Walter "Wolfman" Washington

Walter "Wolfman" Washington emerged from New Orleans as a central figure in Louisiana blues, blending soul, funk, jazz, and blues into an intense personal style. He first earned local acclaim supporting the city's top blues and R&B performers before launching a solo path marked by exceptional command of the genre.

Born December 21, 1943, and raised in New Orleans, he sang in his mother's church choir during childhood. His growing passion for blues and R&B led him to master the guitar, progressing from a homemade instrument fashioned with rubber bands and a cigar box to a standard model. At age 19 he secured his breakthrough engagement in 1962, joining New Orleans soul icon Lee Dorsey on guitar for a two-year stint in the road band. During the mid-1960s he performed with the local All Fools Band, accompanied soul singer Irma Thomas, and worked with David Lastie's Taste of New Orleans Band. Toward the close of the decade he began an enduring partnership with Johnny Adams that lasted two decades both onstage and in the studio.

Washington issued his debut solo album, Rainin' in My Life, in 1981 on the New Orleans-based Help Me label. Rounder Records subsequently signed him, releasing Wolf Tracks in 1986, Out of the Dark in 1988, and Wolf at the Door in 1991; that same year Point Blank, Virgin's blues imprint, put out Sada. He began regular touring with his Roadmasters band across Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States while maintaining a steady presence in New Orleans clubs. The 1998 album Funk Is in the House appeared on Bullseye Blues, followed in 1999 by Blue Moon Risin', which featured horn contributions from James Brown alumni Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, and Pee Wee Ellis. Rounder assembled the 2000 compilation On the Prowl from earlier sessions.

For several years Washington focused primarily on live performances before returning to the studio for 2008's Doin' the Funky Thing. Additional live documents surfaced as he continued Roadmasters dates and led weekly trio performances at the Maple Leaf Bar alongside organist Joe Krown and drummer Russell Batiste, Jr. In 2018 the 74-year-old artist issued My Future Is My Past on Anti-, produced by Galactic's Ben Ellman. Walter "Wolfman" Washington passed away at a New Orleans hospice on December 22, 2022, two days after turning 79.