Walter Trout
Battle Scars
Provogue Records – 2015
“Last year has been one where the blues TRULY came calling, and I came FACE TO FACE with DEATH more than ONCE.” – Walter Trout
The quote above is placed emphatically at the back of the liner notes for the new Walter Trout CD Battle Scarsand it quite emphatically sums up what has been a long drawn out 2 year fight for the blues guitarist/singer with a failing liver, an organ transplant, the long harsh road towards recovery and the rediscovered abilities Trout and some around him feared might’ve been lost.
The album’s liner notes has a detailed essay from Trout’s wife Marie where she also explains that while the thematic subject matter is indeed quite dark, there’s an appreciative air of thanks as Trout looks to the future with his new lease on life.
They aren’t kidding about the darkness of the material either.
Kicking off the CD is “Almost Gone” (hear the song below), which begins the charting of Trout’s recovery. He was near death more than once. But what makes this song so masterful is how great the guitar work and Trout’s rough hewn voice blend effortlessly.
Of course, it is somewhat a stating of the obvious to say the guitar player is performing some amazing guitar work, but it is important to say here because the expressive nature of Trout’s playing gives the songs a life of their own outside of what he is singing alongside that musical performance. The solo in “Almost Gone” is just one of a number of solo spotlight moments that can make any guitar player green with envy.
Even more interesting to me was how guitar isn’t the only instrument upon which Trout shares some of his shredding ability. There’s some on “Almost Gone” and “My Ship Came In” (the musical outro on that song is amazing too). But his harmonica solo on “Tomorrow Seems So Far Away” blows you away as much as the guitar solo does.
Lyrically, the album shines from beginning to end, from the dark or personal illness, to an appreciation of what has been in his life, to a bright new outlook on life in “Gonna Live Again”. I loved this particular lyric from the song:
And I have made mistakes
And sometimes my heart was cold as ice
And I’ve lied and I have cheated when I took a rollin’ of the dice
I let my life fly by me
It always went so fast
Nothin’ ever seemed to last
But now I’m gonna live again/ Live again.
While the album displays a joyful sort of pacing, I liked how honest Trout came across in his darkest moments, particularly in the song “Please Take Me Home,” a sad, sweet and mournful track that exudes all of the pain, suffering and fear he must’ve been going through.
Aside from those songs, other noteworthy cuts include the lively numbers “Move On” and “Fly Away.” The only song that really didn’t ring my bell completely was “Haunted By The Night,” but even that song ended up being something to behold because of the fantastic and highly energetic solo at the end of the song.
I’m not a full fledged blues fan, but generally what I’ve heard, I’ve ended up liking quite a bit. Despite his long career, this is my first real exposure to Walter Trout. And in that particular kind of musical debut, this was an album that grabs you from the get go and soon becomes a musical storyline you can hear over and over again without tiring of it.
The birth of Battle Scars was fueled by the worst possible set of circumstances one might imagine would serve as a creative jumping off point. But while the topical subject matter that makes up the lyrics are dark as night, Walter Trout and his band found their way to an album that serves to inspire an endless stream of positivity that leaves the listener feeling quite upbeat themselves.
