The Cascade Bar & Grill and the CBA Present Phillip Walker Friday, July 19th, 2002 Influential Guitarist Pays Return Visit To The Portland Area

    If you missed Phillip Walker's performance last March at the Willamette Delta Showcase, shame on you! He definitely raised the roof with an incredible set that should remain as a benchmark as to why artists of this caliber must never be permitted to bypass the Portland area for 20-plus years. Well, the raves from that performance must have paid off, because Phillip Walker will be making an encore appearance on Friday, July 19th, at the Cascade Bar & Grill (15000 SE Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver, WA).

    Phillip Walker has earned significant praise over his four-plus decade career, including being referred to as one of the "Ten Most Important Blues Guitarists Alive" by Guitar Player magazine. It is well-deserved praise as anybody witnessing one of his shows can attest. Walker stands equally alongside those renowned Texan guitar legends who inspired him from an early age, such as T-Bone Walker, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown and Lonnie Brooks. And what you can expect from a Phillip Walker concert fits that tradition exactly: hard-driving Texas Blues fueled by one of the strongest supporting bands and hottest horn sections onstage today!

    Walker began his career as a member of Zydeco legend Clifton Chenier's band, and from there went on to be the featured guitarist for both Little Richard and Fats Domino during their peak touring years in the mid-1950s. In 1959, Phillip moved to the West Coast and started working as a solo performer, releasing soon afterward the hit single, "Hello My Darling." Since then, he has released a handful of stellar recordings (including his most recent collaboration with Lonnie Brooks and Long John Hunter, "Lone Star Shootout" on Alligator Records), inspired younger artists such as Robert Cray (who covered Walker's rendition of "Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark" almost note-for-note) and has been in constant demand for venues and festivals worldwide. It certainly is a treat for Blues fans in this area to have the opportunity to catch Phillip Walker's return to the Portland area following such a long absence prior. So if you missed him before, don't you dare miss him this time! I don't have to tell those who saw him in March; I know that they'll already be there! Count me among them!

    This performance is a CBA co-sponsored event. Card-carrying members will receive a $1 discount at the door.