Song:The Blues And My Guitar
Album:Heritage Of The Blues:The Best Of Phillip Walker
This comp from Hightone Records is an excellent introduction to the tasteful and underrated blues guitarist Phillip Walker. He was born Feb. 11, 1937 in Welsh, LA and grew up in Port Arthur, TX. As a teen, he was already playing guitar in Houston clubs with Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown and Lonnie Brooks. Zydeco pioneer Clifton Chenier hired Walker to play guitar in 1953 and he remained for three years. He moved to Los Angeles in 1959 and recorded his signature song Hello My Darling. Walker mostly played sessions through the 60s until he got together with producer Bruce Bromberg to record the 1973 album Bottom Of The Top for Playboy Records. Yeah, Hugh Hefner started it to record his then girlfriend Barbi Benton. But they released some good stuff and this album is now available from Hightone. Walker has recorded sporadically and this comp covers his music pretty well. This excellent cover of Lowell Fulsom's The Blues And My Guitar was on the 1984 Rounder album Tough As I Want To Be. He was recording for High Top until they went bankrupt a few years ago. His latest CD Going Back Home was released on Randy Chortkoff's Delta Groove label in Feb. 2007. So Phillip Walker is still delivering his classy and entertaining brand of blues guitar. Don't overlook him. Here's Phillip Walker performing Hello Central in Sweden 1979.
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