On his latest single “Waiting For The Dawn,” released today via Provogue/Mascot Label Group, the
iconic blues-rock guitarist Walter Trout urges fans – and himself – to stay strong, in light of all of the
challenges we’ve faced over the past few years. “There were times in this pandemic where I have sunk
into some pretty deep depressions, sitting around, wondering whether life has a point,” Trout recalls.
It’s the latest single from Trout’s new studio album ‘Ride,’ out August 19th. Written in his beloved and
often-missed home in Huntington Beach, California, the album is filled with pointed reflections from
Trout, informed by his decades of stardom in the blues world.
As long-standing Trout fans know, the Golden State has been the bluesman’s home for 47 years. Trout
joined John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers lineup in ’85, before embarking on an acclaimed solo career from ’89 onwards. But before that came
Photo by Austin Hargrave
his chaotic, self-destructive years as a jobbing lead guitarist, whether for
revered-but-tricky blues pioneers like John Lee Hooker and Big Mama Thornton, or an unhinged tenure
in an ’80s Canned Heat line-up controlled by the Hell’s Angels.
Trout’s well-documented excess in this era was darker than a young rock star cutting loose. It could all
be traced back to his troubled childhood in New Jersey, he explains, where an unstable stepfather –
himself the victim of shocking cruelty as a prisoner of war – was a terrifying presence. As 'Ride' took
form, such memories couldn’t help but flavor the music. “This album is obviously what I was going
through mentally and emotionally,” he considers. “All I did was express it. I spent a lot of time crying,
because I would dig down into my emotional core. I want my songs to have some sort of truth to them.”
Some memories that Trout examines on 'Ride' are long-distant but eternally poignant. Try the
deceptively upbeat title track, another song that began as a poem, recounting the locomotive that
rattled past his childhood home each night and enticed him to freight-hop to freedom. “That song is
about what it felt like to lay there in bed and dream about escaping on that train. I also wanted to
express that music has always been another sort of virtual escape for me.”
The stormy "Hey Mama" takes inspiration from the same period, with Trout debating whether his
trauma could have been averted. “I’m not pissed off with my mom and I love her memory,” he says,
“but my wife says, ‘Your mom probably could have done more to protect you from your stepdad’. Yeah,
maybe she could have. But it’s easy to say that looking back.”
Walter Trout is the beating heart of the modern blues rock scene. Respected by the old guard. Revered
by the young guns. Adored by the fans who shake his hand after the show each night, and after five
decades in the game, Trout remains a talismanic figure.
But, however fast or far a man travels, he can never truly outrun his past. On the new album he found
himself eyeing the horizon and the green shoots of his triumphant late career. There was a new record
deal with Mascot/Provogue. A temporary move from California to Denmark to be with his beloved
family. Even now, aged 70, Trout was still writing fresh chapters of his life story.
By now, Trout knows that nobody ever really leaves their old selves behind. But with 'Ride' providing an
emotional release-valve – both for its creator and his loyal listeners – perhaps this veteran artist can
reconcile with his past, accept his future and live in the present as it unfolds. “I think you can interpret
this album title a few different ways,” he concludes. “I mean, this album is definitely a musical ride and I
certainly tried to cover a lot of ground. But, really, life is kind of a ride too, isn’t it? And I want to live
mine to the fullest.”