Blues Bit: Walter Trout Wants Unity with ‘Common Ground’
Walter Trout has backed blues greats John Lee Hooker, Big Mama Thornton
The album’s title track, “Common Ground,” plays like a prayer for universal sympathy and understanding. Listening to the collection, it’s obvious Trout has a larger vision than just making music. He wants to use music to push the next generation to accept each others’ differences and unite.
“If there’s a message in there, it’s really that there’s so much division in the world today,” he said. “There’s so much anger between people, and people seem incapable of having a discussion. If I don’t agree with you politically, don’t tell me I’m not a patriot or I don’t love my country.
“Nobody has a claim on loving their country or being a patriot. Let’s see if we can find somewhere we can come together in our common humanity. We’re all trying to achieve same thing, we’re just taking different roads.”
Trout -- who counts Bob Dylan, the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary as key influences -- plays Thursday, March 24, at Callahan’s in Auburn Hills.
“When I’m playing the guitar, there are times that it’s not me playing, I’m just receiving a signal --- almost like a radio antenna from above," he said. "I try to put that spirituality in my music, but I don’t beat people over the head with it. I try to subtly relay what I’ve been through, and they can take what they want from it.”
Show details: Walter Trout & the Radicals, 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 6) Thursday, Sept. 1, Callahan’s, 2105 South Boulevard, Auburn Hills, (248) 858-9508, advance tickets $22 - $35 via etix.com.
