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Stairway to Heaven

Led Zeppelin · 1971 · solo by Jimmy Page
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Guitar hero

T-Bone Walker

The man who made electric guitar the star of the blues

Aaron Thibeaux Walker was born in Linden, Texas, in 1910 to musical parents. His stepfather, Marco Washington, taught him guitar and a range of other string instruments, and the boy left school young to make music his trade. Blind Lemon Jefferson was a family friend, and the young Walker would lead the blind singer around the streets of Dallas's Deep Ellum district, absorbing his music along the way. By his mid-teens he was performing professionally.

In 1929 he made his first record for Columbia, Wichita Falls Blues backed with Trinity River Blues, billed as Oak Cliff T-Bone after his neighbourhood, with the nickname drawn from his middle name. During the 1930s he moved west to Los Angeles, where he worked in clubs and sang with the Les Hite Orchestra. He was among the earliest bluesmen to take up the electric guitar, turning it into a lead voice rather than a background rhythm tool.

In the 1940s he cut influential sides for Capitol, including Mean Old World, and headlined clubs such as Chicago's Rhumboogie. His 1947 recording of Call It Stormy Monday for Black & White Records became a blues standard; B.B. King later said hearing it made him want an electric guitar. Further hits for Black & White and Imperial, such as T-Bone Shuffle, set the template for electric blues and much of early rock and roll.

Later sessions for Atlantic produced the album T-Bone Blues, and in 1962 he toured Europe with the American Folk Blues Festival. His album Good Feelin' won a Grammy in 1970. Ill health slowed him in the 1970s, and he died in Los Angeles in 1975 after a stroke and pneumonia. He entered the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

The 10 greatest T-Bone Walker solos

  1. 1
    Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)
    T-Bone Walker · solo by T-Bone Walker · 1947
  2. 2
    T-Bone Shuffle
    T-Bone Walker · solo by T-Bone Walker · 1948
  3. 3
    Mean Old World
    T-Bone Walker · solo by T-Bone Walker · 1942
  4. 4
    I Got a Break Baby
    T-Bone Walker · solo by T-Bone Walker · 1942
  5. 5
    Bobby Sox Blues
    T-Bone Walker · solo by T-Bone Walker · 1946
  6. 6
    T-Bone Jumps Again
    T-Bone Walker · solo by T-Bone Walker · 1947
  7. 7
    Strollin' with Bones
    T-Bone Walker · solo by T-Bone Walker · 1950
  8. 8
    Papa Ain't Salty
    T-Bone Walker · solo by T-Bone Walker · 1959
  9. 9
    Cold, Cold Feeling
    T-Bone Walker · solo by T-Bone Walker · 1952
  10. 10
    Two Bones and a Pick
    T-Bone Walker · solo by T-Bone Walker · 1959

The sound

Walker blended Texas blues with the swing and harmonic sophistication of jazz, playing fluid single-note lines over horn-driven bands. He favoured ninth chords, chromatic passing tones and sliding double-stops, and his phrasing had the relaxed, conversational feel of a horn soloist. Holding his hollow-body Gibson almost flat out from his body, he produced a warm but cutting amplified tone. His vocabulary of bends, turnarounds and shuffle figures became the foundation of electric blues guitar, and his showmanship, including playing behind his head and with his teeth, set a standard for performers who followed.

  • Gibson ES-250 (guitar) An early electric archtop associated with his groundbreaking 1940s recordings.
  • Gibson ES-5 (guitar) A three-pickup hollow-body he is often pictured with in the 1950s.
  • Gibson ES-150 (guitar) One of the first mass-produced electric archtops, used by pioneers of amplified guitar around 1940.
  • Acoustic guitar (guitar) His instrument on the 1929 Columbia recordings before he went electric.
  • Gibson tube amplifier (amp) Small valve amps of the era gave his hollow-bodies their warm, slightly edgy voice.

Covers

  • How Long Blues, originally by Leroy Carr He brings urbane electric guitar to a classic piano-blues standard.
  • Evenin', originally by Jimmy Rushing with Count Basie A mellow nod to the big-band blues that shaped his style.
  • I Want a Little Girl, originally by Jazz standard (Mencher and Moll) He sings and plays the old standard with warm, easy swing.
  • Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong, originally by Albert King The elder statesman borrows a younger bluesman's song on his European tour.
  • Every Day I Have the Blues, originally by Pinetop Sparks A blues standard he played with loose, swinging authority.

Timeline

  • 1910 Born in Linden, Texas
  • 1929 Records for Columbia as Oak Cliff T-Bone
  • 1940 Sings T-Bone Blues with the Les Hite Orchestra
  • 1942 Records Mean Old World for Capitol
  • 1947 Records Call It Stormy Monday for Black & White
  • 1950 Begins recording for Imperial
  • 1959 Atlantic releases T-Bone Blues
  • 1962 Tours Europe with the American Folk Blues Festival
  • 1970 Wins a Grammy for Good Feelin'
  • 1975 Dies in Los Angeles

Facts

  1. His full name was Aaron Thibeaux Walker, and T-Bone comes from his middle name.
  2. As a child he guided Blind Lemon Jefferson around Dallas's Deep Ellum.
  3. His stepfather taught him guitar, banjo, violin, mandolin and other instruments.
  4. His 1929 debut record was billed under the name Oak Cliff T-Bone.
  5. B.B. King said hearing Stormy Monday inspired him to go electric.
  6. Chuck Berry named him as one of his main influences.
  7. He played guitar with his teeth long before Jimi Hendrix did.
  8. His album Good Feelin' won the Grammy for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording in 1970.
  9. Steve Miller recalled getting guitar pointers from him as a child in 1952.
  10. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

Sources