Blues-rock icon Walter Trout continues his prolific tour schedule as he returns to the UK for the second part of his Broken tour this May when he will be playing songs from his latest album along with classics from across his career.
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00:00Good afternoon. My name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Really lovely
00:07and what a pleasure this afternoon to speak to Walter Trout. Now, Walter, you are somewhere,
00:11you say, in Florida at the moment, but before long, you'll be back in the UK where you've
00:16played pretty much every year for 40 years, more than 40 years. And it's so beautiful,
00:22you were saying just now that it was John Mayle who brought you to the UK in the first
00:28instance. And John Mayle is someone to whom you personally and musically owe such a lot,
00:34don't you? He was a special guy.
00:36He was a great man. And I did my first tour with him in 82. He had the original Blues Breakers
00:45back together with Mick Taylor, John McVie and Colin Allen. And John asked me if I would come
00:53out and play rhythm guitar for Mick Taylor. And I'm, yeah, of course, you know. And but
01:00then I ended up pretty much sticking with John through 1989 when I left him to start my own
01:07band. And he's also I've I've made 31 albums. And John has played on four of my albums as
01:17a special guest. Oh, fantastic. And I know it's a long story in this difficult story. But
01:23the fact is, it sounds like John saved your life pretty much, didn't he?
01:28Well, he was instrumental in helping me get off of drugs and alcohol. His support and his
01:37help and his love. He really became kind of a surrogate father to me in many ways and a real
01:44inspiration. To this day, he is an inspiration to me. But he with his help, I got clean and
01:51sober. What, 38, 39 years ago, something like that.
01:57Fantastic. And you can't travel to the UK without thinking of him, presumably, can you?
02:03Yeah, yeah. What was that question again?
02:07You can't travel to the UK without thinking about him, can you? He has to be in your mind.
02:13Oh, no, not at all. Well, when I first went there with him, and we were riding around England
02:19playing shows, he would show us where he was born and where he grew up. And so we really
02:26got to got to know his history, you know.
02:30And you're saying another reason for playing the UK is that they love your music.
02:34Well, they, the UK has always loved this kind of music. And I was, I, it's just my thought
02:43that in the early to mid 60s in America, rock and roll and blues and R&B was kind of a forgotten
02:53art in this country. And then along came the British bands, and they put it right back in
03:00our face. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones and the Animals, to me, were the top three
03:06that did this. And suddenly we were all, I was like 13 years old, and I'm hearing the
03:13Beatles doing, you know, Chuck Berry songs and stuff. So it makes me want to go hear Chuck
03:20Berry and check out the originals. And they brought rock and roll back in a way. The British bands
03:27resurrected rock and roll and blues. And, and, and it's been here ever since, you know, but
03:35they did us a favor by putting that music right back at us and saying, Hey, you guys in America,
03:42look what you've got here. Look at this music, you know, don't forget it. Don't let it die.
03:48And now you are returning that favor, aren't you? Every year?
03:51Well, I'm, I'm still doing my best. I'm 74. Um, I feel good, you know, but I did have a liver
04:00transplant 11 years ago. So I try to take care of myself and, um, but I, I tour constantly
04:08and, um, sometimes I get tired at my age, but I just love it. I love to play for people. I just love
04:19it. It's why I was put here. And 38, 39 years clean and sober is an astonishing achievement,
04:25isn't it? Well, yeah. And my whole band, you know, the, the keyboard player who's coming with
04:32me, Richard T. Berry, he's got 43 years. The drummer's got a bunch of years. The bass player
04:38doesn't drink at all. We're, we're kind of old, boring guys until we get on stage, you know?
04:44Well, well, long may you continue. Walter, lovely to speak to you. Thank you.
04:50Thank you, Phil. Take care.
04:52And you.