Just $15 to see blues-rock star Walter Trout. Cotton candy is extra
International blues-rock star Walter Trout has had the kind of career that seemingly fulfilled all of the musical pipe dreams he had as a teenager growing up in Ocean City, New Jersey.
But right now, Trout can’t wait to get back to the Marshfield Fair, where he’s headlining the 28th edition of The North River Blues Festival on the second night of Aug. 25. Trout will also be performing the next night, Aug. 26, at the Payomet Performing Arts Center in Truro.
“I love that gig, and we’re looking forward to getting back up that way,” said Trout this week from his Huntington Beach, California, home. “I’ve done that festival, I think, four times before this, and we always love a chance to visit New England. I’m very much into American history, and even as a kid, my mother took me up to Boston on a ‘history trip,’ where we visited Old South Church, Lexington and Concord. And beyond all that, (North River Blues Festival promoter and Marshfield resident) John Hall is just an awesome guy who’s done so much for the music, so we’re excited to see John again too.”
When is the North River Blues Festival at the Marshfield Fair in 2024?
The North River Blues Festival takes place on the music stage at the northeast corner of the fairgrounds, over Saturday, Aug. 24, and Sunday, Aug. 25, offering music for roughly eight hours per day. Admission is free for anyone with a fair admission ($15), and the two days feature five headlining bands, with local musicians filling in the gaps while the stars break down and set up the main stage. This year, two South Shore favorites fill that role of between-sets hosts, with Weymouth guitarist Steve Todesco on Saturday, and Quincy’s Sam Gentile on Sunday.
How did Walter Trout gets his big break?
As a teen right out of high school, Trout decided that musical opportunities were much more available in California, so he headed to the West Coast, without any contacts or much money. But his talent quickly showed, and before long he was backing people like blues pioneers John Lee Hooker and Big Mama Thornton, and R&B star Joe Tex. Before long he was offered the role of lead guitarist in Canned Heat and performed with those blues-rockers from 1981-84.
Trout’s versatility, and ability to create emotional solos of stunning beauty soon brought him to the attention of another blues legend. Trout was offered the lead guitar role in the band of British blues icon John Mayall, a seat he’d hold from 1984-89. It vaulted him into the forefront of blues-rock guitarists worldwide, but also proved to present challenges, such as his own escalating substance abuse. Mayall died last month at age 90, and to Trout he was more than a friend.
“John Mayall loved being on the road,” Trout noted. “I can’t say enough about what he meant to my life. Being asked to join his band was when I knew I’d reached the pinnacle – this is what I’d dreamed about as a kid. When John was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in Memphis, he asked my wife to do the formal induction. We were like his kids. It’s hard for me to even find the words about his passing. He was truly my surrogate father, who nurtured my talent, and gave me a chance when I started screwing up. He put up with a lot of my bad behavior, and gave me a chance to clean up my act. Thanks in large part to John’s belief in me, I can now say I’ve been sober for 37 years.”
Trout is celebrating 10 years since his liver transplant
Trout’s story has more than its share of twists and turns, and even after he went clean and sober, the effects of his wild early days took a toll. He had to undergo a liver transplant and spent eight months in the hospital in 2013-14. He freely admits that when he emerged, he had to learn to walk, talk, and play guitar all over again, and his 2015 album “Battle Scars” depicted that struggle in stark terms. He’s continued to advocate for related causes, such as the British Liver Trust and the Danish Liver Foundation. (He and wife, Marie, split their time between their homes in California and her native Denmark.) With Trout celebrating 10 years since his transplant, Hall has arranged for New England Donor Services to be on hand at the fair to sign up potential organ donors.
Trout’s rocky road to redemption is one of the reasons his songs resonate with so many, and his latest album, just released in March offers some superb examples. “Broken,” his astonishing 31st album, on the Mascot Label Family, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Blues Charts. It features a soulful title cut that showcases Trout’s brusque baritone vocals along with Beth Hart, another blues-rock performer who’s probably twice as popular in Europe as in the States.
“I wrote that song with my wife, and I told her while we were writing it, I have to get Beth to do this with me,” Trout explained. “I sent it off to her and she called back the same day, happy to do it. We go back a long way. I used to have a gig as the house band at this club here in Huntington Beach – We live about a block from the Pacific Ocean – and Beth’s husband was a bartender there. But I could hear her singing that song in my head as we wrote it. The interesting thing is that when we did it, and got to the chorus, she did harmony with me – in all her years singing with people like Jeff Beck, she never did harmony vocals, so that blew me away. We had a great time in the studio, which was (Doors guitarist) Robby Krieger’s private studio out here.”
Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider is on Trout's newest album
Another special guest on the new record might surprise some music fans, as Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider swaps vocals with Trout on the raucous rocker “I’ve Had Enough.” Snider had heard a Trout video online and posted a glowing review, noting the guitar ace should be much more widely known.
“Dee tweeted a clip of me live, so I replied my thanks, and sent my cell phone number,” Trout related. “We started talking back and forth and became great friends. Dee is an intelligent, brilliant man, and he said he wanted to sing with me. I said ‘OK, I’ll write a rock tune, and that’ll shock some blues fans, but I don’t care, because I like to rock too.’ So, a chance to sing with Dee gave me a good excuse to rock.”
Another standout track is “Breathe,” penned by Richard T. Bear, bassist in Trout’s band, who’s also backed up Carly Simon and Crosby, Stills and Nash, among others. Trout admires Bear’s songwriting, but also wanted to craft a version that evoked the classic sound of 1970s rockers The Faces.
“Richard will be in Marshfield with me and he’s a great songwriter,” said Trout. “On my last album, I traded licks on one tune with Stephen Stills, and he did a very beautiful version of that song, with strings and everything. I wanted to do it as Faces might’ve done it, and most specifically like they did Ronnie Lane’s song ‘Debris,’ which Ronnie wrote about his father. I asked my band to play this song like Ronnie Lane might’ve, and I even played guitar like (Faces guitarist) Ronnie Wood, and I love how it came out.”
Some of the other tracks that are unforgettable are “Heaven or Hell,” based on a conversation Trout had with a homeless man, “Falls Apart,” his nod to Pink Floyd-ian effects on a tune written by his middle son, and “Bleed,” an unabashed boogie salute to his John Lee Hooker days with guest harmonica ace Will Wilde. But Trout has song on the album that means the world to him.
“I Wanna Stay” was written with my wife, and it’s about our first night together,” Trout pointed out. “I wanted to come up with a love song in the vein of Luther Vandross or Curtis Mayfield, and that’s my very favorite song on this album. And all the background vocals on this album are my three kids.”
Clearly, Trout does not care if his music veers from blues into other categories, and he shrugs off any qualms blues purists might have.
“Blues can be a pretty wide tent,” he said. “You can play rock ‘n’ roll too, like ZZ Top is considered a rock band, but they’re really a blues band. Everything I do is based in the blues, but sometimes it is rock. B.B. King used to say, even if a blues song is about having your heart broken, the purpose of it that at the end, you are feeling better. That about sums up my view of it.”
Trout’s work these days is enhanced by smart, evocative videos, and he said working with video director Jim Arborgast has been a blessing. He especially pointed to the video for 2018’s “Ride,” which he said reflects his difficult home life growing up, when he and his brother fantasized about hopping a nearby train to get away.
Maybe most amazing, in this day of musicians with multitudes of foot pedals and special effects to boost their guitar work, Trout is still just a simple guy relying on his own artistry to craft indelible sounds.
“I don’t use pedals at all,” he said. “I just plug into my Mesa/Boogie amp and play. That’s what I’ve been doing for 40 years, and that’s my sound.”
The 2024 North River Blues Festival schedule at The Marshfield Fair
Music begins at noon, ends at about 8 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 24
Noon-1 p.m.: The Blues Mob
1:30-2:30 p.m.: Brandon Santini
3-4 p.m.: The Delgado Brothers
4:30-6 p.m.: Jimmy Carpenter
6:30-8 p.m.: DeSoto Tiger
Between sets: Steve Todesco and Friends
Sunday, Aug. 25
Noon-1 p.m.: The Rampage Trio
1:30-2:30 p.m.: Chris Fitz Band
3-4 p.m.: Roberto Morbioli, Chris Beard, and Willie J. Laws
4:30-6 p.m.: Duke Robillard and Sugar Ray Norcia
6:30-8 p.m.: Walter Trout
Between sets: Sam Gentile and Basic Black
2024 Marshfield Fair music performances
The Marshfield Fair opens Friday and features music nearly every day on the Music Stage. Here are some highlights.
Friday, Aug. 16
12:30-2:30 p.m.: String Theory, acoustic trio
3-5:30 p.m.: That ‘80s Band, Massachusetts based
Saturday Aug. 17
Noon-3 p.m.: Blame the Whiskey, rock band from New England
3-6 p.m.: Timmy Brown Band, Norton-based country singer
6-9 p.m.: Ward Hayden & the Outliers, Scituate’s Americana/country rockers
Sunday, Aug. 18
Noon-3 p.m.: Jake and Jenny, folk duo (Jenny is a Bostonian)
3-6 p.m.: April Cushman, New Hampshire country singer
6-9 p.m.: The American Ride, Toby Keith tribute
Monday, Aug. 19
3-5:30 p.m.: That ‘70s Band
6-9 p.m.: Mutha Funk Band, Boston band
Tuesday, Aug. 20
1-4 p.m.: The 60’s Band, seven-piece Southeastern Mass. oldies band
6-9 p.m.: Roger Ceresi’s All Stars, Rhode Island rock/blues/jazz band
This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Walter Trout playing at Marshfield Fair's North River Blues Festival
