Was it at Congress Street and Sixth Avenue? Campbell and Broadway? One wonders - at which crossroads did Tom Walbank sell his soul to play the blues the way he does?
Perhaps it happened late one night in Devon, England. Born in England, Walbank was 15-years-old, living in Devon, when a film featuring John Lee Hooker and Big Walter Horton ripping it up on Chicago’s famed Maxwell Street inspired him to take on blues music.
Now in his 40s, Walbank has created a style that is all his own, with more than a decade spent honing his craft at a rotating list of clubs and bars around Tucson.
Arizona Burning, Walbank’s first solo release since 2003, is a tremendous effort by the downtown musician and a testament to his abilities on guitar and the blues harp. With a name inspired by the passing of SB 1070 and the January 8 shootings on the northwest side of Tucson, Arizona Burning battles what Walbank sees as hate and discrimination with raucous blues music taken from studio cuts, field recordings and television appearances.
Walbank blasts out of the gates with the lively and lustful opening track, Jaguar Blues, an all-out romp with Golden Boots’ Dimitri Manos on drums, that screams “sex and sensuality,” Walbank said in a recent e-mail interview.
The song has an R.L. Burnside juke joint feel to it, with fierce guitar play and the primal chorus line, “My hand on your skull, just pulling on your locks.”
Blues purists might not care for Walbank’s experimentation on the release. The album has several “dub” tracks. The surreal Dub Cubano, for example, weaves in Yvan Tamayo’s Afro-Cuban conga work with standard blues guitar and harmonica.
That being said, Arizona Burning has 17 tracks to choose from, many of which will appeal to even the most discerning of blues tastes.
One of the CD’s most entertaining tracks is Whoopin’ The Blues - an infectious instrumental tribute to harmonica master Sonny Terry that takes on the classic fast-paced whoops, hollers and train sounds for which the North Carolina player was known.
This is Walbank at his best on an album dripping with sweat-drenched intensity, raw grit and true personality.
Tom Walbank’s CD release is at M.A.S.T., 299 S. Park Ave., in the Lost Barrio on Saturday, April 23. The release coincides with Walbank’s “Centerville” art exhibition, featuring his paintings inspired by the 1969 Les Blank documentary, “The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins.” The free event begins at 6pm. Call 720-0299 or visit ILoveMast.com for more information.
