John Earl Walker (Born in Brooklyn, New York) is an American electric blues guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and
producer. John Earl began playing guitar at age thirteen.
Shortly
thereafter he began forming his own bands to play at local gigs in the New York City area.
At one of his first gigs playing at his
uncle’s wedding at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, he met Sam Cooke who was
performing in the next room and it left a huge impression on him. Around
this time he started writing his own music and lyrics, a practice he
continues to this day. By age fifteen John was playing professional gigs in
clubs with older band mates. John cites the three Kings (BB, Albert, and
Freddie) along with Chuck Berry as his biggest influences as he developed
his own unique style.
During the 60's he played with various bands and
line-ups in New York including Capitol recording artists Plum Nelly who
opened shows for top acts like Buddy Guy, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Jimi
Hendrix, Dr. John, John Mayall, Fleetwood Mac, and many other luminaries.
Just two days after his twentieth birthday John Earl played at Carnegie Hall
with Plum Nelly, opening for the James Gang, on May 15, 1971.
A great day for John Earl was in December 1975,
when he was asked to film a pilot playing guitar with BB King for channel 9
KHJ in Los Angeles called "Backstage Pass." Soon afterwards John
Earl formed his first blues band in Los Angeles and since then has led his
own bands with many different line-ups. Many of John Earl's songs have
become blues Internet classics. John Earl's main guitar used live and on all
his CDs is named Dorothy a 1959 Fender Stratocaster which he purchased in
NYC in 1973 in a trade for his 1961 Strat plus $100.00 dollars.
As well as performing in New York, John Earl
Walker has performed at festivals in Australia and Sweden and also at the
Fortieth Internationale
Jazzwoche Burghausen in Germany in 2009.
