| Preacher and the President | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Joe Louis Walker |
| Border: | yes |
| Released: | 1998 |
| Studio: | Muscle Shoals Sound |
| Genre: | Blues |
| Label: | Verve |
| Producer: | Steve Cropper, Joe Louis Walker |
| Prev Title: | Great Guitars |
| Prev Year: | 1997 |
| Next Title: | Silvertone Blues |
| Next Year: | 1999 |
Preacher and the President is an album by the American musician Joe Louis Walker, released in 1998 through Verve Records.[1] [2] Walker supported the album with a North American tour, backed by the Bosstalkers.[3] [4] The album was nominated for a W. C. Handy Award.[5]
Recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, the album was produced by Steve Cropper.[6] [7] Walker wrote nine of the album's 10 songs.[8] He was backed by the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.[9] The title track references Jimmy Swaggart and Bill Clinton.[10] "Uhh!" is a cover of the Dyke and the Blazers song.[11]
The Age opined that "Joe Louis demonstrates on the pleading 'Tell the Truth' and the profoundly emotional 'Yveline' why he is one of the few major blues finds of the past decade." The Chicago Tribune wrote that, "if the vocals and fretwork on the LP smolder rather than sear, the soulful songcraft is still first-rate."[12] The Washington Post noted that the album "offers an appealing view of his extroverted showmanship and his considerable growth as a songwriter who knows how to provoke an audience's laughter and sympathy."[13]
The Toronto Star stated that "Walker's songwriting is fine, his fancy backup sophisticated."[14] The Chicago Reader concluded that Walker "approaches the suave urbanity of Al Green or Lionel Richie."[15] The Advocate deemed Walker "an American roots music master."[16] The Chicago Sun-Times listed Preacher and the President among the 10 best blues albums of 1998.[17]