Blues Matters - U.K.
"...the listener could be forgiven for thinking they were listening to an early Blues singer, stomping heels, strong vocals and acoustic guitar."
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St. Mary's College of Maryland  "He made me feel like I was sitting on my front porch in New Orleans eating alligator."
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Blues Revue - "Murder of a Blues Singer opens with Austin "Walkin' Cane's unaccompanied voice booming like Son House's. The acoustic slide comes in after a few bars, turning "High Rent Lemon Girl, Aren't Ya?" into a deeply felt evocation of a blues master."
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BluesWax - "A really great album is more than a collection of songs and Murder of a Blues Singer ends up being greater than the sum of its parts. When it's over, you feel like you've been somewhere."
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West Virginia University Chronicle - “ an old time bluesman with a mastery of acoustic slide guitar”
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Living Blues

"...gravelly moan & keening slide guitar".
"Austin "Walkin' Cane's" music should find favor with fans of other deep rooted modernists like Otis Taylor & Alvin Youngblood Hart".
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Jazz & Blues Report - “Hold On The Night” is an all-out dance floor
assault."
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UltimateGuitar.com - “sings in a way that would leave Joe Cocker jealous.
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Cleveland Magazine -  Austin "Walkin' Cane" proves the blues isn't so much about dealin' with the devil as it is working like hell to stay a few steps ahead of him."
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North Dakota State University

"If the people at the Union would book acts like you to play on our campus more often, I would get alot more involved with my university!"
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"Damn Fine Blues!" Original & classic delta blues featuring slide guitar and soulful vocals.  A blues gumbo repertoire that can conjure up the ghosts of highway 61 & the delta blues experience.  Austin "Walkin' Cane" is a blues singer, songwriter and slide guitarist that performs acoustic solo, duo & electric band sets. Walkin' Cane has traveled all over the world from New Orleans, Louisiana to the Gold Coast of Australia and has acquired various blues/instrumentalist awards over the years. Austin walked for ten years with a cane due to an arterial venous malformation at birth. While performing on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, a homeless man called out "Hey Walkin' Cane got some spare change for a brother?!" Austin took the jibe as his nickname. In 1996, after years of battling the inevitable, his left leg was amputated below the knee. A year after the surgery, he returned to the music scene stronger & without need of a cane. In 2002, Austin & Karen Starks were married at Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee and began recording his 706 Union Ave. cd at the legendary studio immediately after the ceremony. "The thought of getting married & recording in the same room where many of my heroes took their first steps was incredible." Austin "Walkin' Cane" is proud to be sponsored by National Reso-Phonic Guitars, Dr. Z Amplifiers & Ernie Ball Strings.

2010 Blues Festivals

Dayton Winter Folk Festival - Dayton, OH - January 16, 2010

International Blues Challenge Festival - Memphis, TN - January 21-23, 2010

Blues On Broadbeach Festival - Gold Coast, Australia  - May 27 - May 30, 2010

The Harp Folk Fest - Cleveland, OH - July 16, 2010

Scioto Garden & Arts Festival - Delaware, OH - July 17, 2010 - Noon - 3:00p.m.

Springfield Jazz & Blues Fest - Springfield, OH - July 17, 2010 - 5:00-8:00p.m.

Michelob Dayton Blues Festival - Dayton, OH - July 18, 2010 - 1:00-2:00p.m.

Kent State Blues Festival - Kent, OH - July 23, 2010 - 11:00-1:30a.m.

Lancaster Blues Festival - Lancaster, OH - July 30, 2010 - 12:15-1:15p.m. (electric band show)

Canal Winchester Blues & Ribs Fest - Canal Winchester, OH - August 6 2010 - 8:45-10:15pm

Wheeling Blues & Heritage Festival - Wheeling, WV - August 13 - 14, 2010

Ohio City Blues & Brews Fest - Whiskey Island, OH - August 21, 2010 - 9:00-10:30p.m. (electric band show)

Arkansas Blues & Heritage Festival - Helena, AR - Oct. 9, 2010 - 2:40-3:40p.m. - Lockwood Stackhouse Stage (Formerly The King Biscuit Blues Festival)

 

2009 Festivals

FIMU Music Festival - Belfort, France - May 28-June 1, 2009

Ohio City Blues & Brews Fest - Whiskey Island, OH - August 21, 2010 - 9:00-10:30p.m. (electric band show)

Himalayan Blues Festival - Kathmandu, Nepal - October 8-11, 2009

Opened for or performed with:
Bobby "Blue" Bland, Buddy Guy, Gregg Allman, Johnny Winter, Hubert Sumlin, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, John Mooney, Robert Jr. Lockwood, John Hammond Jr., Robert Randolph & The Family Band, Billy Branch, Jaimoe (Allman Bros.), Watermelon Slim, Henry Gray, John Primer, Rare Earth, Deep Purple, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ted Nugent, BR549, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Arc Angels, Fruteland Jackson, Blind Mississippi Morris, Eric Sardinas, South Memphis String Band, Nappy Brown...