Saturday 16 February 2013

Bart Walker: Waiting On Daylight

Waiting On Daylight
Bart Walker

Bart Walker's name may not be familiar to most readers but he's certainly no newcomer.His musical CV includes plenty of time spent on the road with Bo Rice and considerable studio experience alongside the likes of Steve Gorman, Audley Freed and Robert Kearns.

His influences constantly seep through into his own music - Stevie Ray Vaughan, ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin and Jack White, to name but four - and they definitely inform his style. Waiting On Daylight, his debut for Ruf Records, has one and a half feet in the rock camp, leaving the remaining toes still dipping into the blues pool.

Heavy on guitar licks and blistering solos, Bart keeps the big sound going throughout the album. As he puts it: ''If it doesn't have the big fat beefy tone, then I won't play to my fullest potential.''

Track List

It's All Good
Black Clouds
Took It Like A Man
Girl You Bad
Gotta Be You
Waiting On Daylight
Happy
Hipshake It
Mary andMe
99%
Whippin' Post

It's All Good is a very optimistic, uncomplicated feel-good opener whereas Black Clouds is a darker, heavier and grungier offering. Essentially, they represent the two counterpoints to Bart's repertoire. Tracks such as Girl You Bad fall into the latter side of things (which is a little on the heavy side for my liking), while the feel-good factor is retained on the likes of Hipshake It (much more to my liking). Meanwhile, Whippin' Post, the albums slow burning closer, is the closest the album comes to true blues.

Stand out tracks:  It's All Good, Waiting on Daylight, Hipshake It.

Find out more over at the official Bart Walker website.

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