, Texas

Often, I get e-mails or notices on Facebook, asking me to post a short list of artists’ work that I would have on a desert island.  The whole idea, of course, is to let people know who your absolute, most favorite artists are.

Wednesday night, I’ve added a new name to my short list of favorites. My problem is, I don’t know who’s going to get bumped from my list.

The new kid on my list is blues and rock guitarist, Walter Trout.  And, yes, he’s THAT good.  Seriously.

I only recently became aware of Trout through a business acquaintance of mine. I watched video and recently got a copy of his latest CD, Common Ground. What sealed the deal for me was attending his show at the beautiful, historic Granada Theater.

From the opening tune through every song I heard, I was mesmerized by this bluesman’s incredible talent.  This man has to have been to the legendary crossroads because he plays the blues like a man possessed. Fast. Slow. Hard. Soft.  No matter how you like your blues, Trout serves it up like the master that he his.

Among the songs on Trout’s captivating set list were song from his new CD including the title song, Common Ground and what will sure become a signature tune, Her Other Man plus a whole slew of songs from his other albums.

Backed by the steady beat of his new drummer, Michael Leisure, (formerly of the Edgar Winter Band), bass work by Rick Knapp, and scary-good ivory-tickling by Sammy Avila, it was easy to get sucked into the vortex of Trout’s sound.  The band was tight and seemed to genuinely enjoy playing together.

A special treat was when Avila’s son, Danny (Trout’s guitar tech and guitarist for L.A. band, Philosophy of Soul) joined the band on stage for an incredible jam session.  He is as good on the guitar as his dad is on the keys.  I suspect that we’ll be hearing more of Philosophy of Soul in the years to come if Danny is any indication of their sound.

The opening act for the evening was another blues act from Denton, Texas, The Chris Watson Band. The boy kicked some major blues butt on the Granada stage.  Don’t believe me?  Well, Walter Trout says the boy did, too.  You wouldn’t think Trout would lie, now, would you?  Watson played the blues like men many years his senior.  I liked him.  A lot.

All I can say is that, if you didn’t catch Trout or Watson either one Wednesday night, you missed some seriously good blues and I do mean seriously.  You can keep track of both of the great artists at www.waltertrout.com and www.chriswaltersband.com.

And put ‘em on your short list.