Greg Walker

GREG WALKER – VERSATILITY DEFINED

Greg Walker’s thirty-year music career has encompassed a large variety of styles and roles as a multi- instrumentalist performer, producer, promoter and record label A & R representative while working on a diverse array of projects in Nashville, New York and Los Angeles. He has worked in virtually every genre of popular music including rock, blues, country, jazz, contemporary pop and more.

Born in Nashville, Walker was surrounded by music from the beginning. His genetic pool and early environmental influences may have predestined him for a lifetime in music. His mother Peggy was an accomplished classical music pianist, but also loved to sing and play popular music of the day. His father, Gary Walker, was a key player in the music industry from the 1950s – 1970s, starting out as an artist and songwriter, then later continuing his career by being involved in virtually every phase of the business at one point or another (as a song plugger, producer, studio manager, record company owner and personal manager).

Greg became interested in music as a small child, and proceeded to learn to play piano, then drums, guitar, bass and electronic keyboards as he grew. By the time he graduated from middle school, he was making home recordings that featured him performing all the instruments. While attending high school and college he developed several music business contacts that included his first guitar instructor Paul Worley, noted record producer and label executive in  Music City. He was a mentor for Indigo Girls Amy Ray early in her professional career, and produced the first demonstration recordings that she made. As a sideline, he also wrote columns and features as a music journalist for a number of locally published magazines.

Walker performed on guitar and/or bass with a number of rock bands in Nashville and in Bowling Green Kentucky, playing bass and singing harmony with punk rock legend Cheetah Chrome, prior to his relocation to L. A. in 2001. His roommate Lance Palmer formed a southern rock band that he named The Dead Rebels, and the group (with Greg playing bass) became a fixture at Hollywood clubs such as The House Of The Blues, The Whiskey A Go Go and The Roxy during the next few years.

It was also during this period that Great Escape Records was formed and Greg was recruited as its West Coast talent scout; soon afterwards he became involved in virtually every respect of running the label, including record production (he coproduced Crystal Armentrout’s critically acclaimed CD, “As It Should Be,” which was released in 2004), promotion and artist management, among others. Following a couple of years of double duty as a performer with The Dead Rebels and running the label, Walker decided to retire from the music business to help the family Great Escape retail operation, which Included stores in Nashville and Madison, Tennessee, as well as Bowling Green and Louisville Kentucky.

After the family sold The Great Escape retail operation in November 2017, Greg decided to return to his first love, by reentering the music business as a songwriter and publisher with The Great Escape Music Group.