He is a legendary artist who needs little introduction. Walter Trout, the phenomenal blues guitarist who has been playing with the great and good for over 50 years, is back with the follow-up to 2024’s Broken.
Walter Trout – Sign Of The Times
Release Date: 5 September 2025
Words: Paul Hutchings
Sign Of The Times continues Walter Trout’s ability to cast observations on society through his street eye lens. He does not preach but provides food for thought, his insightful lyrical content backed by some of the most delicious guitar work you will ever find.
The New Jersey born musician is clear about his aims. “I wanted to reflect upon what’s going on in the world,” Walter Trout says. “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.”
Ten songs that open with the scalding Artificial and close with Struggle To Believe, all jarring with Trout’s unique playing style and take on a world that is combusting. The opening song is particularly relevant, even as I type this and get bombarded with the AI options.
The lyrics are clear – Artificial photos, artificial music, where does it stop?
“I’m freaked out by AI,” says Walter. “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 per cent of jobs are gonna disappear. What happens then?”
The harrowing title track is incredible. Some fiercely typical fretwork leaves the listener with smoking ears, such is the fire with which Trout plays. It is a combustible burst of experimental progression, raging with a passion that few Bluesmen or women can match.
“I wanted it to be dissonant,” he says. “Dissonance is a sign of the times. Marie [Trout’s wife, manager and co-writer] came to me with a set of lyrics, and I realised it fit the song perfectly.”
Sign Of The Times is not all bursting with anger. Mona Lisa Smile allows a little joy, mixed with beauty and pain. Combining accordion, mandolin and violin from famed string arranger Stevie Blacke (Snoop Dog, Joe Cocker, Alice in Chains), it is a love song to his wife, a reflection on his second chance following his 11th-hour liver transplant in 2014. It is an oasis of calm with some glorious arrangements to explore and savour.
It has not been that long since Broken was released, yet at 74, there is no stopping Trout. “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.”
But there is no filler featured here. Just like his fantastic live shows, Sign Of The Times is truly absorbing in every way. Throw in his studio band comprising longtime drummer Michael Leasure, bassist John Avila and keys man Teddy ‘Zig Zag’ Andreadis, and the album, recorded at Strawhorse Studios in Los Angeles, flows beautifully.
Renowned for speaking his mind, Walter Trout does not hold back on Sign Of The Times. Hurt No More is what he calls his ‘recovery song’ and it’s honest and open as it rocks along. It is followed by the dark smoulder of No Strings Attached, one of the deepest songs here, skewering bigotry, hatred, hypocrisy in one heady, bluesy mix, with Trout’s guitar rocking against Andreadis’ keys and the slow pulse of Avila’s bass.
This should be a treat if played live.
Musically, Sign Of The Times maintains the level of consistency that Trout is renowned for. I Remember and Hightech Woman are both classy jams, the former’s subject matter a reflection of simpler times when music was the only priority, while the latter is a toe tapper that once more should be fantastic if played on the next tour.
Full of emotion, this is an album that is dark in places, but which allows you respite with its musical interludes and workouts. In a world where times are often bleak, Trout’s observations may not be the cheeriest, but they certainly remind us that quality musicians will always bring some light as well as unity.
“When I’m up onstage playing a minor-key blues,” Trout says, “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…”
Amen to that.
Walter Trout – Sign Of The Times is out on 5 September via Provogue. For more details, visit lnk.to/waltertrout.
