Joe Louis Walker
Waterfront Blues Festival
Portland, OR.
July 4, 2013

Again this year recorded from KBOO FM 90.7 here in Portland. A volunteer radio station that has broadcast the festival each and every year. It has become a huge festival & we stopped going due to the big crowds. I now record all that I can & enjoy sharing with you all. As with any all volunteer station there are a few blurps along the way, which I have "fixed" as well as I can. Enjoy, twofthrs

FM> H2 Zoom> SD card> HD> FLAC> U.

In many ways, Walker�s story is unusual. Born in San Francisco, he was part of the Bay area blues scene in his early teens and by the time he was 16 had soaked up the sounds of artists like T-Bone Walker, Amos Milburn and boogie-woogie pioneers Meade Lux Lewis and Pete Johnson. As he grew up, he found himself on stage with �tutors� like John Lee Hooker, Thelonius Monk, the Soul Stirrers, Steve Miller and Jimi Hendrix. And by the time he was 19 he had built a close friendship � they were roommates for many years � with Mike Bloomfield, legendary late guitarist for the Paul Butterfield Band.

Bloomfield�s tragic early death persuaded the young Walker to change his life. He enrolled at San Francisco State University, earning music and English degrees and performing regularly with a gospel group, The Spiritual Corinthians. In 1985, he came back to the blues, fronting a new band he called The Bosstalkers, and made the first of five albums for the HighTone label, before signing to PolyGram�s Verve/Gitanes label, for whom he recorded another six albums.

Entering the European market, Walker turned in sterling appearances at major festivals including North Sea Jazz, Glastonbury, Nottoden and Montreux, which led to tours and festivals in Japan, Australia, Taiwan, Ireland, Turkey and Brazil. Along the way he played President George Bush�s inauguration, helped President Bill Clinton induct B.B. King into the Kennedy Centre Awards and performed on some of America�s most-watched late night television shows.

Walker's new CD, Hellfire (Alligator Records) is being hailed as the finest of his long career. Billboard Magazine says, �Hellfire blows all over the map�gutbucket blues, joyous gospel, Rolling Stones-style rock crunch, and aching R&B.� Of course, that won't surprise fans who long ago recognized Joe Louis Walker�s �unduly under appreciated virtues.� Recently inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame and nominated for five Blues Music Association awards, Walker is on tour and on fire.

Set List
01 Juicy Fruit
02 In The Mornin'
03 Ride All Night
04 If You Don't Love Me Girl
05 Tell Me Why
06 Soldier for Jesus
07 Insturmental
08 One Time Around
09 Unknown
10 Too Drunk to Drive