Based out of New Orleans, guitarist and singer
Walter "Wolfman" Washington has become one of the leading lights in the Louisiana blues scene, playing a fiery mixture of soul, funk, jazz, and blues.
Washington first became a local hero backing up some of the Crescent City's most celebrated blues and R&B acts before moving on to a successful solo career, playing the blues with rare fluency and power.
Born on December 21, 1943,
Washington was born and raised in New Orleans, where he performed in his mother's church choir as a child. As he grew older, he fell in love with blues and R&B and learned how to play guitar, beginning with a homemade instrument made from rubber bands and a cigar box before moving up to the real thing. In 1962, the 19-year-old
Washington landed his first major gig, playing guitar with New Orleans soul legend
Lee Dorsey. He spent two years in
Dorsey's road band, and in the mid-'60s, he began playing with a local combo called the All Fools Band. He also spent time backing soul diva
Irma Thomas and gigging with
David Lastie's Taste of New Orleans Band. Near the end of the '60s,
Washington started playing alongside another noted New Orleans R&B singer, the great
Johnny Adams; the two proved to be a solid match, and
Washington worked with
Adams on-stage and in the studio for 20 years.
In 1981,
Washington cut his first solo album, Rainin' in My Life, for the small New Orleans label Help Me Records. Rounder Records, who had released several of
Johnny Adams' albums with
Washington, offered the guitarist a deal, and he released three albums for the respected roots music label, 1986's
Wolf Tracks, 1988's
Out of the Dark, and 1991's
Wolf at the Door. The year 1991 also saw
Washington release the album Sada through Virgin Records' blues subsidiary, Point Blank Records. By this time,
Washington was touring regularly with his band
the Roadmasters; entertaining fans in Europe, the U.K., and the United States; and also performing frequently in his hometown. In 1998,
Washington and
the Roadmasters dropped Funk Is in the House through the Bullseye Blues imprint, while
Blue Moon Risin', featuring
James Brown sidemen
Maceo Parker,
Fred Wesley, and
Pee Wee Ellis on horns, arrived in 1999. A compilation drawn from
Washington's Rounder recordings,
On the Prowl, was issued in 2000.
Washington concentrated on live work for the next few years, not returning to the studio until it came time to record 2008's
Doin' the Funky Thing. A handful of live recordings followed while
Washington played out with
the Roadmasters and hosted regular trio shows at New Orleans' Maple Leaf Bar with organist
Joe Krown and drummer Russell Batiste, Jr. In 2018, the 74-year-old
Washington came roaring back with
My Future Is My Past, his first album for the artist-friendly Anti- label, with
Ben Ellman of
Galactic producing. ~ Mark Deming