(see also german press)


Wale interviewed by Michalis Limnios from blues.gr
(Backup-Link)
(Monday, November 16, 2015)

USC's Walter Liniger featured at opening of Swiss exhibition
www.sc.edu - USC-Times
(August, 2006)

e-card from LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation)
(Monday, November 1, 2004)

cnn.com - World
(Saturday, October 25, 2003)

Walter Liniger is one of  few outstanding acoustic harmonica players in the US.
(Steve Baker, Harp Handbook, second edition)

The Swiss musician and scholar better known to most of us a s Walter Liniger moved to the States to get closer to the real nature of the blues. He found two musical and sociological mentors in James "Son" Thomas and Etta Baker (she appears on two of these tracks). They proceeded to teach him the blues tradition and how it intertwines with and defines the spirit of the participants. In struggling with the contradiction of being a European on the outside looking in, for whom the blues was not his first language, he manages to create a stark and moving program of mostly originals steeped in the solo acoustic folk-blues idiom. Liniger is accomplished on both guitar and harmonica, and while a slight accent is evident, he definitely succeeds in claiming the blues as his own.
(Jon Martinez, Blues Access, #46 - Summer 2001)

On a recent visit to five [South Carolina] Honors College classes, we found bright, inquisitive students and energetic professors. In a course on Southern blues culture, instructor Walter Liniger, a man with super musical and vocal gifts, played the harmonica and guitar (his students played along on their own harmonicas) as a way of opening a window into a vital part of the South.
(Editorial in THE STATE, February 13, 1999; Columbia, South Carolina)

Now don't get the wrong idea, he [Liniger] can't walk on water. But this is really good harp playing, and all the way through the songs.
(Phil Lloyd, American Harmonica Newsletter, 1993)

Liniger, born in Switzerland and a resident of this country for only eight years, was an unlikely candidate for the night's first encore. His wailing, Southern blues style on harmonica drove the crowd nuts. His salute to the late Johnny Woods provided one of the night's most moving musical moments.
(John Rice, Arkansas Democrat, 1990)

Walter Liniger has made the traditional blues idiom his own. He has the right sound, the right feel and he is accepted in the juke joints, where habitues are often outspoken about Southern racism when they talk with white visitors but seem to disregard racial identity when evaluating the worth of a musical performance.
(Robert Palmer, New York Times, May 7, 1989)

Walter Liniger makes every show both an enjoyable musical trip through the past and a truly enlightening exprience. His guitar playing is fluid, his singing molded to the song, and his harp playing is riveting.
(Karen Canine, Blues News, 1988 "Handy" Award Winner)

The highlights of the evening, however, were the sets of [John] Campell and [Walter] Liniger.
(Terry Perkins, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1988)

Liniger's playing was fluid, excellent, and creative. This was easily the most haunting music at the festival [Arkansas River Blues Festival].
(Kerry Kudlacek, Tulsa Blues Club, 1988)