Joe Louis Walker

Joe Louis Walker (born December 25, 1949 in San Francisco, California) is an American blues guitarist, singer and producer. Walker's parents were blues fans, and introduced him to the music when he was young. He learned to play the guitar at age fourteen, and left home at sixteen to work as a performer. He soon met Mike Bloomfield, who introduced him to the Bay Area Blues scene. During the 1960s, Walker opened for such artists as Earl Hooker, Freddie King and Lowell Fulson. He had a life-changing experience in 1975, and left the blues scene for ten years to sing with a gospel quartet called The Spiritual Corinthians. In 1980, he recorded an album with this group called God Will Provide. Walker left the Spiritual Corinthians in 1985, but has maintained a gospel influence in his music. He returned to San Francisco in 1985, and formed a group called the Bosstalkers. He released four albums on the Hightone Records label before moving to Verve/Gitanes (a division of Polydor/Polygram). Walker released six albums with this label, and won a series of awards in the 1990s. Walker has released several albums since leaving Verve, including four separate works in 2002-03 period. His most recent album is Playin' Dirty (2006). Joe Louis Walker maintains a MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/joelouiswalker