Red double vinyl! For Walter Trout, there is nous and them. Across his five-decade career, the great US bluesmans music has always been a lifeline and call-to-arms, reminding listeners they are not alone. Now, as the world seeks solace from a tragedy that has touched us all, he comes armed with a boundary-exploring new studio album and eleven searingly honest songs that bring his fans even closer. There's a lot of extraordinary madness going on right now considers Trout, of the COVID-19 crisis. This album started because I was dealing with the flaws and weakness inside me. But it ended up being about everyone. Ordinary Madness was completed mere days before the US shutdown, its cathartic songcraft and themes of shared troubles couldn't chime better with a period in which our souls and spirits are under fire from tumultuous global events. Admirably open about his troubled youth, and his own ongoing struggles with mental health, the bluesman had spent recent tours soothing himself by scribbling down his thoughts and feelings. It was only later he realised he'd just written the most honest lyric-sheet of his career and felt he had an opportunity to let fans share and identify with him. Everybody is dealing with something, he says. And I'm no different from anybody else. Ordinary Madness doesn't mean you're gonna end up in a mental institution. It's just being human. It's common humanity
