Walter Trout

Great artists take the pulse of their times. In his half-century as a street-level social observer and scaldingly honest songwriter, blues-rock’s resilient icon Walter Trout has never told his fans what to think, how to feel or where to stand politically. But in an era when his home nation – and the wider world – is ripping at the seams over the battle lines of modern life, the iconic US bluesman’s hard-rocking new album, Sign Of The Times, is the primal scream and pressure valve we all desperately need. “I wanted to convey the anger and angst going on in the world,” explains the 74-year-old. “For me, writing these songs is therapy. They’re not just about what’s happening out there, but how it affects you in your head. Sign Of The Times just became the obvious title…” Right now, it feels like the amps have barely cooled from 2024’s Broken (“That record debuted on Billboard at #1 – I was very, very pleased with that”). But the era-chronicling songs from Sign Of The Times wouldn’t wait, these urgent riffs flying off the guitarist’s fingers.