Toby Walker - Blues Music Magazine
May/2014. Live concert review
Baldwin's Station
Sykesville, Maryland
By Mark Travaglini
Sykesville, Maryland
By Mark Travaglini
When the house starts a-rockin’ at Baldwin’s Station, northwest of Columbia, Maryland, that can mean a couple of things. One, the music’s going to be great. or two, there’s a freight train a-comin’ down the tracks. This night it was both.
Toby Walker, who makes his home in New Jersey ventured out and made a rare appearance at this evocative, 19th-century railroad passenger station cum restaurant and bar (named for Ephraim Francis Baldwin, the Baltimore architect of many a similar station on the old B&O rail lines).
Walker was out promoting his latest recording, What You See Is What You Get. Cocking an ear toward the tracks that run hard by the building, he remarked that he wished he had a train song ready. If that could be considered a glitch, it was the only one in this approximately two-hour solo tour de force. And one he would rectify wigth and eye-popping, percussive combination of slide and bottle-neck overhand and around and under the guitar’s body while finger picking an express train for an encore. Walker is a guitarist’s guitarist, evident by his status as a master instructor at Jorma Kaukonen’s acclaimed guitar camp, Fur Peace Ranch.
This night, the personable and expressive Walker introduced his ‘band in his hand’ - performing all the parts - lead, rhythm and bass on one of three guitars he had with him (he owns nearly 50). All the parts that one would expect from a full blown ensemble including horns and drums were brought together in a dazzling demonstration of his twinkling fingering technique and rhythmic sensibility. And that was just the first song of the night, “Swing Bean,” and original swing-style instrumental from the aforementioned CD.
His take on “Hey, Good Lookin” featured a few Les Paul licks. “She’s Into Something,” an number credited to Albert Collings, Robert Cray and Johnny Copeland flowed in a sly, sophisticated, syncopated mode. If it sounded just like the version on the CDE, that’s because the entire disc was recorded one take per song, straight to the master, which meant there was no room for mistakes, not on disc; not here, in this room.
Toby Walker, who makes his home in New Jersey ventured out and made a rare appearance at this evocative, 19th-century railroad passenger station cum restaurant and bar (named for Ephraim Francis Baldwin, the Baltimore architect of many a similar station on the old B&O rail lines).
Walker was out promoting his latest recording, What You See Is What You Get. Cocking an ear toward the tracks that run hard by the building, he remarked that he wished he had a train song ready. If that could be considered a glitch, it was the only one in this approximately two-hour solo tour de force. And one he would rectify wigth and eye-popping, percussive combination of slide and bottle-neck overhand and around and under the guitar’s body while finger picking an express train for an encore. Walker is a guitarist’s guitarist, evident by his status as a master instructor at Jorma Kaukonen’s acclaimed guitar camp, Fur Peace Ranch.
This night, the personable and expressive Walker introduced his ‘band in his hand’ - performing all the parts - lead, rhythm and bass on one of three guitars he had with him (he owns nearly 50). All the parts that one would expect from a full blown ensemble including horns and drums were brought together in a dazzling demonstration of his twinkling fingering technique and rhythmic sensibility. And that was just the first song of the night, “Swing Bean,” and original swing-style instrumental from the aforementioned CD.
His take on “Hey, Good Lookin” featured a few Les Paul licks. “She’s Into Something,” an number credited to Albert Collings, Robert Cray and Johnny Copeland flowed in a sly, sophisticated, syncopated mode. If it sounded just like the version on the CDE, that’s because the entire disc was recorded one take per song, straight to the master, which meant there was no room for mistakes, not on disc; not here, in this room.
