Seth Walker - Time Can Change (2012)

In the three years since his last album, Seth Walker moved to Nashville from Austin, wrote songs with friends new and old, and played many, many shows. And just like most people, he thought about life, about love, and about the changes you experience if you move away (both geographically and philosophically) to try your hand at something new. Indeed, Time Can Change Walker's seventh studio album is the sound of an artist moving beyond his comfort zone and challenging himself to walk fresh creative ground. Fans will still recognize the familiar rich tenor and down home blues guitar work, but this latest effort trades the studio sophistication of its more polished predecessor (2009's Leap of Faith) for a grittier sound and more intimate approach to songwriting. 'I never know what will be on the other side of a song or a session, but I sure do like what I have found in the corners of this album: a stripped down, intimate version of what I am as an artist at this point in my life,' says Walker. Songs like 'Stronger Than You Need to Be set the relaxed, organic tone of the album, featuring Steve Mackey's supple bass and Derrek Phillips spare percussion. Matched by Seth s acoustic guitar groove, this configuration is at the core of the album's warm, loose vibe. With all the makings of a classic soul ballad, 'In the Meantime' is a plea for a temporary stay to the inevitable heartache of incompatible love. And with Grammy Award-winner Gary Nicholson in the co-writer chair, the rollicking, light-hearted 'More Days Like This,'with its catchy refrain, is an instant crowd pleaser. 'This is the purest, most honest recording I have ever done as a singer. I just sang and played,' maintains Seth. 'Time can definitely change, and this album is a case in point for me.'

Seth Walker gets pigeon-holed as a blues artist, which he is, possessing a sharp, fluid, and elegantly clean guitar style that makes him sound like a 21st century version of T-Bone Walker (no relation), always gracefully augmenting the song at hand instead of growling in the corner. Yeah, Walker can play the blues, and he has, but he's also a brilliantly nuanced vocalist -- part Al Green, part Harry Connick Jr., part James Taylor -- whose songwriting and singing is as much R&B, gospel, country, and jazz as it is blues. All of this is obvious on his latest album, the self-produced Time Can Change, which is much sparer, jazzier, and small band combo-oriented than his previous release, the Gary Nicholson-produced and critically acclaimed Leap of Faith, from 2009. The songs here aren't blues -- they're late-night gypsy soul numbers with jazz overtones and now and then a little reggae lilt -- but they carry blues themes full of the worries, concerns, and trials that come with life, love, and relationships. They just aren't blues songs in the accepted contemporary sense, which generally means blistering electric guitar leads and a growling, honky tonk tone. That isn't Walker, at least not where this wonderful set is concerned. Songs like "Stronger Than You Need to Be," "Before It Breaks," "What Now," and "More Days Like This" have more to do with Django Reinhardt than they do Stevie Ray Vaughan, and more to do with Ray Charles than they do Howlin' Wolf, although the concerns are the same -- how to find love, stability, and redemption when everything depends on it. Walker's vocals are as natural, clear, sharp, and as effortlessly elegant as his guitar playing in these songs, and it all fits together into a warm, unadorned little album that reveals itself more and more with each listen.