Wily Bo Walker

I’ve been waiting a long time for this release – and it doesn’t disappoint.

Wily Bo Walker has been hinting at this album for a while and it contains his trademark mixture of swamp blues, voodoo burlesque, circus jazz and a whole pile of New Orleans braggadocio and riddims.
A passle of tales of the dark side of life, booze drenched and harsh, cruel and harsh.

The lineup of musicians will be familiar to anyone who has been listening to Bo for a while.
The man himself takes on Lead Vocals, Guitars, Banjo, Violin, Double Bass, Electric Bass,
Hammond Organ, Keyboards, Didgeridoo, Sousaphone, Drums, Percussion,
Handclaps, Tambourine, Djembe, Afuche, Shekere, Cowbell, Triangle, Vibraslap,
Stomps, Backing Vocals, VoodooVille Choir, Whistling, Sound FX and he is ably supported by:
Kareña K - Backing Vocals, The Vampirettes (feat. Kareña K) - Backing Vocals
Ronnie Costley - Spoken Voices
Clarky - Double Bass, Pete Farrugia - Telecaster & Les Paul, Stevie Watts - Hammond Organ
Danny Flam - Trombones & Trumpets, Tuba, Sousaphone, Eran Asias - Drums & Percussion
E D Brayshaw - Lead Guitar, Keith Mack – Guitar, Ruslan Agababayev - Keyboards
Marco Panascia - Double Bass, Max Saidi – Drums, Tommy Rhodes - Bass
Benjy King - Keyboards
Plus a slew of horn players:
Ron Bertolet - Tenor & Baritone Sax, Max Wynter – Trumpet, Mike McGovern – Trumpet, Mark Gatz – Saxophones, Tony Gorruso – Trumpet, Kenny Rampton – Trumpet, Kenny Rampton – Trumpet, Steve Withoft – Trombone, Nir Naaman – Sax
Li'l Neill - Trombones & Trumpets, Backing Vocals, Shouts

I haven’t seen the show, but the music paints all the pictures you could wish for. Bo’s gruff and dark vocals are the focus for all of the music, but the palette is full of colour and every track bears many listens to begin to hear the layers and blotches of musical imagery.

A short description might be “Tom Waits meets Dr John in an alley off Bourbon Street at midnight”.

It’s a great ride and every moment is a joy.