Artist profiles

Walter Trout

Born in 1951 and raised in a music-loving home in Ocean City, New Jersey, WALTER TROUT felt the calling to music at a young age.  His first instrument was trumpet, playing in the school band.  A chance meeting with the mighty Duke Ellington catapulted Trout’s pursuit of a professional music career – what Walter terms “a turning point” in his life – when Walter’s mother orchestrated a meeting with jazz legends Ellington, Cat Anderson, Johnny Hodges and Paul Gonsalves for Walter's tenth birthday.  The seed was planted about a career playing music. 

In the mid-'60s, Trout switched to electric guitar after hearing an album that changed his whole appreciation of music.  The Paul Butterfield Blues Band featuring Mike Bloomfield cemented Walter’s musical ambitions towards the blues and the electric guitar.  In those vinyl grooves, Walter heard the guitar speaking to his soul, expressing what words could not.  In his late teens and early 20s, Trout played in numerous New Jersey bands, competing at the time for rank with “Steel Mill” featuring a young Bruce Springsteen.  In 1973, he packed up his belongings and drove to Los Angeles.

In L.A., Trout developed into an ace sideman playing with Finis Tasby, Pee Wee Crayton, Lowell Fulsom, and Percy Mayfield. Trout often teamed with Hammond B3 wizard Deacon Jones and his apprenticeship continued in the bands of John Lee Hooker, Big Mama Thorton and Joe Tex.  

By 1981, Trout’s reputation led to the invitation to join venerable blues rock band Canned Heat, where he remained through 1984.  When the call came to join the legendary John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Trout jumped and found himself sharing the spotlight with fellow guitarist Coco Montoya. Trout and Montoya lifted

"Walter Trout isn't just a great guitar player...he works from the heart with a flawless and fiery edge.  When Walter Trout plays, he owns you."  David Wilson/The ToneQuest Report