A soulful singer, a skilled songwriter, and a guitarist with a sharp, clear tone, Seth Walker is a blues artist who isn't afraid to stretch the boundaries of the genre. Walker's music is informed by jazz, soul, gospel, R&B, and country as well as purist's blues, and he's clearly learned a great deal from acts like T-Bone Walker, Percy Mayfield, and Snooks Eaglin rather than the more rock-based artist who've dominated American blues from the 1970s onward. The influence of the giants of Texas blues was strong on his 2005 debut On the Outside, while relocating to New Orleans added a strong Crescent City vibe to 2014's Sky's Still Blue, and 2022's I Hope I Know blended rootsy sounds with lyrics that looked inside an artist living through tough times.

Born in 1972, Seth Walker grew up in a two-family commune in rural Altamahaw, North Carolina, and he began his musical path at three years old as a cellist. Both his father and mother were classically trained musicians, and Walker's childhood was full of classical music, but there was also plenty of country, rock, and pop thrown in there, too. He discovered the guitar when he was in his late teens and, thanks to a savvy uncle, he was introduced to the blues and fell under the spell of blues artists like T-Bone Walker, Snooks Eaglin, and B.B. King.

Walker moved to Austin, Texas when he was in his early twenties and began to hone his craft, developing a clean, classic electric guitar tone and an impressively soulful vocal style, part Ray Charles, part Delbert McClinton. He also learned to write songs, and released his first album in 1997. By the time he released the self-titled Seth Walker in 2008 he had rounded his sound and style into something pretty special. Walker began writing songs with Gary Nicholson, a Nashville-based songwriter and producer, which led to the smooth, polished, assured, and critically acclaimed Leap of Faith (with Nicholson producing) in 2009. After some ten years in Austin, Walker relocated to Nashville, and released the self-produced Time Can Change in 2012, an album that was much sparser and less deliberately polished than Leap of Faith.

After extensive touring, he relocated to New Orleans. Though he recorded his next album in Nashville and Austin, it was the Crescent City's musical melting pot that most influenced his direction on Sky Still Blue. Produced by Oliver Wood (Wood Brothers), the set boasted a fine array of singers and players including Chris Wood (Wood Brothers; Medeski, Martin Wood), the McCrary Sisters, Ephraim Owens, Jano Rix, and Steve Mackey. Walker's album was issued in early June of 2014 by Royal Potato Family.

Also issued by Royal Potato Family, 2016's eclectic Gotta Get Back was dedicated to roots in more ways than one. Among its contributors were Walker's father on string arrangements, his mother and sister on violin, and familiar collaborators such as Rix, who produced. Walker released the concert set Live at Mauch Chunk Opera House in 2018, and promptly returned to the studio to cut the album, Are You Open? in February 2019, another set of songs steeped in blues, jazz, and Southern influences. Like many musicians who spent much of their time on the road, Walker was unexpectedly sidelined when the COVID-19 pandemic put touring on hold in 2020. Adding to his anxieties, Walker was soon dealing with a difficult romantic breakup. He channeled his emotions into songwriting, and his personal crises informed his 2022 studio effort I Hope I Know. ~ Steve Leggett & Mark Deming, Rovi