Fully Fertile

At 71, bluesman Walter Trout has lived an extraordinary life. From his teens with Big Mama Thornton and John Lee Hooker to Canned Heat and John Mayall, he found fame and learned some bad habits. A life-saving liver transplant in 2013 resulted in a long recovery. The experience added depth and dimension to his songwriting. He gave us hints of that growth on 2019's Survivor Blues and 2020's Ordinary Madness, but his maturity as a songwriter is showcased fully on Ride, his 30th album. Given his health history, Trout took extra precautions during the pandemic; he spent it alone in a Huntington Beach, California bungalow. He read, listened, practiced, and composed these 12 songs, then demoed them. After the U.S. reopened, he gathered his road band in the studio.