Misty Blues & Joe Louis Walker

Joe Louis Walker ranks with B.B. King, Buddy Guy, and Robert Cray in the pantheon of legendary electric bluesmen. A Blues Hall of Fame inductee and six-time Blues Music Award winner, NPR described Walker as "a legendary boundary-pushing icon of modern blues." Walker’s chops were tasty enough to play on albums by Ike Turner, Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, and Steve Cropper. He’s shared stages with Muddy Waters and Thelonious Monk, roomed with Mike Bloomfield, and partied with Jimi Hendrix. He hits Bombyx for a Saturday night blues party with special guest Gina Coleman's Misty Blues Band from the Berkshires who slayed at Millpond Live last summer. He plays on her new album and releases a new one of his own this February called “Weight of the World.” Band founder and lead singer, Gina Coleman, entered the music scene in the early 90’s as the lead singer of the folk/rock group Cole-Connection. It wasn’t until 1999 when she played a gospel singer in the Williamstown Theatre Festival production of A Raisin In The Sun that she realized her voice was well suited to sing classic blues. This sentiment was echoed by actor/singer, Mandy Patinkin, who sought her out after seeing the show. After actress Gwyneth Paltrow commented on her performance, Coleman knew a musical shift was imminent and thus began Misty Blues. The band pays homage to the older blues made popular by the bold and brassy women of its time, while still paying respect to classic male artists of the 20s, 30s and 40s. Over the years, Misty Blues has produced ten albums. Today the core members include Gina Coleman, Seth Fleischmann, Bill Patriquin, Ben Kohn, Rob Tatten and Aaron Dean.