It’s hard to overestimate the importance of singer-guitarist T-Bone Walker (1910-1975). “Oak Cliff T-Bone” — as he was billed in his teens — was one of the first electric guitar heroes, modernizing the blues and paving the way for rock ‘n’ roll.
Without Walker’s bare-knuckle guitar style and theatrics, we might never have heard of Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton or Oak Cliff’s Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Local and national musicians will pay tribute to the Dallas legend with a free afternoon concert May 23 at Oak Cliff’s Eloise Lundy Park. Titled “Blues in the Bottom: A 10th Street Homage to T-Bone Walker,” the show features Dallas singer and KNON DJ Gregg A. Smith and his Blues Revue Band, the Wisconsin-based Stephen Hull Experience and singer Tamara Tramell, widow of the Big D bluesman Lucky Peterson. Expect to hear Walker’s slow-groove classics like “Stormy Monday” and “Mean Old World” and some raucous jump blues tunes like “T-Bone Shuffle” and “Long Skirt Baby Blues.”
1-6 p.m. May 23 at Eloise Lundy Park, 1200 Sabine St., Dallas. Free. Attpac.org