Walter Trout announces new album, Ride, shares haunting lead single, Ghosts

Blues guitar veteran Walter Trout has announced a new full-length studio album, Ride.

Set for an August 19 release via Provogue/Mascot Label Group, Ride is Trout's 30th solo effort, and was written and recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Eric Corne.

In tandem with the announcement of the album, Trout premiered the LP's stinging opener and lead single, Ghosts. Fittingly named, the high-gain rocker shows the guitarist wrestling with his troubled past, and is highlighted by a pair of piercing, top-tier solos, packed with some big-time bends and awe-inspiring displays of vibrato. You can hear it below.

As Trout explained in a statement, Ghosts originally began as a poem. “It starts off with the lyric, ‘Sometimes I hear a familiar song and it brings back memories’ – that’s the truth," Trout said. "I’ll be riding in my car, a song comes on the radio and I have to pull over and sob for a while. Ghosts sums this album up, y’know?”

The album as a whole is shaped by Trout's memories, particularly his rough childhood. “This album is obviously what I was going through mentally and emotionally,” Trout says of how he dug into his past during Ride's creation. “All I did was express it.

"I spent a lot of time crying, because I would dig down into my emotional core. I want my songs to have some sort of truth to them.”

The record's title, he added, could be interpreted in a number of different ways.

“This album is definitely a musical ride and I certainly tried to cover a lot of ground," he said in a press release. "But, really, life is kind of a ride too, isn’t it? And I want to live mine to the fullest.”                                    

To preorder Ride, visit Trout's website.

Walter Trout – Ride:

1. Ghosts
2. Ride
3. Follow You Back Home
4. So Many Sad Goodbyes
5. High Is Low
6. Waiting For The Dawn
7. Better Days Ahead
8. Fertile Soil
9. I Worry Too Much
10. Leave It All Behind
11. Hey Mama
12. Destiny