Classic Soul
Blues Singer Wee Willie Walker Vaults to the Front of Public Attention with
Three Blues Music Awards Nominations for If Nothing Ever Changes CD
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – In one of the most amazing and powerful
music stories of the past year, under-recognized classic soul blues singer Wee
Willie Walker, who was previously best-remembered for a few 1960s obscure
singles for Goldwax and Chess Records, released a new album,
If Nothing
Ever Changes, which has captured the hearts and minds of blues and soul
music fans around the world. That led to his being nominated in three major
categories by the Blues Foundation for the upcoming Blues Music Awards, to be
held in Memphis on May 5: Album of the Year, Soul Blues Album and Soul Blues
Male Artist. Members of the Blues Foundation can vote at
www.blues.org, with voting open until the end
of February.
To stream the music on the If Nothing Ever Changes
album, click on this link:
When
Blues Music Magazine recently announced their Top 10 Picks for
2015 from six of its editors, four of the six – including Editor-in-Chief Art
Tipaldi - featured Wee Willie Walker’s CD on their lists. Additionally, the
nationally-syndicated radio show, “Elwood’s Bluesmobile,” has chosen Wee Willie
Walker's track, “Hands of Time” as Elwood's Blues Breaker to air the weekend of
February 20-21.
Reviews of If Nothing Ever Changes have been
over the top in their praise of his long-overdue talent recognition:
“If enough of the right people hear If Nothing Ever
Changes, Wee Willie Walker’s world will change, and he will
become the award-winning, highly sought-after soul/blues singer he has deserved
to be since the 1960s……. Not enough good things can be said about this
singer’s comeback record.” - Steve Sharp, Living Blues
“West Coast guitarist Kid Andersen and harmonica player Rick
Estrin have done fans of quality roots music a public service by rescuing 1960s
Goldwax soul singer Wee Willie Walker…” - Frank-John Hadley, DownBeat
“‘60s soul journeyman Wee Willie Walker returns here with a
highly charged, diverse set stacked with airplay-worthy tracks……A ‘year’s best’
candidate.” - Duane Verh, Roots Music Report
The catalyst for the recording of If Nothing Ever
Changes came when multi-Blues Music Award-winning singer/harmonica
player Rick Estrin was introduced to Walker by Willie’s manager, Julia
Schroeder, and instantly realized that this was the voice he’d remembered from
hearing on some Goldwax and Chess 45s in his collection. And when Estrin heard
how strong and vibrant Walker’s vocals still were, the idea was hatched, along
with all-star guitarist Kid Andersen, to record a new album on Walker. During
the sessions recorded with a host of A-list West Coast musicians, keyboard
player Jim Pugh, himself a veteran of scores of major blues and roots
recordings (Robert Cray, B.B. King, Etta James) and live dates (Johnnie Taylor, Little Milton),
mentioned his idea of creating the Little Village Foundation to record artists
such as Walker. As Estrin then states in the album liner notes, “We found our
platform for launching this record into the world. All we wanted to do was to
make music with Willie, and do what WE could to get him heard in the setting he
deserves. Nobody was thinking about getting paid, it was all for the common
love of this beautiful and near extinct music.”
Willie
Walker was a member of the gospel group the Redemption Harmonizers when he left
Memphis and headed to Minneapolis in 1960. With the Twin Cities having been his
base of operations since then, Walker proceeded to work with a number of area
gospel groups, before subsequent visits back to Memphis in the ‘60s landed him
recording dates with Goldwax Records. He cut nine sides for Goldwax, which
released some on their imprint and also leased four of them to Chess Records
subsidiary, Check Records. Some of his singles included “You Name It, I’ve Had
It” and “From Warm, to Cool, to Cold,” which were recognized as gems of soul
music, but not widely released and known only to true music aficionados.
Before
recording his latest album, Walker had recorded three albums over the past 10
years backed by hot local Twin Cities soul/R&B band The Butanes, which
though with limited distribution and publicity, still garnered critical acclaim
and kept Walker and the band busy playing local and regional dates.
If
Nothing Ever Changes, his Little Village label debut, brings Willie
Walker to the forefront with the support of some marquee names of West Coast
blues and soul serving as his backing band. Walker described the
resulting recording sessions as a “houseful of love. I didn’t know them, but
they all knew me and immediately we were like family,” he recalls. With Estrin
producing and Kid at the helm, the artists assembled for the sessions represent
some of the strongest talent of today’s West Coast Blues scene: Jim Pugh
– keyboard player and founder of the Little Village Foundation; Rusty Zinn – a
guitarist whose resume includes recordings with Kim Wilson and Sly Dunbar;
Robert Welsh, guitarist with Elvin Bishop; bassist Randy Bermudes of The
Fabulous Thunderbirds and, vocalist Curtis Salgado, whose group The Nighthawks
inspired John Belushi to create the Blues Brothers – just to name a few.
Since
the release of If Nothing Ever Changes, Walker has
performed on shows in the Twin Cities area and Midwest, as well as festival
dates such as the prestigious Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland, Oregon and
an overseas tour in Spain.
About
the Little Village Foundation
What We Do: We bring
music from next door to the world
How We Do It: By searching out, discovering, recording and
producing music that wouldn’t otherwise be heard
Why We Do It: Diverse music builds empathy
For more information, visit www.LittleVillageFoundation.com and www.weewilliewalker.com
