Charles “Wigg” Walker

This Love Is Gonna Last

True Tone Group

With the recent passing of soul great Sam Moore of Sam & Dave, it unfortunately seems to remind us of the soul genre as a treasured subgenre of the past.  Yet, every so often we get an injection that also reminds us of why we continue to love this music so much. Enter octogenarian soul man Charles ‘Wigg” Walker with his first album in over a decade, “This Love Is Gonna Last.” The nickname Wigg, by the way, is from his mother because he was born with a full head of hair. You may recall the Nashville-based Walker’s work with his band, The Dynamites, circa the early 2010s. At 84 years of age, Walker feels that his time has finally arrived. While he may speak in celebratory tones, it’s a rather sad commentary on the music biz that tends to favor the trendy over the real.

Walker has a deep history as a frontman for the NYC-based J.C. Davis Band, where he shared bills with James Brown, Jackie Wilson, Etta James, Otis Redding, and Sam Cooke. Walker’s first group as a leader was Little Charles and the Sidewinders, a staple of the New York club scene in the ‘60s. In most circles today, his name would not pop up in a conversation of soul greats but deservedly should. Walker recorded for both Chess and Decca, before taking a staff job as a writer for Motown in the ‘70s before moving to Europe in the ‘80s where he found adoring audiences. The soul and R&B revival in the ‘90s saw him returning to Nashville, his original home, where he eventually released three albums with The Dynamites and worked the club circuit with an organ based trio led by his longtime creative partner Charles Treadway, a former member of The Dynamites.

Treadway and Gary Gold (Smokey Robinson, Ivan Neville) co-produced the record with Treadway aiming to capitalize on Walker’s well-rounded nature as in this statement – “He can be a soul shouter with the best of them, but he can also sing ballads and jazz standards, and I wanted to make sure that versatility shines through here.” As a result we hear the old school R&B that permeated the sounds from Philly to Detroit to Memphis and Oakland, on to LA and New York. It’s all here in these nine tunes, written by Treadway in collaboration with Walker and friend Eric Pitarelli for the lyrics. The backing organ trio, augmented by horns and strings on some tracks, has guitarist Pat Bergeson (Chet Atkins, Lyle Lovett) and drummer Pete Abbott (Average White Band, Tom Jones) alongside Treadway’s B3. The title song and the album as a whole is a dedication to Walker’s late wife, who passed away earlier in 2024. Her passing raises the emotional quotient here even beyond some of his classic work as heard in the opening title track, replete with strings, punchy horns, and background vocalists. It has a Philly, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes ring to it.

The churning funk of “Whatever It Is” has a Stevie Wonder ‘70s undercurrent that propels it. Lyrically, nothing will stand between Walker and his lover. The bouncy, smiley “(Feels Like) Things Are Comin’ Our Way” is a sorely needed blast of optimism in these dark times. Walker belies his age, sounding especially exuberant on this one. By contrast “Midnight Rendezvous” is deep soul of the “Dark End of the Street” variety while “Serendipity” finds a balance between blues and funk as Walker toasts the fate that brought he and wife together. Walker’s penchant for balladry is on display in “If I Had Known” and he goes upbeat vintage style, underpinned by baritone sax and blaring horns in the dance workout, “I Like em Like That.”

Walker closes the album with two of its most emotional tunes, with his wife in mind as he both  soars and plunges deep through  “That Kind of Love” and the closer “It’s About Trust,” to these ears the album standout. Walker wrings out emotional in each syllable, singing with conviction “I’ll always love you/And you can count on me until the very end.” Soul music doesn’t get any better.

In these times, it is so refreshing to hear genuine soul music. It may have taken time but at age 84 Walker may just have delivered his career crowning album.

– Jim Hynes

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