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little toby walker: live at the bottleneck

powerhouse records (uk)
cat #: pr0406

review by michael cala

October 17, 2008

from the first few bars of the traditional blues and lead track, “i know you rider,” it’s clear that toby walker
is a master of the blues guitar’s many regional american dialects.

the 15 tracks on little toby walker: live at the bottleneck were recorded without post-
production “sweetening” at the famed kent, england blues club in february 2004.
representing more than an hour of intricately textured acoustic blues guitar playing, nearly half are self-
composed, while the remainder reflect styles and performers from the first third of the 20th century.

little toby walker’s biography lists his birthplace and current address as long island, new york; however,
he’s spent time in the company of numerous southern blues artists. therefore, it’s no surprise that
walker’s guitar playing echoes styles from west texas and mississippi north to the virginia piedmont; from
intricately detailed fingerpicking to bottle slide playing (and maybe lap-steel on one tune -- “weak willed
and easily led”).

there’s only one guitar at work here, though it sounds like several. clearly, walker’s technical musical
prowess may surpass even that of the blues greats heard in his work.

on “matchbox blues,” walker’s unique arrangement preserves the stone-jumping arpeggios and jazzy
syncopations of 1920s texas bluesman blind lemon jefferson. and no matter how complex the melody
line, walker never drops the pounding alternating bass.

on “hack saw rag/cincinnati flow rag,” co-written by reverend gary davis, walker shifts gears with the bell-
clear fingerstyle playing associated with great piedmont-style guitar players blind boy fuller, etta baker,
and contemporary masters like roy book binder.

the overall ragtime feel of many of the tunes tells us blind blake may be a walker favorite, just as
mississippi blues/jazz giant big bill broonzy calls out from several tunes including “good liquor.”

one of the joys of listening to “thinking” bluesmen like toby walker – unlike talented automatons who
reproduce tunes verbatim -- is that they rarely take themselves seriously; in this, string virtuoso david
bromberg comes immediately to mind. like bromberg, walker is blessed with a sense of humor that he
displays most notably on the comic “weak willed and easily led,” and in patter between songs.

while his virtuosity and wry humor do, indeed, recall david bromberg, toby walker’s overly earnest vocal
“bluesifying” on tunes like his own “son of a mule skinner man,” suggests the sometimes-over-the-top
vocal work of john hammond, jr., and therein lies the one sore spot for this reviewer.

maybe we’ve spent one too many nights in under-lit bars listening to middle aged white men playing
national resophonics and batting out “dust my broom” for the umpteenth time, but there’s something
little toby walker: live at the bottleneck/review by michael cala page 2

unappealing about the sound of someone forcing himself to “sound bluesy” when he doesn’t quite have
the native equipment.

even though it’s hard to take even bromberg’s best performed songs on an emotionally serious level since
there’s always a hint of the put-on (even the superbly arranged “statesboro blues” has some subtle
bromberg laughs tacked on; “send me to the electric chair” is a positive yuk-fest), nevertheless
bromberg’s voice is a genuinely bluesy instrument ( “dehlia” and “kaatskill serenade” are superb examples
of this.).

in contrast, toby walker’s voice is merely average. by trying as hard as he does, his overworked vocals
convey artifice instead of emotion. this is why the comic songs work best; he’s releasing a naturalness
lacking in the more earnest tunes. if this consummate musician were to relax a bit, he might be able to
match his vocals to his superb instrumental skills.

but voice becomes a relatively minor cavil when listening to the stunning guitar work. as an amateur lap-
slide player, i’ve already listened to this cd a dozen or more times, idly wondering just how many fingers
little toby walker possesses. if there are only ten, he’s got the best blues hands in the business. michael
cala