Walter Trout is a treasure. One of the great bluesmen still treading the boards today, he is a superlative guitar player, a gifted lyric writer and the fact that he has lived the blues every day of his life, lends his work a rare authenticity that makes each and every album a journey that the listener undertakes alongside him. Unbelievably, Ride is Walter’s thirtieth solo album, but then Walter is an artist driven by his muse, and you can’t escape the feeling that, had Walter never left his bedroom, he’d still be recording – it’s simply who it is. And it’s that sense of love for the blues that keeps us coming back, album after album… that, and the fact that Walter only seems to get better with age. And so it is that Ride proves to be one of Walter’s most satisfying albums – typically warm, it is steeped in blues lore, and it has a wonderful, analogue-sounding production to match.
The album starts with the sweet, ZZ Top-style groove of Ghosts, a brilliant track that evokes the vast stretches of open road that scour the surface of America. With a lyric that references the ghosts that haunt a veteran of the music industry, Walter’s gritty guitar and worn voice speak to a life lived to the full, not without regret, but always with a sense of purpose moving forward. The title track follows, and you can see why Walter named the album for it; the warmth of the production, the gleaming solos that pepper its surface and the sense of adventure woven into the lyric, as if Walter poured that indelible sense of going on the road into the very fabric of the track. Walter slows the pace on the third track, a gorgeous ballad entitled Follow You Back Home, which has one of the most gorgeous acoustic guitar tones heard on record. It’s a lush song, backed by subtly deployed strings, with a progressive undercurrent that leaves the listener simultaneously heart broken and elated. Despite its melancholy title, So Many Sad Goodbyes picks the pace up again, layering gritty guitar and organ stabs over a rock-solid beat, for a roadhouse blues track with lyrical bite and a sparkling chorus. Next up, the gloriously chunky riff of High Is Low adds blazing trails of harmonica to the mix, for a track that sounds like the Stones on steroids. As the title implies, first act closer Waiting For The Dawn has a strong Gary Moore vibe, Walter turning the lights down low with some sublime guitar work nestled between the rich organ textures.
Kicking off the second half of the album, Better Days Ahead draws on the sense of defiance that has long been a staple of Walter’s post liver-op albums, and the souring guitar is a joy to behold. Behind him, the band nail the piece to the floor with crushing percussion and prowling bass, but it’s Walter’s Neil Young-esque excursions on the guitar that will leave you with your jaw on the floor. The relatively slight The Fertile Soil is a short countrified piece, that ends with a cool, acapella coda before the funky I Worry Too Much struts into view. A track that sees Walter and his band clearly having a ball, the track rocks, although the lyrics carry a serious message about the myriad worries that beset us all in the modern world. The stabbing riff of Leave It All Behind is given a further shot in the arm by the addition of a horn section and the track proves to be the sort of massive, dance-floor-filling track I didn’t think people made any more. Listen once. Listen again. Feel the smile lighting up your whole face, and I double dare you not to tap your feet. A surprising track with a dark, insistent melody and yet more crackling lead, Hey Mama keeps the album flying high towards its conclusion, leaving the subtle Destiny to see things out on a satisfyingly sedate note.
An album that positively bristles with energy and invention, Ride sees Walter and his band exploring myriad facets of the blues with a sense of excitement that cannot help but translate to the listener. Walter remains an artist to treasure, and the only real surprise is that, some thirty albums into an amazing career, Walter still continues to surpass previous achievements. 9.5/10
