Walter Trout. 4/2024.

The concert by one of the most experienced blues guitarists, Walter Trout, was placed in the Ark Theatre, which was a good choice. Less than five hundred spectators/listeners had a choice of seating and standing room. The theatre was not completely full. Support was provided by an ambitious Czech (Karlovy Vary) group playing under the name Steven's. The nine-member ensemble with frontman Štěpán Kordík (guitar, mouth organ, vocals) played a pleasant set including blues, country and rock. The feeling of a full sound was helped by a working brass section (trumpet, saxophone, trombone) and a pair of backing vocalists. Walter Trout and his band took the stage just before 9pm. The intro itself makes it clear that we will be treated to guitar equivalence. The introduction is provided by the classic I Can Tell (Live Trout, vol. 1, 2000), which is credited to Bo Didley but written by Samuel Smith. Even here, Walter shows where his uniqueness lies. The flash-purchased notes, to which he seemingly pays little attention, are mostly not self-explanatory, but create a structure that has a given beginning and end. In addition to playing on the highest and narrowest guitar frets, we observe a section of soloing without the use of the right hand in the very first song. At first, Walter has a bit of trouble finding the right distance from the microphone, but gradually the vocals become more distinct and it is clear that the seventy-three year old veteran's fund is not lacking. Most of the audience is made up of people in their fifties, maybe even sixties, the atmosphere is warm and the love of the blues and indeed the boogie, which the band at one point play with gusto, is stronger than the perception of the obvious movement limitations of the concert's protagonist. The band plays well, with bassist John Avila replacing the usual Johnny Griparice and an impressive solo at the end of the basic set, which is immediately followed by drummer Michael Leasure's performance. An interesting and instrumentally proficient figure is "second guitarist" Brett Smith-Daniels, who is visibly at least a generation removed, but still, at twenty-eight years old, has an impressive list of musical celebrities with whom he has worked (Mick Taylor, Randy Bachman, and Micky Moody). Walter Trout presents Brett as the heir apparent to all the blues matadors who are either no longer living or have passed the age of sixty or seventy. The band plays, among other things, a total of four tracks from their current album Broken(2024), the eponymous title track standing out. Walter adds a commentary to it, which is a short account of his life's collapses and subsequent health problems. The song's message is a wish never to be broken again. From the same album are Talking to Myself and I've Had Enough. Walter plays a signed Delaney instrument for most of the concert, but due to tuning difficulties, the clip-on tuner is often in perpetual use, accompanied by humorous comments. The meticulously played Follow You Back Home, using the vocal skills of the other band members, is from the album Ride (2022). The very end, after a hint of leaving the stage, is a throwback more than thirty years to the excellent Going Down (No More Fish Jokes, 1991). The show was clearly aimed at lovers of blues or blues-rock music who enjoy watching the distinctive central figure of an extraordinary instrumentalist. It is admirable that, after all the near-fatal difficulties, Walter Trout was able to release his thirty-first album in March of this year. What's more, it is a good album.

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