Walter Trout launches UK tour in Derbyshire to plug new album Broken

Walter will kick off his UK run of shows at Buxton Opera House on October 16, one of only eight dates across the country. This follows an extensive tour of the USA, Germany, The Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Finland and Denmark which started this month.

The fabled guitarist regularly triumphs at awards ceremonies including the Blues Music Awards, SENA European Guitar Awards, British Blues Awards and Blues Blast Music Awards. Iconic British radio broacaster ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris declared Walter ‘the world’s greatest rock guitarist’ in his 2001 autobiography, The Whispering Years.

Walter’s new album Broken chronicles the bitter divisions of a world fractured by politics, economics, social media and culture wars. The 72-year-old fabled bluesman said: “Ive always tried to write positive songs, and this album is not quite that. But I always hold on to hope. I think that's why I wrote this album."

Beth Hart, Twisterd Sisters’ Dee Snider and harmonica virtuoso are guest collaborators on the album.

Walter said: “I thought my friend Beth Hart could relate to the title track, Broken,” he says of the warrior princess whose fiery vocals coil with his own. “With that song, I was looking at the world – especially what’s going on in the United States – but also thinking about my recovery from the things that happened to me."

The former lead guitarist in Canned Heat and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers had major health issues a decade ago, necessitating a liver transplant and an eight-month stay in hospital. Following complications, Walter lost 13 pints of blood and lapsed into a coma. When he woke, brain damage has temporarily stolen his ability to speak or walk and he spent money months in rehabilitiation learning how to sit, stand, walk and even hold a guitar.

Such a life-changing ordeal has influenced Walter’s work but the memories are still raw. He admitted that he struggled to complete the lyrics of Broken beyond its first verse – ‘Pieces of me seem to break away/I lose a little more every day’ – so he turned to his wife Marie to help nail it. He added: “The guitar solo, that’s maybe my favourite on the record. I tracked it with the band, one take. I wanted to see if I could beat it – but they wouldn’t let me!”“Dee Snider from Twisted Sister put up a live cut of me on his Twitter and said: ‘Listen to this guitar hero’. We started talking, became friends, he came into the studio and I knew I had to write him a song. So I wrote I’ve Had Enough. And it’s rockin’, big time.

Of another track titled Talking To Myself, Walter said: “The inspiration for the song is based on my experience of feeling like our world of TV sensationalism and people on social media pandering for attention don't really care about what any of us have to say. So we're talking but nobody is listening.”

Walter will be supported by Laura Evans at Buxton Opera House. Laura’s latest album releases have reached more than two million streams on Spotify and she has been championed by Cerys Matthews at BBC Radio 2.

Tickets cost £33.50, go to www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk