Walter Trout

American guitarist and singer born in Ocean City, New Jersey, in 1951, Walter Trout belongs to the tradition of electric blues rock shaped by Chicago blues and 1960s rock. Settling in Los Angeles in the 1970s, Trout first gained notice as a sideman alongside prominent blues and soul figures before joining Canned Heat and later John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers—experiences that shaped his playing and vocal approach. In the late 1980s he formed the Walter Trout Band and launched a solo career with the 1989 album “Life in the Jungle,” establishing a style that blends extended guitar passages, rock grooves and slower ballads. His albums of the 2010s, including “Blues for the Modern Daze” (2012), “The Blues Came Callin’” (2014), “Battle Scars” (2015) and “We’re All in This Together” (2017), continue this blues-centered writing while incorporating autobiographical themes, notably serious health struggles. Still active onstage in Europe and North America, Walter Trout maintains a repertoire combining covers of standards, original compositions and occasional collaborations with other contemporary blues-rock musicians.