Review: Walter Wolfman Washington ‘Feel So At Home’
By Jim Hynes
The blues and soul world lost one of its greats with the passing on New Orleans legend, Walter Wolfman Washington in December 2022, at age 79. Known for his signature mix of funk, blues, soul, and R&B, Wolfman, though lesser known than Dr. John, Professor Longhair, Fats Domino, Irma Thomas, and other legends of Crescent City, belongs in that same conversation. This final bow, the posthumous Feel So at Home, recorded just days before his passing is a cohesive, warm, and romantic view of Washington’s artistry rarely heard given Wolfman’s propensity to mix up styles and genres. It does, however, further extend the kind of material heard on his 2018 My Future Is My Past with late night blues and soulful ballads.
Feel So at Home is the kind of vintage fare we might associate with Nat King Cole or Johnny Hartman, or in modern day terms Gregory Porter although it leans clearly toward blues rather than the jazzy tinges of its predecessor. Also, while that was mostly a covers album, five of these eight are originals. The album will be available in CD, vinyl, digital, and streaming platforms with a limited edition 180g custom-colored vinyl available exclusively only via a Tipitina’s Record Club subscription.
Washington started working on Feel So At Home during the peak of the reception for his last album. He again teamed up with producer/multi-instrumentalist Ben Ellman (Galactic), a co-founder of the Tipitina’s Record Club, Galactic drummer Stanton Moore and bassist James Singleton (Astral Project). Roadmasters pianist Steve DeTroy (The Catahoulas), who was credited on Washington’s 2018 album, is also present and more prominent here. Initially, work on the album progressed at a casual pace, Ellman says, with interruptions caused by the pandemic. But following his tonsil cancer diagnosis in early 2022, Washington realized this could be his last and dug in to finish the album.
Feel So At Home opens with the lush title track bathed orchestrally in woodwinds, horns, and strings, played by Nick Ellman, Ben’s cousin and member of Naughty Professor and Maroon 5 and Rick G. Nelson (Afghan Whigs), respectively, before Washington spins a few bluesy guitar notes and enters with his rich baritone voice welcoming us into an album much like the famous Coltrane/Johnny Hartman ballad album except that it’s the tasty less-is-more guitar stylings of Washington rather than Coltrane’s tenor in the instrumental breaks. The song was co-written by jazz singer Michelle Willey and Ed Townsend and dates to 1977. His gentle, intimate lover’s lament “Without You” follows, featuring DeTroy’s delicate piano solo and light string accompaniment. This one originally appeared on Wolman’s 1986 Wolf Tracks. Its pace is slow, and he remains in his comforting baritone, shunning the falsetto treatment heard in the original. The tone gets a bit bluesier with his reading of Guitar Slim’s (his uncle) “Along About Midnight,” where he unleashes two poignant guitar solos, his best on this effort.
The strings return for the standout “Lovely Day,” his gorgeous ballad, as sweet as it gets down to the sustained notes of his echoing guitar perfectly matching the sublime vocal. The song originally appeared on Rainin’ In My Life. Charles Brown’s “Black Night” has long been a favorite on NOLA’s piano greats but here Washington’s guitar is naturally in the foreground and again he slows the tempo, adding an urgency to the lyrics. Compare this to Eddie “The Chief” Clearwater’s version and you’ll see a marked difference. “Sufferin’ Mind’ also owes to Guitar Slim, a touch of contrition that sounds anything but, conjuring the heyday of ‘50s NOLA R&B, and a departure from the ballad fare.
“Without You”
“Raining in My Life” is the title track of his 1981 album and evokes the Tan Canary, the late Johnny Adams, with whom Washington often recorded. Washington again delivers the aching pain through both his vocal and his stinging guitar. These kinds of guitar notes and chords could only be fashioned by the veteran that Washington was, exemplified again on the closing “I’ve Been Wrong So Long,” popularized by Bobby Blue Bland on his classic Two Steps from the Blues. The song was penned by Ray Agee and Don Robey, aka Deadric Malone and written specifically for Bland. Although he doesn’t growl like Bland did, he approaches some of it but lets his guitar do most of the talking.
There could not be a more fitting, heartfelt closure to Walter Wolfman Washington’s recording career. This is simply first class on every dimension.
Walter Wolfman Washington website
Leave A Comment