Video of the week: Walter Trout 'Sign of the Times'

Walter Trout is on a hot-streak and he is channeling dissonance on his latest single, Sign Of The Times. This is the second single to be released from the album of the same name - out 5 September via Provogue.

One of the most experimental cuts in Trout’s half-century studio output, it finds a monstrous guitar tone paired with massed chants and an out- there solo that few blues gods would dare put down on tape. “I’ve played it for blues fans who were outraged,” he admits. “But I wanted to outrage people. I wanted it to be dissonant. Dissonance is a sign of the times. The chant is supposed to be the repressed people of the world crying. I actually wrote it on an acoustic, but the final track is massive and John Avila had this nasty, growling bass sound. Marie had been inspired by watching Bob Dylan documentaries with me and every line of that is hers.”

"I had this song idea for a while. A part of it was a repeating melodic chant or moaning of people who are suffering. Almost like the crying of many people all at once. But even though I really wanted to do the song, I couldn't quite get the words for it. One night Marie handed me a sheet of paper with lyrics that just fit the song perfectly. She didn't even know about my song idea, but for some reason our minds collaborated on the song subconsciously. I put her lyrics to music, and 'Sign of the Times' was born. I feel that music and words make quite a statement about the world we live in, and therefore chose it as the title track."

The new single follows Artificial, which dropped on the day he announced the new album. A scornful, satirical, harmonica-spiced rebuke of the fake world we risk creating. “We got artificial photos, artificial music, you could go on and on,” considers the bluesman. “I’m freaked out by AI. 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 percent of jobs are gonna disappear. What happens then?”

In his half-century as a street-level social observer and scaldingly honest songwriter, blues-rock’s resilient icon Walter Trout has never told his fans what to think, how to feel, or where to stand politically. But in an era when his home nation – and the wider world – is ripping at the seams over the battlelines of modern life, the iconic US bluesman’s hard-rocking new album, Sign Of The Times, is a primal scream and pressure valve for all of us. “I wanted to reflect upon what’s going on in the world,” explains the 74-year-old. “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…”

It feels like the amps have barely cooled from 2024’s Broken, which debuted on Billboard at #1. But the era-chronicling songs from Sign Of The Times wouldn’t wait, these urgent riffs flying off the guitarist’s fingers, assisted once again by Marie, Walter’s wife, manager and co-writer, who penned the lyrics for some of the tracks. “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.”

With ten new songs written and arranged, Trout was ready to call up his studio band – longtime drummer Michael Leasure, bassist John Avila and keys man Teddy ‘Zig Zag’ Andreadis – for the recording sessions at Strawhorse Studios in Los Angeles

Even by Trout’s standards, Sign Of The Times is a record that puts you through the emotional wringer. But as long as there’s poignant and relevant music, we have a fighting chance.

As a lifelong road warrior, Trout will be taking the Sign Of The Times material to global audiences throughout 2025. And for those glorious two hours of playing to audiences, political divides and culture wars will crumble as a crowd with little else common melts into a communion of souls

Tour Dates

Thu, July 17, 2025 - Honberg Sommer, Tuttlingen, Germany

Fri, July 18, 2025 - München, Backstage, Germany

Sat, July 19, 2025 - Hannover Bluesgarage, Germany

Sun, July 20, 2025 - Leer, Zollhaus, Germany

Tue, July 22, 2025 - Ekkodalshuset & Cafe Genlyd, Aakirkeby, Denmark

Thu, July 25, 2025 - Narcao Blues Festival, Italy

Sat, July 27, 2025 - Dal Misssisipi al Po Festival 2025, Italy

Fri, August 1, 2025, Notodden Bluesfestival, Norway

Fri, August 15, 2025 - Leipzig, Parkbühne, Germany

Sun, August 17, Gimsinghoved Festival 2025, Denmark

Wed, September 3, MIM Music Theater, Phoenix, AZ, United States

Fri, September 5, Big Blues Bender, Las Vegas, NV, United States

Sat, September 6, The State Room, Salt Lake City, United States

Sun, September 7, 2025 - Treefort Music Hall, Boise, Idaho, United States

Tue, September 9, 2025 - Jazz Alley, Seattle, Washington, United States

Wed, September 10, 2025 - Jazz Alley, Seattle, Washington, United States

Thu, September 11, 2025 - Aladdin Theater, Portland, Oregon, United States

Fri, September 12, 2025 - Wicket Hall, Victoria, Canada,

Thu, September 18, 2025 – SPACE, Evanston, Chicago, United States

Sat, September 20, 2025 - Beachland Ballroom & Tavern, Cleveland, Ohio, United States

Sun, September 21, 2025 - The Ludlow Garage, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States

Wed, September 24, 2025 - The Jazz Market, New Orleans, United States

Thu, September 25, 2025 - The Jazz Market, New Orleans, United States

Sat, October 25, 2025 - Dark Season Blues Festival, Svalbard, Norway

Tue, October 28, 2025 – Musikhuset, Posten, Odense, Denmark

Wed, October 29, 2025 – Train, Aarhus, Denmark

Thu, October 30, 2025 – Eksercerhuset, Fredericia, Denmark

Fri, October 31, 2025 - Vesterbrogade 10, Viborg, Denmark

Sat, November 1, 2025 - Amager Bio, Copenhagen, Denmark

Tue, November 4, 2025 – Pustervik, Gothenburg, Sweden

Thu, November 6, 2025 - Katalin And All That Jazz, Uppsala, Sweden

Sun, November 9, 2025 - House of Culture, Helsinki, Finland

Wed, November 12, 2025 – Markthalle, Hamburg, Germany

Thu, November 13, 2025 – Tante Ju, Dresden, Germany

Fri, November 14, 2025 – Kesselhaus, Berlin, Germany

Tue, November 18, 2025 – Kaufleuten, Zurich, Switzerland

Wed, November 19, 2025 - Im Wizemann (Halle), Stuttgart, Germany

Thu, November 20, 2025 - Halle02 - Heidelberg, Germany

Sat, November 22, 2025 - Lux, Herenthout, Belgium

Tue, November 25, 2025 – TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht, Netherlands

Wed, November 26, 2025 - Die Kantine, Köln, Germany

Thu, November 27, 2025 – Podium Victorie, Alkmaar, Netherlands

Fri, November 28, 2025 – Poppodium De Boerderij, Zoetermeer, Netherlands

Sat, November 29, 2025 – Metropool, Hengelo, Netherlands

Sun, November 30, 2025 - Zeche Bochum, Bochum, Germany