A Whole Lotta Lovin' Butch Walker

My name is Joelle and I'm a Butch Walker-aholic. When Butch binges occur, I can often be found making my own version of his greatest hits and stuffing them into Christmas/birthday/you name it gifts for my friends. I've even sunken to making my mother watch clips of his DVD and my co-workers go visit his MySpace page. Luckily, my boyfriend accepts this and it doesn't cause any turmoil in our relationship. Actually, he's probably even got a manly crush on Butch. He is quite the enviable one, one after all.

No one else can control a crowd like Butch Walker. Hell, he should be called in as an emergency rescue worker next time a riot breaks out, they way people worship his every word. This week, he had the entire pretty much sold-out crowd at Irving Plaza under his command. When he told the audience to sing, they belted out notes. When he said sit, boy did their buttocks hit the floor. The same thing occurred at The Stone Pony the previous evening.

Maybe it’s magic. Or it’s just that current musicians lack personal connections with their fans, whereas Walker thrives. It could be his devastatingly sexy allure and the way he catches that guitar pick after spitting it out his mouth. Or his gift for witty lyricism to which no one can compare and eye locking live performances that make you sweat just watching him work that stage.

Whatever it is, it’s something that middle America needs right now. Not just the indie rockers and hipsters who secretly like those Avril Lavigne songs he worked on. Butch Walker restores faith in modern music. There is life outside emo, guys! There’s a musician who’s schooled in the classics, can cover songs better than their originators and is constantly evolving. And he’s on a stage somewhere in the world right now, holding his microphone out to the crowd and smiling as they sing “Best Thing You Never Had” for him. Each Butch Walker album might as well be a testament in the Rock ‘N Roll Bible.

During my worship this week, I suffered a bit of a straight-edge hangover, going to shows multiple days in a row and not being able to function at work because I can’t miss a moment of Butch Walker in the area. This tour in particular was one of my favorites because he dusted off some Marvelous 3 classics. The only downside was that there were more people in my way and sometimes it was hard to see. But the noticeably larger crowds are a sign that Butch Fever is spreading and that’s a reason to rejoice!

*By Joelle, who has written about Butch Walker more than any other artist and probably won’t be writing about anyone else until next time he’s around. Haha






STAY TUNED FOR MORE BUTCH WALKER AS CAIT REVEALS WHAT IT WAS LIKE FOLLOWING THE TOUR FOR A WEEK AND EVEN LETTING HER VOCAL CHORDS LOOSE DURING A SHOW!