Beldon's Blues Points: Wily Bo Walker

Remember Wily Bo Walker? We've talked about him before. Anyway, a song he sings on is being released to the public Sunday, July 15. It's called "A Long Way to Heaven," and its the third track fromA Long Way From Heaven, a forthcoming album he is releasing with singer Kareña K. You will find that song and others from Walker among the Reverbnation links above. As you know, Wily (pronounced like Wile E. Coyote) Bo and Kareña hail from the United Kingdom. Wily lives in the London suburb of Amersham and Kareña in Ealing, a section of West London. Like James Brown, Wily is a hard-working man in show business. First, he is the frontman for Rattlin Bone, a festival band which regularly tours across Europe. He also fronts the guitar-based Mescal Canyon Troubadors, with which he is recording the album "Stone Cold Beautiful." The group has released four bluesy tracks: "Storm Warning," "Loan Me a Dime," "Motel Blues" and "September Red." He also plays traditional jazz through the Wily Bo Walker Quintet, which at the beginning of 2011 recorded a cover of the popular Billie Holiday classic “You Don’t Know What Love is." The new single features members of Scandal, a 1980's band that reunited in the 2000's and in 2009 debuted "Hard For You To Love Me," its first single in over 24 years. The band is normally lead by singer Patty Smyth, who is also known for "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough," a 1992 duet she recorded with Don Henley of the Eagles. She will not be on the single, which also features the New York Brass, a stable of musicians which has backed Queen Latifah, Kanye West, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and Rihanna among others and which advertises itself with the phrase "GO REAL! Synth Sucks!" Kareña K is Walker's bandmate in Rattlin Bone and The Mescal Canyon Troubadors. Two singles from the album, "Angels In the Night" and "Did I Forget," have already been released.