“I’m still lucky,” the bluesman told us of his career and the seven decades of music that has shaped him.
The power of music to unify people and find beauty in a turbulent world has been Walter Trout’s guiding principle throughout the course of his life. The 72-year-old blues-rock guitarist has persevered through many rough patches – including alcoholism and drug addiction – in no small part through his songs that reflect on his experiences. The Ocean City native’s new album, Broken, is inhabited by characters stumbling through darkness, searching for flickers of hope.
A seasoned and exceptional storyteller, Trout uses his instrument, his lyrics, and his vocals as conduits through which he expresses searing wounds and unbridled joy. He fearlessly mines the human experience, from stabbing pain conveyed through wailing string bends to flurries of notes that cry tears of elation.
There are several guests on Broken that add to the album’s emotional depth, defiant spirit, and (at times) celebratory nature. The title track, featuring powerhouse singer Beth Hart, conveys the desperation of an injured soul struggling to embrace life. Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider fittingly appears on the anthemic “I’ve Had Enough,” which is the album’s most rebellious and aggressive track. Harmonica master Will Wilde’s feverish contribution brings “Bleed” to rollicking new heights, as well. Other highlights include the hopeful, slow burn of “Breathe,” the sitar-induced psychedelia of “Talkin’ to Myself,” the gorgeous instrumental “Love of My Life,” and the one-two closing stamp of “I Wanna Stay” and “It Falls Apart.”
Broken will be released on March 1, so we spoke with Walter Trout ahead of that.
On the album’s opening (also the title track) the protagonist is trying to stay strong and not lose his soul. That’s a pretty heavy introduction.
It was a matter of taking a look around and reporting what I see and the title track, of course, was really inspired by looking back at years of drug addiction, alcoholism, and mental illness that I went through. I think a lot of people go through it. I have a lot of friends in the program, in AA, who have been through it.
In some ways that song is a little bit of a cry for help. When I wrote the lyrics with my wife (Marie Trout), she had a big part of writing because I got stuck. I told her, “I’m writing about this and putting myself back where I was when I was running around in my youth being a heroin addict and not wanting to be here,” and it got a little too close to me. At least 60% of that song was her. As she goes, “I’ve never had those problems, but I’ve been with you for 33 years and I know all the stories,” she said that “Broken” could really be a metaphor for the world with the polarization in this country and the wars that are going on. The songs are not all upbeat and positive, but I think the overall theme of it is holding on to hope.
You were a teenager during the Summer of Love. Is it more difficult to write about today’s world, which is a pretty scary place, compared to a more hopeful time?
When I was a teenager in the turbulent sixties, we had all the assassinations, we had Vietnam, we had all that shit. I was also very young, and I was really, really high. I’ve been sober now for 37 years and I’m going to be 73 years old, so it also has to do with in some ways looking at your own mortality. I don’t know how much longer I’ve got; although I feel great, I feel young, I feel really good physically. I’m doing well. I get monitored at UCLA and I’m in really good health. I sat down and took a look around the world and at my friends and at my life and this is what came out.
Beth Hart, your collaborator on the song “Broken,” is such a powerhouse vocalist. You’ve been friends, but this is the first time you’ve invited her to sing on an album. Tell us about her performance and working with her on the song.
When Marie and I wrote that song, I told her I had Beth in my mind for this and if she can’t do it, I’ll sing it myself. I couldn’t figure out anybody else, because she’s been through it – she’s been through recovery.
She’s been through a lot and she and I have bonded in our friendship over the struggles we have went through in our lives. I sent her the song and she immediately got back to me and said, “I really want to come in and sing this with you.” We had a great time in the studio that day. She’s one of the greatest artists on the planet – she truly is.
A song like “Courage in the Dark,” has you singing, “We need to light a candle – it only takes a spark.” It must be much harder to do it than say it, but do you think it’s important for people to hear that directly from someone who has taken that journey? Is this kind of song difficult to write?
That song – I’m not exaggerating – took about five minutes. That song just came out lyrically. I had the music and I came up with this phrase, “courage in the dark,” and as soon as I had that phrase the lyrics wrote themselves. It’s about the Internet. You can get 1,000 comments on something that are positive, and as soon as someone writes, “I think this song sucks and you suck,” that’s the comment that sticks in your head. Then you forget about the positive ones. Everybody I know who does what I do for a living does that – some of them will tell you they don’t, but they’re lying. That pretty much happens quite a bit. I go with the first impulse. I’m not a guy who goes back and pores over the lyrics and tries to change a sentence here or a word there. I just go with my instinct and out it comes and there it is.
The harmonica work by Will Wilde is so lively and spirited, as is your own harmonica playing on the album. What did his playing bring?
On “Bleed,” I could’ve played harmonica on it. For three years I was the harmonica player for Canned Heat back in my youth, but I’m a very limited harmonica player, especially in my old age where I don’t have a lot of wind. You need a lot of lung power, and, at 72, I don’t really have it like I used to. I thought I could play on there, but I know a kid in England who is like the best I’ve ever heard. I knew he would really elevate this song to a different place, so I sent him the tune and he just ripped it up.
Another fantastic song, both musically and lyrically, is “Talkin’ to Myself.” It has a gallop to it, it’s very melodic, and features you playing an electric sitar.
I think it’s melodic, too. I was thinking about when I was 16 or 17 riding around in a car listening to AM radio and you had The Buckinghams and Paul Revere and the Raiders. You had all these radio songs in the mid to late sixties that were melodic. I wanted to do something in that vein. I had the tune and the guy that ran the studio said, “I have a 1966 vintage electric sitar.” I’m like, “Oh, man… go get it. Let’s put in on here just to add the sixties kind of vibe.” You can hear it on a lot of stuff in the sixties – “Games People Play” by Joe South and stuff like that.
Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider seems like an unusual pairing for you, but “I’ve Had Enough” is certainly up his alley. Your own vocals on that song may be the most aggressive on the album, and the song the most anthemic. How did the collaboration come about?
Dee is a friend of mine and he’s an amazing guy. He is one of the most intelligent, well read, knowledgeable, well spoken people; he’s just this brilliant person. He’s also very vibrant and alive and energetic. He asked me, “Why don’t you let me sing a song with you on your next record?” So, I thought, “I’m going to have to a write a song for this guy,” and he’s a rock icon so I needed to write a rock tune. I wrote the song and he loved it. He came in the studio and we had a ball. We will definitely be doing that one live, but he won’t be with us, of course. I’ll just sing the thing myself. Same with “Broken.” My bass player has a really strong voice so he’s doing the harmony with me, and he’ll probably do the harmony on the Dee Snider tune, as well.
“Love of My Life” is a beautiful, elegiac instrumental. Is there a point when you realize that a song does not need words?
I’ve got three guitar instrumentals that’s I’m sort of known for. The first was called “Marie’s Mood” and I did it years ago. I had a lyric, but I couldn’t come up with more lyrics, so I thought I’d just play it on the guitar. Then I did one called “Through the Eyes of Love,” and the lyric is, “the way that I look at you.’ That’s as far as I got, and I played it on the guitar. On this one I had “she’s the love of my life,’ and that was it.
Your guitar solos convey many emotions. How do you work out your solos to fit the songs?
I just need to play with phrasing and emotion and feeling. A friend of mine was Leslie West, and when he was making the first Mountain album, he told me that the producer said to him, “Don’t play anything that you can’t sing.” If you listen to “Mississippi Queen” and the guitar, you can sing the leads. That’s how I approached this record: I’m not out to impress somebody with some technique or technical wizardry. It’s about playing what the song needs.
Do you ever reflect on the past 35 years of being a solo artist, and of where you’ve come from o where you are now?
I reflect on it all the time and I think to myself, “I love what I get to do, and I consider myself very lucky.” I think back to being 14 years old and going to my mother and saying, “I’m going to be a blues guitar player.” That’s all I cared about. I didn’t care about school. I didn’t care about anything else. I’m going to be 73 and I’m still lucky. I’ve been able to spend basically my entire life playing music. That’s what I set out to do and I’ve done it. I could croak tomorrow and go, “This has been awesome.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON WALTER TROUT, INCLUDING WHERE YOU CAN LISTEN TO BROKEN STARTING MARCH 1, VISIT HIS WEBSITE!‘
