In The Morning

Joe Louis Walker

review by Tony Engelhart

Joe Louis Walker is not just another young blues artist. While he began recording around the same time as other blues revivalists such as Robert Cray, Walker’s music has always walked the line between gospel and blues. Combining these two genres once again, Joe Louis Walker’s first release for Telarc, In The Morning, is possibly his best record since the 1988 release, The Gift.

Picking up the guitar at 14, Walker was immediately drawn to the blues. However by the mid seventies the young picker turned to God and sang Gospel for nearly a decade with the Spiritual Corinthians. His return to blues came to pass in 1985 when the group performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Merging his love of Gospel with a passion for blues turned out to be both self-gratifying as well as commercially successful for Walker.

In The Morning explores many facets of the blues. Joe Louis Walker’s guitar playing is clean and sharp as ever as is evident on the first track, ‘You’re Just About To Lose Your Clown’. While the title track has a spiritual message, ‘Where Jesus Leads’ is a clear declaration to Walker’s deep beliefs. Showing his love to jam lose and unrehearsed, Joe produces a guitar driven instrumental/shuffle ‘2120 South Michigan Avenue’. The disc ends with ‘Strangers In Our Own House’ dipping into the Mississippi Delta with only acoustic guitars and Walker’s raw and exposed vocals.

From East Texas blues to Delta Blues, Soul and Gospel, Joe Lewis Walker provides a little something for everyone without losing sight of his innate and impassioned convictions.