Initially Trout performed solo, playing his first gigs in restaurants as an acoustic act. The trumpet went away and I knew what I wanted to do right then.' Played with Canned Heat and John Mayall 'He brought home an album and said, 'Sit down and listen to this guy play the guitar.' It was the first Paul Butterfield album which featured Mike Bloomfield on guitarвЂ¦. Many folk performers of the early 1960s included blues tunes in their repertoire, so the leap to that genre seemed natural for Trout, who recalled that his brother Ed continually encouraged his new areas of musical interest. Got into the folk music thing and I was a big fan of the Chad Mitchell Trio.' 'That was the year that Dylan's first album came out. Overnight, Trout's musical interests changed. As a result, he launched himself into music, switching over to guitar once his older brother, Ed Jr., tired of the one he owned. His parents' divorce marred the boy's seemingly idyllic situation, and young Walter was later emotionally scarred by the constant drunken turmoil created by his stepfather. Concentrate on being the best that you can be on your instrument and think of it as an art and not show-business.' It was an amazing day.' Try to have a career of longevity and not be a one-hit wonder. One of the things he told me was, 'Always keep your focus on being an artist and don't look for the glory.

Then Duke Ellington sat down on a couch with me and talked about the music business and what I could expect if I went into it.

I was an aspiring trumpet player and I got to sit down and have guys like Cat Anderson, Johnny Hodges, and Paul Gonzales talk to me about jazz and music. 'I got to hang out with them in their dressing room.

'When I was ten years old, my mom arranged somehow for me to spend an entire afternoon hanging out with Duke Ellington and his orchestra,' recalled Trout. To encourage the boy, his mother, an English teacher who read poetry aloud to him, set up a special meeting with one of the youngster's idols. Trout's first instrument of choice was the trumpet, which he began learning before he had turned ten. I also saw the Philadelphia orchestra on many occasions.' My mom took me to see James Brown, Ray Charles, Harry Belafonte, Andy Williams, Lou Rawls. I remember my father taking me to a black jazz club in Atlantic City when I was a little kid to see a pianist named Ahmad JamaalвЂ¦. There was anything playing from Duke Ellington to Count Basie to John Coltrane to Bill Monroe to Hank Williams to Ray Charles вЂ¦ you name it. 'I was really lucky in that, even though my parents were not musicians, they were both incredible afficionados and lovers of music,' he told Contemporary Musicians. Into Music at an Early AgeД«orn in Ocean City, New Jersey, on March 6, 1951, Trout inherited a love of music from his parents.

An impassioned singer who handles both hard rockers and slow blues, he is one of the last great purveyors of the sweat-stained art of rock showmanship. A slashing, intense guitarist, his work echoes the experimental freedom of Jimi Hendrix, the jammy sting of Stevie Ray Vaughan, and the speedy phrasing of Eddie Van Halen. Walter Trout enjoys pockets of support in the United States, but he is a veritable rock and blues god in Europe, where he routinely headlines major tours and releases albums to great critical acclaim.

Walter trout