After doing what he loves for nearly 70 years into his music-making career, Charles "Wigg" Walker has delivered his latest soul-infused album, This Love Is Gonna Last, on January 27, 2025.
A loving ode and tender dedication to Walker's late wife, the album celebrates the joys and bittersweet realities of love and the passage of time. Recorded with organist and longtime creative partner Charles Treadway, guitarist Pat Bergeston (Chet Atkins, Peter Frampton), and drummer Pete Abbott (Average White Band, Tom Jones), the funky highs and sultry soulful lows showcase the talents of each member.
Over the last seven decades, Walker has lived numerous lives in many diverse places. Moving from Nashville to New York after releasing his first single with Champion Records granted him the opportunity to share bills with legends such as James Brown, Jackie Wilson, Etta James, Otis Redding and Sam Cooke.
Throughout the 60s, his group Little Charles and the Sidewinders became a familiar name in the nightclub scene in New York. After moving to the UK in the 80s, he formed P.R.G., a label of his own. He worked around Europe until he returned to Nashville in the 90s, with the burgeoning blues and R&B revival calling him back. In the 2010s, Walker fronted The Dynamites, a funk band with which he released three albums.
The first taste of the new album came with the single "(Feels Like) Things Are Comin' Our Way," which hit streaming services on Halloween of last year. The snappy guitars and lush brass soar over a locked in groove courtesy of the bass and drums. The lyrics signal better times on the horizon, with Walker's enduring vocals delivering the lines, "And now the sun is starting to shine / And I know everything will be alright / With you by my side."
The second single and title track, "This Love Is Gonna Last," relates a story of enduring love that grows and thrives even through hardships. The electric piano lends the song a mellow playfulness, skillfully supported by a laid back rhythm and a wonderful interplay between the strings and brass sections. Walker sings with conviction, "I know this love is gonna last / I can feel it inside / And I know this feeling will never pass."
The album is the capstone to a long and admirable career, but also a testament to keep doing what feeds the soul. And in doing so, Charles "Wigg" Walker continues to get the recognition he deserves.
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