Phillip Walker was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 electric blues

Electric blues

Electric blues is a type of blues music distinguished by the amplification of the guitar, bass guitar, drums, and often the harmonica. Pioneered in the 1930s, it emerged as a genre in Chicago in the 1940s. It was taken up in many areas of America leading to the development of regional subgenres...

 guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

, most noted for his 1959 hit single

Hit single

A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...

, "Hello My Darling", produced

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 by J. R. Fulbright. Although Walker continued playing throughout his life, he recorded

Sound recording and reproduction

Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...

 more sparsely.

Career

Walker grew up on the Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 Gulf Coast

Gulf Coast of the United States

The Gulf Coast of the United States, sometimes referred to as the Gulf South, South Coast, or 3rd Coast, comprises the coasts of American states that are on the Gulf of Mexico, which includes Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida and are known as the Gulf States...

, and by his mid-teens was playing guitar in Houston. He worked with Lonesome Sundown

Lonesome Sundown

Cornelius Green , known professionally as Lonesome Sundown, was an American blues musician, best known for his recordings for Excello Records in the 1950s and early 1960s.-Biography:...

 (and would do so again in the 1970s) and Lonnie Brooks

Lonnie Brooks

Lonnie Brooks is an American blues singer and guitarist. He was born in Dubuisson, Louisiana, United States...

. In the mid 1950s he had a spell in Clifton Chenier

Clifton Chenier

Clifton Chenier , a Creole French-speaking native of Opelousas, Louisiana, was an eminent performer and recording artist of Zydeco, which arose from Cajun and Creole music, with R&B, jazz, and blues influences. He played the accordion and won a Grammy Award in 1983...

's band. He spent the 1960s in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 leading a band that played a catholic repertoire of the R&B

Rhythm and blues

Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...

 chart

Record chart

A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....

 music, joined by his singing wife Ina, alias Bea Bopp. Singles

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 furnished his album Bottom of the Top (Playboy

Playboy Records

Playboy Records was a record label in Los Angeles, California, and a unit of Playboy Enterprises. Artists recording for the label included Barbi Benton, Blue Ash, Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers, Brenda Patterson, Jeanne French , Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds, Ivory, Wynn Stewart, Mickey Gilley...

, 1973), succeeded by sets for Joliet, Rounder

Rounder Records

Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...

, Hightone

HighTone Records

HighTone Records was an independent record label based in Oakland, California. Hightone specialized in American roots music including, country, rockabilly, western swing, blues and gospel. The label was created by Larry Sloven and Bruce Bromberg in 1983...

, JSP

JSP Records

JSP Records is a British record label, founded in 1978 by John Stedman , releasing recordings by blues musicians such as Professor Longhair, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Witherspoon, Louisiana Red and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson. The label is based in London, England.JSP now predominantly releases remastered CDs...

 and Black Top

Black Top Records

Black Top Records was a New Orleans, Louisiana based independent record label founded in 1981 by brothers Nauman S. Scott, III and Hammond Scott. The label specialized in blues and R&B music. The first release was "Talk To You By Hand" by Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets...

.

Walker was also known for his variety of styles and the changes he would often make for each album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

. Not until 1969 did he begin to record more regularly when he joined with producer Bruce Bromberg

Bruce Bromberg

Bruce Bromberg is an American Grammy Award winning producer of blues music.He was born in Chicago, and raised there and in Park Forest, Illinois. In 1958 he moved with his family to Los Angeles, and began working for various record labels...

. Since then, fans

Fan (person)

A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...

 had a more steady supply of Walker's music.

He appeared on show 237 of the WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour in 2002 when Live at Biscuits & Blues had just been released.

Walker's final studio

Recording studio

A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...

 release is Going Back Home (2007) on Delta Groove Productions

Delta Groove Productions

Delta Groove Productions is a blues record label based in Van Nuys, California. The company Delta Groove Productions, Inc. was founded by Southern California-based producer, concert promoter and harmonica player Randy Chortkoff...

.

Death

On July 22, 2010, Delta Groove Productions issued an email statement regarding Walker's death: "It is with deepest sorrow that we report on the sudden and unexpected passing of legendary blues guitarist Phillip Walker. He died of apparent heart failure at 4:30 AM, early Thursday morning, July 22, 2010. He was 73 years old." Another article was posted on All About Jazz

All About Jazz

All About Jazz is a leading jazz music website for enthusiasts and industry professionals based in Philadelphia in the United States.Founded by Michael Ricci in 1995, the Web-Site is maintained by a volunteer staff of writers, editors, and musicians, and provides coverage of all genres of jazz from...

.

Discography

• 1973 Bottom of the Top (Playboy)
• 1977 Someday You'll Have These Blues (Joliet)
• 1980 The Blues Show! Live at Pit Inn (Yupiteru)
• 1982 From L.A. to L.A. (Rounder)
• 1984 Tough As I Want to Be (Rounder)
• 1988 Blues (Hightone)
• 1994 Big Blues from Texas (JSP)
• 1995 Working Girl Blues (Black Top)
• 1998 I Got a Sweet Tooth (Black Top)
• 2002 Live at Biscuits & Blues (M.C.)
• 2007 Going Back Home (Delta Groove Productions)

External links

• Phillip Walker discography from Music City
• [ Allmusic.com artist overview]
• Official website
• WoodSongs Archive Audio and Video links at show 237