TOBY WALKER IS ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Monster USA acoustic picker Toby Walker is due a rare visit to our shores here in the UK, with tour gigs booked in England and Scotland, kicking off at Kent’s Riverside Rhythm Club on October 2nd, with a stream of gigs finishing in Shipston on Stour’s Thirst Edition on the 21st. This is a picker worth catching anywhere and any time possible.

WORDS: Iain Patience IMAGES: Larry Sribnick

I’ve had the pleasure to know Toby for many years following an initial introduction via a good pal in the USA and developed with meetings at a French festival followed by gigs in the UK. Every time, I’ve been hugely impressed by his humour, attention to detail and seriously stunning fretwork.

Speaking with Toby these days is tricky, following a move from the north in New Jersey to North Carolina the home of many guitar greats from Rev Gary Davis and Blind Boy Fuller. To Etta Baker. Mostly known for the Piedmont style of picking, NC is also the centre of some of the finest bluegrass and modern Americana music – think Doc Watson and Charlie Poole!

Originally self-billed as ‘Little’ Toby Walker, the guy has long since shrugged that moniker aside with good merit. When the great Hot Tuna guitarist and former Jafferson Airplane picker Jorma Kaukonen says – ‘Flat out…you have to hear this great musician…I’m blown away,’ and the great John Hammond adds – ‘A real killer with fantastic technique. He just knocks me out.’ You know you’re on to a winner.

When this is mentioned, Toby he just smiles and accepts the accolades with a mixture of pride and downright humility. Steady Rollin’ Bob Margolin has also praised Walker and his approach,saying: ‘As a blues guitar player, I am stunned and in awe of Toby Walker’s picking. Not only does he master diverse blues styles, but plays them with both flash and depth.

That’s the advanced class – few players can do both. Add to that his fine songs and singing and friendly presentation, and it’s obvious that Toby Walker is one of the most enjoyable artists in today’s blues world.’

Internationally and nationally acclaimed, Toby Walker has been hailed as an award-winning , roots music finger-style guitar virtuoso who has toured the USA, the UK, Canada and Europe. Blending the styles of blues, ragtime, country, bluegrass, old-time jazz and rock, he has developed his own style. And as such received numerous awards including a first place at the Blues Foundation IBC in Memphis and a NY music award for best instrumental CD. Walker has also been inducted into the New York Blues Hall of Fame.

Heading south to the Mississippi as a youngster with an enquiring blues mind, he tracked down and learned from many old blues masters including Eugene Powell – a truly major influence – James ‘Son’ Thomas, Etta Baker and RL Burnside among many others. A voracious appetite reached its natural conclusion with a mastery of all of their individual styles and guitar fretwork approaches, leading to working with Homespun Tapes and its range of music tution DVD recordings and that company’s founder, the late Happy Traum, to describe him as ‘A finger-picking guitar virtuoso!’

When asked why he turned to guitar playing as a youth, Walker is both serious and flippant at the same time, confirming “…I was watching all these new bands and the rock music and could see they were getting all the chicks hooked on. The guitar was the way to get some of that action.. So, I figured I wanted a bit of that, so guitar it was!”

With a rare chance to catch this superb acoustic blues master now possible in the UK this month, I recommend everyone to get out and see this virtuoso picker do his stuff!