Joe Louis Walker's Blues Conspiracy: Live on the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise (Stony Plain)

 |   |  <1 min read

Joe Louis Walker with Jason Ricci, Paris Slim and Nick Moss: Born in Chicago
Joe Louis Walker's Blues Conspiracy: Live on the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise (Stony Plain)

That this was recorded on a Caribbean cruise might tell you all you need about its crowd-pleasing nature. But Walker's guests (guitarists Johnny Winter, Tab Benoit and Duke Robillard, Watermelon Slim on harmonica among them) get away serious six-string savagery and down low dirty vocals.

Yes, crowd-pleasing – but songs like A Poor Man's Plea with Kenny Neal turn the cruise ship lounge into a smoky Chicago bar.

Unpromising title, a cover which suggest something more like Jimmy Buffett margarita-mellow and an unpromising opener (the lumpy Slow Down GTO where all the crowd pleasin' flashy stops are pulled for effect) . . . but a rather better blues album than you might think.

Makes you want to a book the cruise, that's for sure. There are a lot of Elsewhere favourites on the stage.

Like the sound of this? Then check out this.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Blues at Elsewhere articles index

Watermelon Slim: Up Close & Personal (Southern/Yellow Eye)

Watermelon Slim: Up Close & Personal (Southern/Yellow Eye)

Not only does white bluesman Watermelon Slim sound like the blackest 1940s blues player that ever was, but he's also has had an extraordinary life. Believable if you read it in a novel, but all... > Read more

Joe Bonamassa: Different Shades of Blue (J&R/Southbound)

Joe Bonamassa: Different Shades of Blue (J&R/Southbound)

Astutely released today in advance of his sole New Zealand concert in Auckland tonight, this is the first album by acclaimed American guitarist/singer Joe Bonamassa featuring all his own... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

BLAME THE NAME GAME: Double J and Thrice the B*

BLAME THE NAME GAME: Double J and Thrice the B*

This might need close attention. It's about the bewilderingly few names in my family. Ridiculously few. My father was Graham Paterson Reid and my mother was christened Margaret Noble Lamb... > Read more

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT . . . LARAAJI: Relax, you are feeling sleepy

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT . . . LARAAJI: Relax, you are feeling sleepy

Rather cruelly, when the English rock writer Andy Gill reviewed the Laraaji album Days of Radiance back in 1980 he opened with "Zzzzz . . ." Fair call in some ways, but in its defense... > Read more