Walter "Wolfman" Washington spent six decades as one of the most beloved figures on the New Orleans music scene — a guitarist and singer whose blues-based approach incorporated funk, soul, and R&B into something that was entirely his own, and whose decades of residency at the Maple Leaf Bar made him an institution in the city's musical life.
Biography
Washington was born in New Orleans in 1943 and began playing in his teens, backing Lee Dorsey before he was old enough to vote. He spent twenty years playing guitar in Johnny Adams's band, learning the art of sophisticated accompaniment from one of the city's great vocal stylists. His own recordings, beginning with Wolf Tracks in 1986, documented a guitarist of formidable power and taste — funky and blues-based but always melodic, always in service of the song. His residency with Joe Krown and Russell Batiste Jr. at the Maple Leaf Bar became one of the city's great ongoing musical institutions, a weekly gathering point for musicians and music lovers that continued until near the end of his life. He died on December 22, 2022, two days after his seventy-ninth birthday, leaving behind a devoted community of musicians and fans who knew exactly what they had lost.
Discography
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