Asheville-Hendersonville Daily

Sunday April 21, 2024

Not that they were brought up poor, young blues musicians, but Toby Walker is proof that you can live and learn the music, even if you were not born into it, having carved out a piece of his own Blues history.

The beginning of the story takes place in Brentwood and Bay Shore LI NY in the early 1970s. Todd was managing two music stores for Bjurmark Music in both the South Shore Mall and the Sunvet Mall around that time. A teenaged Toby walked into that music store and found a 2nd home. In 1977 Todd McCagg created a new home away from home for LI musicians, That Music Store in Central Islip NY. Realizing that Toby had the makings of an amazing teacher (Todd seemed to have a knack for selecting great teachers and staff, some of the finest folks music instruction and retail personnel anyone ever met) and he slyly Shanghai’d Toby into a “light schedule of guitar students” in the music studio. The “light schedule” very quickly, in a couple of weeks really, turned into 40 students a week, every week, for 5 years! I say “every week” but NOT those weeks in summer that Toby split for a few weeks “to ride the rails”. “WHAT?” Well, yes, literally ride the rails, hopping trains in search of the true Crossroads, which had little to do with The Devil but more to do with the jumping off spots along the freight lines to meet the REAL deal.

The House Concert of April 21, 2024 will go down in history for many reasons, but briefly, this is the first time that Toby and Todd had played music together in FIFTY (50) YEARS! With Todd running a music store and pursuing his own musical interests and Toby with his guitar virtually glued to his hands, was all over the country honing his craft and taking in anything having to do with guitar.

The show opens with a selection of Toby’s showstoppers, each one with so much to take in, so much that there’s an ethereal quality to the pulsing rhythm, his Right hand picking prowess only outdone by his Left hand’s technical triumphs, and his engaging stories to give your mind even more places to wander.

Where Toby raised himself on blues, Todd’s background ranges from orchestral (think Baltimore Symphony Orchestra) to funky “horn bands” and everything in between. Ever since hearing Hot Tuna (Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady) 5 decades ago, he always felt that if he could find someone who grokked the part of Jorma, he could definitely play the part of Jack. THIS is the first time that it actually came together, based on some geographical convergences. Seems that Todd’s brother and sister in law (Todd’s wife Louise’s brother and his wife) have been living in Hendersonville (Asheville proximate) and Toby had just moved to Asheville. ROAD TRIP! Possibly and firm weld/meld to the meeting of the musical minds?

The rest, as it has been said, is history. One can only hope that it does indeed repeat itself at sometime, but for now we offer these recordings of the event at John and Tracey’s Ratskeller in Hendersonville.

Toby continues to gig all over the world, touring every year to parts unknown and known. You can visit Toby at https://www.littletobywalker.com. Todd has been retired from the musical instrument business, on and off, since 2008 but continues to build guitars and tinker with guitar “pedals” in addition to answering the call of fly fishing emergencies.

Toby Walker (with Todd McCagg) TnT Tour