The title of Walter Trout’s last album “Survivor Blues” can be taken literally: The 67-year-old faced death in 2014 and could only be saved by a liver transplant funded by a fundraiser. But it can also be understood in a figurative sense. The man who worked with John Lee Hooker, John Mayall and canned heat played before he began his solo career in 1990 – which has meanwhile been documented on 30 albums – is fighting against the gradual decline of the genre with all his might.
“I feel like I’ve been born again,” he stated in 2015 after his convalescence, set off on a real artistic flight and is now undisputedly one of the most important blues rock protagonists. His “We’re All in This Together” was voted “Blues Album of the Year” almost in turn in 2017, followed by “Survivor Blues”, for which he collected and reworked forgotten old blues songs. Into the backstage he is now coming out with his brand new album “Ride”, a kind of personal coming to terms with the past.
Walter Trout, Fri., May 26, 8 p.m., Backstage Werk, Reitknechtstraße 6, www.backstage.eu