Walter Trout - Ride (Red Vinyl)

As he embarked on his 30th solo album, Ride, the iconic US blues-rock guitarist found himself eyeing the horizon and the green shoots of his triumphant late career. There was a new record deal with Mascot/Provogue. A move from California to Denmark with his beloved family. Even now, aged 70, Trout was still writing fresh chapters of his life story.

No doubt, Ride has a charging momentum and a modern energy, with Trout broadening his musical palette and taking the pulse of an era reeling from both pandemic and politicos. And yet, when the veteran songwriter reached for guitar and notepad, he found himself walking once again amongst the good, bad and ugly scenes of his extraordinary backstory.

Of course, when Covid rendered live work too dangerous, both for this liver-transplant survivor and his fans, Walter was condemned to an enforced downtime in Denmark that he hadn't known in a half-century. "I've been at this since '69, when I started out in the New Jersey bars," he reflects. "Suddenly, I’m sat on my ass for sixteen months, although I did still practise guitar every day. My wife and manager Marie knew I needed to make music. So her present to me for my 70th birthday was a brand-new record deal she had negotiated."

"This album is a snapshot of how I was feeling through this pandemic," he says. "I think I still have something new to say about the world, and that's important to me. But my life has been one hell of a ride, and when I listened back, I realised there were a lot of songs about dealing with the past."

Tracklisting:
A1. Ghosts
A2. Ride
A3. Follow You Back Home
B1. So Many Sad Goodbyes
B2. High Is Low
B3. Waiting For The Dawn
C1. Better Days Ahead
C2. Fertile Soil
C3. I Worry Too Much
D1. Leave It All Behind
D2. Hey Mama
D3. Destiny