The world is full of determination. And I use that word here as a more accurate description of the work and sacrifice that is often chalked up to talent. Sure, people can be naturally more predisposed to success in a certain area than others, but by and large, what separates the people doing something from the people dreaming about it is steady, determined action. 

Here in Southwest Florida, we have an opportunity to witness a textbook example of determination and to exercise some of our own on Thursday, March 26. Thanks to Big Lou Phoenix, of The Phoenix Radio and The Phoenix Artist Agency, blues-rock firebrand Walter Trout will be stopping in Ft. Myers on his 2026 North American Tour, which began in early March in California and wraps up in April in Pennsylvania. Then, toward the end of May, Trout embarks on an extensive tour of Europe that takes him all the way through mid-November. 

Walter Trout is firmly ensconced in the pantheon of blues-rock demigods, having staked his claim early, teaching himself to play guitar as a child, performing in public in his teens, and playing as a sideman for the likes of Big Mama Thornton, John Lee Hooker, and many others in his 20s in the 1970s. Trout split the 1980s playing lead guitar for Canned Heat and then John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. Canned Heat toured extensively in the U.S., Europe, and Australia, and Mayall toured worldwide. 

In the late-1960s and ’70s, John Mayall’s band, the Bluesbreakers, was something of a finishing school for musicians. The keyboardist and ‘Godfather of British Blues’ turned out many future bands’ guitarists, bassists, and drummers, including Peter Green, John McVie, and Mick Fleetwoood of Fleetwood Mac, and Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce of Cream. 

Though Trout’s touring and recording as a Bluesbreaker came after the initial heyday of the band, the personal mentoring by Mayall lifted Trout out of drug and alcohol abuse, and the exposure as a tremendously capable lead guitarist resulted in a record deal of his own. Trout left the Bluesbreakers, formed his own band, and released his debut album in 1989. His extensive touring with Canned Heat and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers made the Walter Trout Band an instant hit in Europe. 

Since that time, Trout has released 21 studio albums, six live albums, two compilations, and many singles. That pace works out to about one album every year-and-four-months. Combine that with the near constant touring and you begin to understand what I meant about determination. Trout’s most potent exercise of determination came following a liver transplant and lengthy hospitalization in 2014. While recovering from the transplant, Trout suffered brain damage that left him unable to move or speak. After a year-long, eight-hours per day process of relearning how to walk, talk, and play guitar, Trout returned to recording and touring. 

Trout is not only an accomplished guitarist and one of the better singers in the blues-rock world, but he also writes the vast majority of his own music and pens his own lyrics, sometimes in cooperation with his wife, Marie. Trout has always been the sort of confessional lyricist the blues demand. After all, what is the blues about if not your own emotions? Frequent themes of Trout’s lyrics, such as perpetual recovery from drugs and alcohol, survivorship, road weariness, love for his wife (and fictional unrequited love), and disillusionment with the current state of the world all appear on Trout’s newest album, Sign of the Times, released last September. 

A clearly politically charged album, critics rank it as one of his finest, no small trick for an artist who just turned 75 earlier this month. More often than not, it seems recording artists start strong with a few brilliant albums in the early years and subsequent material receives less and less attention until eventually newer fans show up only to hear “the hits”. This does not seem to be the case with Walter Trout. He continues to craft passionate, relevant music and deliver it with an authority honed over decades of experience and the fervor of sheer determination. 

What we are being asked to do is simply show up. That seems like a comparatively small thing, but this equation doesn’t work without that critical component. It costs Walter Trout a lot to haul himself, his bandmates, and all their gear and merchandise around the country and the world. So, it costs something to bring an appearance to our neighborhood. On top of paying for the artist and their accommodations, the promoter must also pay for the venue, advertising, and several other costs. The bigger the artists and bigger the event, the bigger the costs associated. That’s why it baffles me to hear folks complain about ticket prices or cover charges at local venues and see lackluster attendance, even for national acts, during live music events at smaller venues. 

Walter Trout is still huge in Europe, as evidenced by his annual tours of the continent. People over there have a better relationship with original music than we do here in the states, or at least with the blues. If we don’t show up for live music, if we don’t give promoters the chance to at least break even, then we won’t have events like this in our own communities. Your only chance to see original music will be in metro areas like Miami and Tampa, and we’ll be stuck in tribute band hell locally. 

Musicians choose the difficult life of traveling and performing because they have to. They must play. Music is their vessel, their therapy, their church, their medium for tapping into the humanity that connects us all. Promoters endeavor to bring you this music because they love it. We go to see and hear music because we love it. And when all those components come together, we have the potential to participate in an event that is much, much greater than the sum of its parts. 

I’ve been a Walter Trout fan since I first saw him live at the Sunshine Blues Festival in St. Petersburg in 2013. He was touring in support of his 2012 album, Blues for the Modern Daze, an album with some lyrics that are as compelling and relevant today as they were then. The way a Walter Trout show goes, playing for roughly two hours, we should have plenty of time to hear most of his new album, Sign of the Times, and with the way things are going, I’ll wager we will hear songs from Blues for the Modern Days, 2024’s Broken, and other timely gems from his vast catalog. 

Music is a very subjective experience. We like what we like, and although your tastes can certainly grow and evolve over time, people have their favorites. It is difficult to describe in words what something sounds like, so it’s helpful to call on your past experience. If you like blues, if you like rock and roll, if you like guitar-centric music, then chances are you’ll enjoy the intersection of all three. Fantastic guitarists are not rare. There are gifted guitarists that are perfectly happy playing alone at home. Others are satisfied to play in cover bands on the weekends. Walter Trout is among the best guitarists around, and he’s chosen to play in public, night after night, all over the world for decades. 

When you do something consciously and repeatedly, which goes back to that idea of determination, you get better at it. I could tell you about Trout’s guitar tone, his voice, his ability to craft a great song, which is something many people just lack, what professionals his band members are, and how passionate and exhilarating his live performances are; but at some point you just have to hear it for yourself. And that is exactly what I am asking you to do. Come see and hear Walter Trout on Thursday, March 26 at The Ranch Concert Hall & Saloon. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m. with another phenomenal band, Street Preacher, out of Jacksonville. You can read more about them here.

VIP tickets are already sold out. General Admission tickets for this event are $34. If that sounds like too much to you for three hours of music by two talented and determined groups of people, just remember everything that goes into making an event like this happen. You and I must do our parts to ensure we get similar chances in the future. Life is short and anything can happen. I’ll be there to see Walter Trout and Street Preacher. I hope you will be too. 

Live photo(s) credit: Marco Van Rooijen