Walter Trout’s 2015 Unofficial Comeback From the Brink of Death
(HOLLYWOOD PRESS CORPS) — Los Angeles, CA — Witnessing the raw resilience of a blues icon up close. This firsthand account captures Walter Trout’s second 2015 post-liver-transplant concert. It was an intimate, unofficial comeback show held just two weeks after his highly emotional cameo appearance at the Royal Albert Hall’s Lead Belly Fest.
The Southern California heat wave started last Monday night when the Sugaray Rayford Band took center stage (and left, right and rear). This past Monday night (June 29, 2015) at the Maui Sugar Mill Saloon, for Cadillac Zack’s Monday Night Blues Party, it was exceedingly hot outside – 100 degrees – with a 100% chance the inside of the venue would reach 120!!
Reach it did… into every nook and cranny (what is a cranny anyway?) of the small dive bar. The A/C was flowing through the vents. The ceiling fans were moving in a circular motion. Both operational. When the headliner and his band hit the stage, the temps began to rise… and rise… and rise… to a sweltering surreal meltdown of blues/rock!
Two words: Walter Trout. Two more words: Unofficial comeback.
An abundance of words: Walter was on death’s bed waiting for a liver transplant not too long ago. He had lost 140 pounds, could barely speak and thought he was at the end of his life. His wife, Marie Trout, constantly told him it was not his time to leave, so he held on to her words. The good news came that they found a liver for him. He had the surgery and recovered, and now he is back to carry on his legacy as one of THE best blues/rock guitar slingers and vocalists; without a doubt… not even a shadow of one!
This writer had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Trout once before in 2004ish at Humphreys Backstage Live in San Diego. Never having heard of him before, I was in utter disbelief by the talent that he exuded. I mean, come on, he is only one human being and since he doesn’t wear a superhero costume or even just the cape… how could he be who he was? Well, I will tell you: He was born to play the blues and he will leave this earth playing the blues, as did B.B. King.
With his new zest for living a brand new life, he has an even more impeccable and renewed sense of who he is and exudes it with a heightened stage persona. Dressed in a purple (stands for empowerment) shirt, I knew the packed-to-capacity audience was in for a heavy-hitting set! Rounding out the band were Sammy Avila on keys, Michael Leasure on drums and Jon Trout on bass.
First song in the set was “Can’t do it by Myself” and what a great message that is… he couldn’t have survived without the donor, his wife, the rest of his family, his friends and his fans.
When he started performing “I’m Back” I got teary-eyed. He picked these songs to play for obvious reasons and it touched me deeply… the message and his performance. He plays the hell out of his guitar and sings as if it were his last song.
He welcomed another legendary bluesman, John Mayall, up to the stage who played keys for several songs. Walter was the lead guitarist for John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers from 1984 to 1989 after he left Canned Heat so this was like a homecoming. They dedicated a song to BB King “Say Goodbye to the Blues”, which was so poignant in its lyrics, yet sensually alive; a contradiction…in a beautiful way!
Other guests he called up to the stage were Bob Landgraff on harp and Jimmy Vivino on guitar. The last song was a tribute that Walter wrote for his wife Marie. It was an instrumental that relayed, even without words, the beauty that he sees in her, the love that he has for her, and the gratitude he will hold in his heart forever. Beautiful. Haunting.
This set could not have been more powerful in its delivery, its lyrical meaning, its sound, its visual.
Thank you once again to my friend Cadillac Zack for bringing THE best blues to Southern California! Pasadena on Saturday. Long Beach on Sunday. Tarzana on Monday.
the bluezy redhead
