Bart Walker: Waiting on Daylight Review
Bart Walker, a long haired rocker with a wailing blues guitar and a bellowing voice to be heard, released his new album Waiting on Daylight just this past month. Listening to this record from beginning to end, one can hear beefy tones, lyrical lines, and funky grooves of every musical color. A raw and unique blend of blues, classic rock, southern rock, and heavy metal, the album is a prime collaboration of covers and originals that Walker was able to piece together with perfection. Like a classic rock record, Waiting on Daylight tells much of its story through explosive emotion and passion conveyed in the rhythms, harmonies, melodies, and thundering instrumentals that make this album a catchy, unforgettable release. However, beneath the beautifully distorted rock & roll are bluesy poetic lines that reveal glimpses of Walker’s tales of woe — financial struggles, political angst, regret, and the struggle of a man to love without compromising his freedom. A bluesman at heart, Walker doesn’t write a song with a story left untold.
From the onset, the listener will surely be tapping his foot and feeling the instantaneous groove of the record from “It’s All Good,” a blues rock song reminding his lady that “it don’t cost a thing to snuggle up at night,” for through financial turmoil, love is free and everlasting. Throughout the album, Walker continues to tie in such familiar and relatable themes, oftentimes weaving heartbroken lines into upbeat tracks. Similar songs on the record include “Black Clouds,” “Gotta Be You,” and “Mary & Me.” Likewise, in “99%,” a song with a strong and opinionated political message told with energetic and passionate revolutionary unrest, Walker belts, “It don’t matter if your tie is blue or red / Those things won’t make no difference if this country falls down dead / We are the, we are the 99% / We are the, we are the ones to take a stand.”
In contrast to a typical blues record, Walker has several songs that make any music lover want to get down or feel good, tunes with a lighthearted twist for a genre which is often considered quite melancholy. For instance, “Took It Like a Man” covers an array of problems, but Walker boasts that he dealt with his emotions the macho way — “I got drunk, stayed out all night / Got my ass kicked in a bar room fight / I lost my car, I threw up in a garbage can / Yeah, it didn’t bother me / I took it like a man.” In the same way, Walker’s pride is evident in “Happy,” a catchy song with a notable message — the ultimate source of true happiness comes from personal liberty. Although most settle for a mundane existence, following behind in the shadows of others, he gloats they secretly wish otherwise — “Deep down I know you wanna be just like me.” “Girl You Bad” is a promiscuous, erotic song, one that would certainly appeal to the classic rock & roll fan, while his cover of “Hipshake It” makes the passive listener become an active participant and dance. The final song and second cover, “Whippin’ Post,” is a mellow piece about the suffocating effects love can have on an individual and the desire for freedom, while “Waiting on Daylight” is a beautiful, regretful romantic ballad, a plea for a second chance, a search for a glimmer of hope. Walker cries out, “I’m just waiting on daylight / I’m just waiting on a sunrise.” Accurately capturing the title of the album, this song is haunting and unforgettable.
Walker has no need to wait any longer. With this album, he has already blazed a brightly lit path for himself, one that will certainly lead him to carry on both his name and the legendary genre of blues into the years to come.
The Review: 8.5/10
Can’t Miss Tracks
– Black Clouds
– Gotta Be You
– Waiting on Daylight
– Hipshake It
– 99%
The Big Hit
– Waiting on Daylight
Review by Jill Jacobs