This reviewer makes no excuses for his particular high appreciation for three cuts from this stellar outing; “Hello, My Darling,” “Laughing And Clowning,” and “Hello Central.”  When those songs rotate through my iPad in my iTunes song library and begin, I turn the volume up and make time to listen more closely and with a wide grin. 

This collection was originally released in 1973 on the Playboy Records label from session material created between 1969-1972, and was wisely re-released in 1989 by HighTone Records, a label located in Oakland, California that was founded by Larry Sloven and Bruce Bromberg.  That move came on the heels of HighTone Records releasing Walker’s 1988 collection entitled simply Blues.  HighTone Records ceased operations in 2008 and sold it entire catalog to the Shout! Factory operation.

Walker called the west coast home (Los Angeles) having come from the Texas Gulf Coast region.  There, Walker embedded various influences into his unique musical brand after having worked with a young musician who go on to be known as Lonnie Brooks (then Guitar Junior), Lonesome Sundown, and Clifton Chenier, amongst others. 

Speaking earlier to the version of “Hello Central” found on this impressive collection, in actuality that is a tune Walker first recorded in 1959 in his very early 20s for, I believe, the Elko Records label.  Walker would record this tune numerous times over his famed career.

This HighTone Records release has a bright and richness that frames Walker’s magnificent work in its best light.  Crisp and acoustically clean, kudos to HighTone for their engineering energies here. 

Walker’s vocals are glorious in their clarity and soaring heights across the genres he presents here, including blues, R&B, and even country.  Walker’s voice is one that possessed that unique gift of being instantly identifiable, and the emotion he can extract from a syllable is a rich faculty not to be under-appreciated.  He could broach the moodiness of reflection and yearning, and also celebrate to exultation with a more brightened conveyance. 

Walker was capable of building quick and snaky meandering guitar tours, and then, within the same song revert to more traditional slow-paced stanzas.  One can clearly hear the Gulf Coast influences within his playing, with this reviewer, at times, particularly hearing Lightnin’ Hopkins-esque segues (not surprising since “Hello Central” is a Hopkins tune).  On upbeat numbers, particularly with the horns behind him, Walker could swing and sway with the best of them.  Yet, when the storyline cuts deeply, so can Walker’s wounding fretboard choices.

Three of this collection’s ten selections are Walker originals, with the work of Sam Cooke, Buck Owens, Lester Williams, and Long John Hunter, amongst others, providing Walker’s entertaining covers.  Most of the cuts arrive in the roughly three-minute range, with only Robert Geddens’ “Tin Pan Alley” coming in over four minutes at five minutes and four seconds.  To that end, Walker makes economical, yet wholly-satisfying use, of each tick of the clock.

Sidemen vary from song to song, but the whole of the assembled crew, whether they be bassists, drummers, guitarists, trumpeters, saxophonists, keyboardists, and even a steel guitarist prove to be the ideal champions of Walker’s blues and other genres conceptualizations.

While to some Phillip Walker will be a revelation, but those in-the-know understand how substantial the bluesman’s skill set and catalog was; converting the uninitiated into Walker fans is the goal here.

Though not essential, hard-pressed is this writer to more wholeheartedly recommend this collection.  Wise is the blues fan that has this set of recordings on-hand for their continual enjoyment.