Walter Trout has never been one to preach. For over 50 years, the veteran blues-rocker has let his guitar do the talking—raw, unfiltered, and fiercely alive. On Sign of the Times, out September 5 via Provogue, Trout turns up the volume on the chaos, confusion, and creeping disconnection that defines the world around us. The album’s first single, “Artificial,” arrives with a lyric video and plenty to chew on: biting harmonica, searing guitar work, and a pointed warning about what we lose when everything becomes synthetic.
He’s never been one to tell listeners what to believe. But as the world frays at the edges and the noise gets louder, Sign of the Times rises as both a gut-punch and a release valve—a record that channels the chaos into something loud, honest, and deeply human. “I wanted to reflect upon what’s going on in the world,” explains the 74-year-old. “For me, writing these songs is therapy. They’re not just about what’s happening out there, but how it affects you in your head. Sign Of The Times just became the obvious title…”
The album kicks off with “Artificial,” a fiery opener laced with biting satire, stinging harmonica, and a no-holds-barred take on the hollow, manufactured world we’re sliding into. “We got artificial photos, artificial music, you could go on and on,” considers the bluesman. “I’m freaked out by AI. I read articles about how it’s gonna do all these wonderful things in the medical world. Then I hear Bill Gates say that eighty percent of jobs are gonna disappear. What happens then?”
It feels like the amps have barely cooled from 2024’s Broken, which debuted in Billboard at #1. But the era-chronicling songs from Sign Of The Times wouldn’t wait, these urgent riffs flying off the guitarist’s fingers, assisted once again by Marie, Walter’s wife, manager and co-writer, who penned the lyrics for some of the tracks. “This album flowed pretty easily,” he reflects of the writing process. “I had so many song ideas and pages of lyrics from Marie. We could have kept going and made a triple album.”
With ten new tracks ready to go, Trout called in his trusted crew—drummer Michael Leasure, bassist John Avila, and keyboardist Teddy “Zig Zag” Andreadis—to lay it down at Strawhorse Studios in L.A. The urgency of the subject matter lit a fire under the sessions, fueling one of the hardest-hitting albums in his catalog. Producing it himself and teaming up with mix engineer J.J. Blair gave the record even more bite. “Let me put it this way, I really felt like rocking on this album. We had heavy things to talk about, and we went for it musically too.”
The recent death of British blues godfather John Mayall has naturally brought Trout’s mid-’80s tenure with the Bluesbreakers into sharp focus. “His influence on my life, I can’t overstate,” reflects the guitarist. For Trout – who survived an eleventh-hour liver transplant in 2014 – his second chance at life still holds joy, beauty and pain. Even by his standards, Sign Of The Times is a record that puts you through the emotional wringer. But as long as there’s poignant and relevant music, we have a fighting chance.
A lifelong road warrior, Trout will bring Sign of the Times to stages around the world in 2025. And for those two sacred hours onstage, the noise fades, the lines blur, and strangers become a roomful of people bound by the music—proving, once again, that the blues speaks to something deeper than division. “I could be on social media, writing very explicit posts,” he considers. “But I don’t want to contribute to the division. When I’m up onstage playing a minor-key blues, and I look down at the front row and there’s a burly biker – and he’s crying – at that moment, I’m hitting him in our common humanity, and it doesn’t matter who he voted for. At that moment, we are all in this together…”
Confirmed appearances include:
NORTH AMERICAN ACTIVITY:
6/12 San Luis Obispo, CA Fremont Theatre
6/13 Monterey, CA Golden State Theatre
6/14 Napa, CA Uptown Theatre
6/15 San Jose, CA Fountain Blues and Brews Festival
EUROPEAN APPEARANCES:
7/17 Tuttlingen, DE Honberg Sommer
7/18 München, DE Backstage
7/19 Hanover, DE Bluesgarage
7/20 Leer (Ostfriesland), DE Zollhaus Gastro
7/22 Aakirkeby, DK Ekkodalshuset & Café Genlyd
7/25 Narcao, IT Narcao Blues Festival 2025
7/27 Piacenza, IT Dal Mississippi Al Po
8/01 Notodden, NO Notodden Bluesfestival 2025
8/15 Leipzig, DE Parkbühne (Clara Zetkin Park)
8/17 Struer, DK Gimsinghoved Festival 2025
NORTH AMERICAN ACTIVITY:
9/03 Phoenix, AZ MIM
9/05 Las Vegas, NV Big Blues Bender
9/06 Salt Lake City, UT The State Room
9/07 Boise, ID Treefort Music Hall
9/09 Seattle, WA Jazz Alley
9/10 Seattle, WA Jazz Alley
9/11 Portland, OR Aladdin Theater
9/12 Victoria, CAN Wicket Hall
9/18 Evanston, IL SPACE
9/20 Cleveland, OH Beachland Ballroom & Tavern
9/21 Cincinnati, OH The Ludlow Garage
9/24 New Orleans, LA The Jazz Market
9/25 New Orleans, LA The Jazz Market
EUROPEAN APPEARANCES:
10/25 Svalbard, NO Dark Season Blues Festival
10/28 Odense, DK Musikhuset
10/29 Aarhus, DK Train
10/30 Fredericia, DK Eksercerhuset
10/31 Viborg, DK Vesterbrogade 10
11/01 Copenhagen, DK Amager Bio
11/04 Gothenburg, SE Pustervik
11/06 Uppsala, SE Katalin And All That Jazz
11/09 Helsinki, FI House of Culture
11/12 Hamburg, DE Markthalle
11/13 Dresden, DE Tante Ju
11/14 Berlin, DE Kesselhaus
11/18 Zurich, CH Kaufleuten
11/19 Stuttgart, DE Im Wizemann
11/20 Heidelberg, DE Halle02
11/22 Herenthout, BE Lux Herenthout
11/25 Utrecht, NL TivoliVredenburg
11/26 Köln, DE Kantine
11/27 Alkmaar, NL Victoriepark
11/28 Zoetermeer, NL Poppodium Boerderij
11/29 Hengelo, NL Metropool Hengelo
11/30 Bochum, DE Zeche Bochum
