Aural Fix Magazine

Folk U.

By Sonny Meadows

Folk University (Folk U. for short) is a series of articles, interviews, and informational pieces on the genre we refer to as "Folk Music".

LITTLE TOBY WALKER

Although the timeframes may be a little fuzzy, I believe it was a Saturday night in the Spring of 1995. I was out to dinner in Huntington Village with about seven or eight family members and we decided to stop at a local coffee house before heading home. Now there was sure to be some intense conversation going around the table that night based on who was there, but my only recollection is being totally swept away by the sounds coming from the small stage in the corner of the room. Acoustic blues guitar and blues harp echoing the sounds of the 1930’s Mississippi Delta jukehouse right there in the heart of Huntington. I heard Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy, Skip James, Blind Boy Fuller, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee. My interest was really twofold – 1) the artistry was breathtaking and, 2) I had just finished the first chapter of a book on the classical nature of the Blues. At first I tried to be polite to my family members. I smiled and made eye contact with the folks around the table occasionally turning around to catch a glimpse of the musicians. But the music was so damn tantalizing and performed to perfection, I had no choice but to turn my chair around and face the music. I have yet to turn my chair back around, fortunately my family has grown to accept that.

This was my first exposure to two of the finest folk/acoustic blues musicians I have ever heard – Little Toby Walker and Ken "The Rocket" Korb. The impact they had on me went well beyond an appreciation for their skill and expertise. Toby effortlessly played an exquisite rendition of an old ragtime piece called "Ragtime Ramble". I spent about two years in the seventies learning that piece of music and unfortunately hadn’t touched a guitar since 1986. The next morning I went down the basement and pulled my old Greco guitar out of a moldy cardboard case and started rebuilding my calluses. I stopped working on the book and got back to playing and writing songs. I’ll continue writing that book someday.

Toby kind of disappeared from the scene by the time I began playing in public in 1997, but I never forgot that night and his music. At the Huntington Fall Festival in 1999, I was introduced to a gentleman who needed some information about getting involved in the rehabilitation fields. I spent about fifteen minutes offering some advice and told him to give me a call at my day job and I’d help him out as best I could. The next thing I know, Bob Westcott was up on the stage, cutting his performance short and calling that gentleman out of retirement and up to the stage. To my delight, I discovered I’d been talking with Little Toby Walker.

Well since that time I’ve had the honor and pleasure of listening to, accompanying, and being mesmerized by Toby Walker. Everybody identifies with the Blues in some way or another. Many of us play the Blues because it just feels right, because it stirs us on some very primitive spiritual level, because the world seems to stay in balance when those twelve bars keep coming round and round. There are many of us who love and are committed to the Blues as the quintessential art form of our culture, but there are very few true "Bluesmen". Toby Walker is one and his credentials are impressive.

Toby’s journeys to the Mississippi Delta and the Piedmont area of the Carolinas have provided him with an abundance of real life lessons, interactions, and touching personal stories with some very profound Blues influences both legendary and obscure. Toby Walker has been to the "crossroads", he drank from the well and we are all richer for it. You can follow Toby’s travels and his education in the Blues culture at his website www.littletobywalker.com . There you will get a good taste of Toby’s storytelling as he relates his encounters with R.L. Burnside, Etta Baker, James "Son" Thomas, Jack Owens, Eugene Powell and more. Check out this website for photos of Toby’s travels, reviews, performance schedule, related links, etc. – it is an adventure in the Blues.

Little Toby Walker has opened for John Hammond, Taj Mahal, John Sebastian, James Cotton, Johnny Winter, Lonnie Brooks, J.J. Cale, Johnny Copeland and most recently opened for Eric Bibb at Hecksher Park on August 17. John Hammond has described Toby as being "?a real killer with fantastic technique. He just knocks me out." What Toby does with those six strings knocks a lot of folks out. His mastery is not limited to the Blues. Whether it be a classical piece, an old timey fiddle tune, a simple folk melody, or John Phillip Sousa’s "Stars and Stripes Forever", Toby will dazzle you with a natural finger-style playing that leaves the listener wondering – "How the Hell does he do that?"

Toby’s new CD "Little Toby Walker" is a masterpiece and a must have for any Blues and acoustic guitar music collector. His stories and artistry are sure to take you places you’ve never been before. Little Toby Walker is back on the scene in a big way and he has turned the quality of our local and regional acoustic music up a notch. Thanks Toby.

Back to Home