Now 72 and having lived in Upstate New York for 14 years, the musician is coming home to co-headline a concert at the SFJAZZ Center with San Jose native Chris Cain on Thursday.
For blues guitarist/vocalist Joe Louis Walker, reinterpreting songs is a passion kindled by playing clubs in the Fillmore in the early 1960s.
Walker recalls catching"a pre-'Papa's Got a Brand New Bag' James Brown, pre-'My Girl' Temptations and Little Richard when he got religion" at the historic venue."Just to make it extra nice, Charles Sullivan, who owned and ran it, would let all us young guys who were coming up and playing instruments have our battle of the bands there," he said.
Walker had enjoyed success covering rock and pop songs such as the Beatles'"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and the Rolling Stones'"Heart of Stone" through his traditional and modern blues aesthetic. Of course, being able to play a repertoire well doesn't automatically imbue one with the mythical blues feeling. Walker learned this on one of his early gigs, though he didn't comprehend the lesson until much later."When I was 16, I used to back up people down at the old Matrix Club on Fillmore Street," he said."And one of the first nationally touring guys I played with was Mississippi Fred McDowell .
"People make a living off mimicking, and I got nothing against that. But that stuck with me. And as I got older, I had to work less at being a blues guy," Walker admitted, with a hearty chuckle.
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