Joe Louis Walker Hornet's Nest (2014) Flac

As one of the few roots bluesmen not afraid to experiment with different musical forms, Joe Louis Walker takes a substantial departure from the rest of his catalog on his third album in little over a year. Pasa Tiempo maintains Walker's blues roots, but infuses them with jazz, R&B and soul - most underpinned by a strong Latin vibe, as the title indicates - with stirring results. Much of Walker's contributions to this project rely on his gospel-hued vocals, with his guitar taking a decidedly supporting role. Certainly early Van Morrison is an influence, and the disc's opening track is a stirring soul-drenched version of the Irishman's "Sweet Thing." The singer/songwriter/R&B/jazz direction continues with covers of Boz Scaggs' "I've Got Your Love," John Hiatt's "Love Like Blood," and Otis Redding's "Direct Me," all relatively obscure tracks from these artists that Walker makes his own…

Joe Louis Walker is the John Henry of the blues, a guy who works hard and isn't afraid to put his back into his music. Hornet's Nest is the man's tenth studio album since the dawn of the 21st century, and not a few journeyman bluesmen would be very, very happy to come up with a session this strong and diverse with twice the time to prepare. Walker and his band are in tight, ferocious form on Hornet's Nest, with Walker's blazing lead guitar work supported by Reese Wynans' rollicking keyboards, Rob McNelley's able second guitar, Tommy MacDonald's rock-solid bass, and Tom Hambridge's aggressive but tasteful drumming. The song list is eclectic, ranging from the hard-edged rock-leaning sound of the title cut, the psychedelic flourishes of "Not in Kansas Anymore," and the soulful, horn-fortified strut of "All I Wanted to Do" to the gospel-influenced moods of "Keep the Faith" and the down-home slide guitar showcase "I'm Gonna Walk Outside." And Walker's taste in covers is commendable, adding doo wop-style vocals to Jesse Stone's "Don't Let Go" and turning the Rolling Stones' "Ride On, Baby" into a roadhouse rocker whose twin-keyboard attack recalls Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band.

Joe Louis Walker is one of the most interesting guitarists on the contemporary blues scene, not to mention one of the most prolific; 2015's Everybody Wants a Piece is Walker's 25th album since he made his debut with 1986's Cold Is the Night, and it hardly sounds like the work of someone padding his résumé. Walker is a player who keeps his music lively by mixing up the formula, folding plenty of rock, R&B, and Latin influences into his work instead of laying out the typical 12-bar figures all over again, and Everybody Wants a Piece finds him shaking it up with impressive results, especially on the wah-wah-fortified and rocked-up cover of "Witchcraft," a slinky interpretation of "Wade in the Water" that mixes up gospel and funk influences, the rollicking boogie-woogie of "Buzz on You," and the slide guitar shuffle of "35 Years Old"…

Rootsier than Robert Cray, more soulful than Jimmie Vaughan, and boasting a gospel background similar to the great Sam Cooke, Joe Louis Walker is a contemporary soul/bluesman who flawlessly and effortlessly mixes his diverse influences. On his first album in three years (and Telarc label debut), Walker proves he's an artist capable of terse, searing guitar solos, as on the R&B "Do You Wanna' Be With Me?"; mid-tempo, jazzy soul such as "Leave that Girl Alone"; or rugged acoustic Delta blues like the appropriate album-closing "Strangers in Our House." Walker - who began his career playing religious music - not surprisingly proves himself a more than adequate soul/gospel vocalist in the Al Green vein on the spiritual "Where Jesus Leads"…

By no means a bad album, Walker's major-label debut just wasn't quite as terrific as what directly preceded it. The studio atmosphere seems a bit slicker than before, and the songs are in several cases considerably longer than they need to be (generally in the five- to seven-minute range). A reworking of Howlin' Wolf's "Shake for Me" is the only familiar entry.

Although it didn't enjoy the major label hype that his current output does, Walker's HighTone encore just may be his finest album of all, filled with soulful vocal performances, bone-cutting guitar work, and tight backing from the Boss Talkers and the Memphis Horns. Honestly, you can't go wrong with any of Walker's remarkably consistent HighTone discs - but give this one the slightest of edges over the rest.

Joe Louis Walker deserves all the respect he gets, and he gets a lot - as a singer, a producer, a guitarist in multiple styles, a songwriter, and a harmonica player. But that doesn't prevent his first album for the Stony Plain label from being something of a mixed bag. One of Walker's great strengths is the authority with which he can play several different varieties of blues: his version of "It's a Shame" is a supremely confident, horn-driven Chicago blues exercise, while "Midnight Train" evokes the subtler chug of a John Lee Hooker song. "Lover's Holiday" (a lovely duet with Shemekia Copeland) is New Orleans-style R&B, and "Hustlin'" features some very fine barrelhouse piano by Bruce Katz. And that's just the first four tracks, in order…

Joe Louis Walker is quite the triple threat. Not only is he a superb blues guitarist, with remarkable fluency and imagination, he's also an excellent singer (as you might expect from someone who came up through gospel groups), and an excellent writer with a strong penchant for soul music. For the most part, his blues isn't the heart-wrenching type, but deals with mistrust and double-dealing ("Messed My Mind Up") and good times ("Custom Cars, Gibson Guitars"). Throughout he blurs the line between blues and soul, which effectively makes this one of the best soul albums in a long time, as he shows on "Do You Love Me" and "You Don't Love Me Girl." With "Soldier for Jesus" his blues mixes with gospel, and some wonderful guitar work…

More from Joe Louis Walker's searing Slim's engagement, Live at Slim's, Vol. 2 includes Joe Louis ripping through Ray Charles' "Don't You Know," and Little Milton's "Love at First Sight," and Rosco Gordon's overworked "Just a Little Bit," along with his own gems. Huey Lewis turns up again as the harpist on Walker's version of Haskell Sadler's "747."