Seth Walker

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"Walker's voice has enough weight and his guitar has enough bite to draw out the most of the emotion on romantic loss and Hurricane Katrina found in likable original tunes and ones borrowed from Jimmy Reed 'I know it's a Sin,' and Crescent City r&b 'By the Water'. To his credit, the Austin-based musician ventures outside the blues box to put his rootsy imprint on Tom Waits; 'Picture in a Frame’.” --Frank-John Hadley; Downbeat Magazine
AUSTIN, TEXAS— Seth Walker’s music combines the driving delivery and infectious guitar style of B.B. King and T-Bone Walker with a gift for songwriting that stamps his music with a sound all his own. Walker himself describes his music as “a different point of blue.” Moreover, the gifted singer, songwriter and blues guitarist has been on a roll over the past several months. He’s toured with blues luminaries Charlie Musselwhite and Marcia Ball, shared a Christmas tour with Americana faves Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis, seen his music added to the blues channel on satellite radio and signed with the prestigious Piedmont Talent agency (which also represents James Cotton, Johnny Winter and Sue Foley). It’s hard to sing the blues with a track record like that! The Austin-based Walker released his fifth, self-titled album a year ago, and the ensuing months have been marked by one opportunity after another.
“2006 was a banner year for me in many regards,” said Walker, in looking back. “Jerry Hall and the Pacific Blues label really helped get the ball rolling on my latest CD, Seth Walker. Then our little snowball got much bigger when Grammy-nominated piano player Marcia Ball invited me to tour and open the shows for her and play with her band. She is such a gifted artist and a sweet, compassionate soul.
“I met blues legend Charlie Musselwhite in Vail, CO in the spring of 2006 and struck up a friendship with him and his stellar band. He invited me to tour as an opener for him in the Southeast, and I jumped at the opportunity! Charlie’s the real deal. My time with him shaped my musicianship in many ways.
“That led to my touring over the Christmas holidays with Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis. This dynamic couple are an institution in the world of singer/songwriters. I was honored by the invitation to open nine shows for them.”
For more updates and touring info for Seth, log onto www.sethwalker.com. In the meantime, here are some of the recent highlights of Seth’s career.
· In October 2006, Seth toured in Florida with blues harp legend Charlie Musselwhite, the latest installment of a budding personal and musical friendship.
· Also in October, he was one of the featured artists (along with the Grammy-winning Cajun band BeauSoleil and guitar maestro Monte Montgomery) to headline the annual gala fundraiser for the San Antonio Botanical Garden.
· In August, he toured as part of the band and opened shows for W.C. Handy Award-winning keyboardist Marcia Ball. Ball, who also resides in Austin, has become a friend and advocate of Seth and his music.
· In July, Seth released Seth Walker, his fifth album, on the Pacific Blues label. This multi-faceted, eminently listenable album won raves from the likes of the Austin American-Statesman (“…[A] pure talent, a masterful blues guitarist, a singer with some swing in his voice and a writer whose originals...sound less composed than unleashed…With this album, he’s finally arrived) and the San Antonio Express News (“Seth Walker and his band offer a hip, soulful, swinging antidote to noisy clichés. The Austin-based North Carolina native has been doing it up right with a sound that deftly mixes New Orleans and Kansas City jump blues, T-Bone Walker-influenced Texas blues and a large dose of originality”).
· In June 2006, Seth joined an all-star cast (including Ruthie Foster, James Hand, the Jones Family Singers and Endurance) for the first annual “Holy Ghost Party,” a rafter raising gospel revue at Austin’s historic Paramount Theatre.
· Throughout the summer, Seth held down a residency at Jovita’s, the celebrated South Austin Tex-Mex eatery and musical emporium. Among his regular fans was 94-year old Pinetop Perkins, the Chicago piano legend (since relocated to Austin) who was a mainstay of Muddy Waters’ acclaimed late-Sixties band.
· In December of last year, he embarked on a multi-state “Happy Holidays 2006 Christmas Tour,” opening up for Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis, the First Couple of Texas Americana music.
· In February 2007, Seth Walker announced that songs from Seth Walker were added to the playlist of “Bluesville,” the XM Satellite Radio program hosted by Bill Wax.
· In May of this year, Seth signed with the prestigious Piedmont Talent agency, which also represents blues legends such as James Cotton, Johnny Winter and Pinetop Perkins.
The North Carolina native picked Austin as a second home thanks to its vibrant musical climate and legacy of great guitarists. Coming up in the shadow of six-string greats like Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan, Eric Johnson and Derek O’Brien might prove a daunting challenge to some guitarists, but Walker has spent the past few years establishing his own turf with grace and élan. W.C. Clark the Austin blues maestro who served as a mentor to Stevie Ray Vaughan among many others, noted “Seth is from a long line of great players and singers. He’s rich with soul, a tasteful player and a warrior in the field.”
Grammy nominee and fellow Austinite Marcia Ball observed, “Seth Walker swings, rocks, boogies and plays low-down blues all in one set, all on one record. He’s a great singer and authentic performer of real American music, and he’s writing new classics…In person and on record, he’s the real deal.” And Delbert McClinton, who knows a good groove when he hears one, remarked, “I really dig the songs and the soulful sound…and it’s not too damn loud!”
With a sound that is by turns intense and relaxed, yet with a bone-deep soulful groove that echoes J.J. Cale, John Hiatt and Seth’s neighboring South Carolinian, the late Walter Hyatt, the songs on Seth Walker have the sort of reel-you-in groove that sounds equally at home on the back porch in the morning or on a jukejoint stage at last call.
All of the songs on Seth Walker were written or co-written by Walker himself, with the exception of contributions by James Hunter, Tom Waits and the great New Orleans producer and writer Dave Bartholomew. Musical guests joining Seth and his band include Fabulous Thunderbirds frontman and harp ace Kim Wilson, fellow Austin guitarslinger Mike Keller, keyboard maestro Floyd Domino, trumpeter Ephriam Owens and backup vocalist Rayvon Foster.
A devotee of Jimmy Reed, B.B. King, T-Bone Walker and other giants of the blues and soul pantheons, Seth settled in Austin nearly a decade ago. Since then, he’s opened shows for the likes of Ray Charles, B.B. King, Robert Cray, Jimmie Vaughan and Aaron Neville. Seth Walker is his fifth release.