Phillip Walker

Phillip Walker - I Got A Sweet Tooth - 1998 - Blacktop

Phillip Walker takes his brand of Louisiana-via-Texas blues for a thoroughly contemporary ride on this release. With two hand-picked bands recording in New Orleans and Austin, TX, Walker's sensuous and languid vocals, and his economical and taut guitar work both shine through brightly. There's only one original aboard, but Walker's interpretive skills are evident on a wide variety of material by Junior Parker and O.V. Wright. Highlights are bountiful, but his work is especially impressive on the low-down funky title track (shades of Lightnin' Hopkins, for sure) and its atmospheric kindred-spirit track, "Laughin' and Clownin'" (a slow blues that's anything but as jolly as the title implies). Strong, uncluttered production also plays a big role in making this disc such a delight on repeated listenings. © Cub Koda © 2010 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kcfixqejld0e

The great Clifton Chenier gave the late Louisiana-born guitarist Phillip Walker his first break when he employed him in 1953. He stayed with Clifton for almost three and a half years. Phillip was not a prolific recording artist, although as a sideman he played with many blues and R&B's greats including Little Richard. His background and sideman experience enabled him to play many styles including Texas blues, straight blues, and sophisticated material from artists like Dennis Walker. In 1988 Phillip produced the "Blues" album, which included the original version of 'Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark', later made famous by the great Robert Cray. "I Got A Sweet Tooth" was recorded with two hand-picked bands in New Orleans and Austin, Texas. "It's All In Your Mind" is the only original song on the album. The remaining 10 tracks are great interpretations of songs from artists like Junior Parker and O.V. Wright. The title track is a great funky number in the Lightnin' Hopkins style. This album was released during a financial crisis in Black Top records. It's a very underrated album from a very underrated guitarist, and is HR by A.O.O.F.C. Listen to Phillip's "Working Girl Blues" and his brilliant "Bottom of the Top" albums

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1. Drag Me Down - Alan Mirikitani/D. Walker
2. My Name Is Misery - Lonia, C./A. Smith
3. Rub Some Good Luck On Me - Jay Gordon/Walker-Shuttle, P.
4. I Got A Sweet Tooth - Jackson, E.
5. On My Way - Phil Ochs/A. Smith
6. How Could I Be Such A Fool? - Burton, L.
7. I'd Rather Be Blind, Crippled And Crazy - Darryl Carter/Charles Hodges/Malone
8. Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time - Burton, L.
9. Laughin And Clownin' - Sam Cooke
10. It's All In Your Mind - Phillip Walker
11. Crying For My Baby - Harold Burrage

MUSICIANS

Phillip Walker (guitar,vocals)
Derek O'Brien (guitar)
Lee Allen Zeno, Larry Fulcher (bass)
David Torkanowsky, Riley Osborne, (piano and organ)
Herman V. Ernest III, B.E. "Frosty" Smith, and Johnny Tucker (drums)
The Black Top Horns: Mark "Kaz" Kazanoff (Tenor and Baritone saxophone), Ernest Youngblood, Jr. (Tenor saxophone), Gary Slechta (trumpet), Randy Zimmerman (trombone)
Charles Elam, Curtis "Bio" Watson (background vocals)

BIO

Despite recording somewhat sparingly since debuting as a leader in 1959 on Elko Records with the storming rocker "Hello My Darling," Louisiana-born guitarist Phillip Walker enjoys a sterling reputation as a contemporary blues guitarist with a distinctive sound honed along the Gulf Coast during the 1950s. A teenaged Walker picked up his early licks around Port Arthur, TX, from the likes of Gatemouth Brown, Long John Hunter, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Lonnie "Guitar Junior" Brooks. Zydeco king Clifton Chenier hired Walker in 1953 as his guitarist, a post he held for three and a half years. In 1959, Walker moved to Los Angeles, waxing "Hello My Darling" for producer J.R. Fulbright (a song he's revived several times since, most effectively for the short-lived Playboy logo). Scattered 45s emerged during the '60s, but it wasn't until he joined forces with young producer Bruce Bromberg in 1969 that Walker began to get a studio foothold. Their impressive work together resulted in a 1973 album for Playboy (reissued by HighTone in 1989), The Bottom of the Top, that remains Walker's finest to date. Walker cut a fine follow-up set for Bromberg's Joliet label, Someday You'll Have These Blues, that showcased his tough Texas guitar style (it was later reissued by Alligator). Sets for Rounder and HighTone were high points of the 1980s for the guitarist, and 1994's Big Blues from Texas (reissued in 1999) continued his string of worthy material. His 1995 set for Black Top, Working Girl Blues, shows Walker at peak operating power, combining attractively contrasting tracks waxed in New Orleans and Los Angeles. I Got a Sweet Tooth followed in 1998, and displayed no letdown in quality or power. Walker got together with fellow blues legends Lonnie Brooks and Long John Hunter in 1999 to record Lone Star Shootout for Alligator. Walker is featured as lead vocalist on four tracks and backs the others on the rest of the record. In the fall of 2002, a live recording of a spring concert was released on M.C. Records. © Bill Dahl © 2010 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:kzfoxqrgldae~T1

BIO (WIKIPEDIA)

Phillip Walker (February 11, 1937 – July 22, 2010, was an American contemporary blues guitarist, most noted for his 1959 hit single, "Hello My Darling", produced by J. R. Fulbright. Although Walker continued playing throughout his life, he recorded more sparsely. Walker grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast, and by his mid-teens was playing guitar in Houston. He worked with Lonesome Sundown (and would do so again in the 1970s) and Lonnie Brooks. In the mid 1950s he had a spell in Clifton Chenier's band. He spent the 1960s in Los Angeles, California leading a band that played a catholic repertoire of the R&B chart music, joined by his singing wife Ina, alias Bea Bopp. Singles furnished his album Bottom of the Top (Playboy, 1973), succeeded by sets for Joliet, Rounder, Hightone, JSP and Black Top. Walker was also known for his variety of styles and the changes he would often make for each album. Not until 1969 did he begin to record more regularly when he joined with producer Bruce Bromberg. Since then, fans had a more steady supply of Walker's music. He appeared on show 237 of the WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour in 2002 when Live at Biscuits & Blues had just been released. Walker's final studio release is Going Back Home (2007) on Delta Groove Productions. On July 22, 2010, Delta Groove Productions issued an email statement regarding Walker's death: "It is with deepest sorrow that we report on the sudden and unexpected passing of legendary blues guitarist Phillip Walker. He died of apparent heart failure at 4:30 AM, early Thursday morning, July 22, 2010. He was 73 years old." Another article was posted on All About Jazz.