"What part of the South are you from?" B.B. King

"Man, that kid can really play!" Jimi Hendrix

"Just keep on playin' the way you do." Buddy Guy

"Thanks for keepin them blues alive!" Big Jack Johnson

John Earl Walker, the founder, lead guitarist and lead vocalist of the band, took up the guitar at age thirteen. Shortly thereafter, John began forming his own bands to play at local gigs. He also started writing his own music and lyrics, a practice he continues to this day, writing the majority of the material performed by the current band. By age sixteen, John was playing professional gigs in clubs with older bandmates.

John cites Freddie and Albert King, T-Bone Walker and Magic Sam as his main influences as he developed his own unique style. A special event for The Earl, was in December of 1975, when he was asked to film a pilot playing guitar with B.B. King for channel 9 KHJ in Los Angeles called "Backstage Pass.

"The John Earl Walker Band are veteran performers whose electric blues are very well received. Over the years, its members have made appearances on the same bill or played with Jimi Hendrix, BB King, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Bo Diddley, John Mayall and many more. The band has been together for many years; two of the members date back to their time as Capitol recording artists "Plum Nelly".

Peter Harris played bass guitar with Walker in an early band  Plastic People,  then in "Plum Nelly" and in many of the Walker band lineups. The "Whale" uses a Fender Precision bass to "whale out" on. 

Joey Tremelo first played with Walker as part of the original seven piece guitar band called "Plastic People" in 1967, then again in 1978 through the present John Earl Walker Band.

Gene Cordew pumps up the rhythm on keyboards. He has recorded onThe John Earl Walker Band's last four CDs. Gene's played with a host of artists, including Little Buster and The Soulbrothers and most recently, Ashanti.

Johnny Byrne, may he rest in peace, played harp since his teens. He first met John Earl in 1984 when one of Walker's earlier bands The Safecrackers shared a recording studio with Byrne and Infante's The Housepainters. For the next two years the two bands were booked at numerous gigs together in the NY TRi state area. They also performed two live radio broadcasts at WMFU.