Better Call Walls

With old-school gospel roots and new-school guitar chops, Erick Walls has emerged as one of today’s most in-demand guitarists.

- By Jude Gold

WATCHING SUPERSTAR RAPPER Nas perform a medley of his biggest songs on this year’s Grammy Awards telecast, it was all but impossible not to notice his badass backing band. Dressed head to toe in white and led by renowned musical director and bassist Adam Blackstone, the 12-piece group — replete with a full horn section and a grand piano — was more hip-hop orchestra than band. And if you were a keen-eyed guitar aficionado watching, your eyes surely gravitated toward the cool guitarist stage right, wearing shades and rocking a Paul Reed Smith Silver Sky through two Fender amps.

Ironically, of the 10 million or so viewers watching the live broadcast that night, probably only a few had any idea that the guitarist behind Nas had twice as many Grammy wins — two — as the artist he was backing.

That guitarist is Erick Walls, and this was just another night in his busy life working alongside the world’s top pop, R&B and gospel stars. The roster of artists who have hired Walls over the past two decades spans from Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Toni Braxton, Dave Matthews, the Isley Brothers, Kanye West, Mariah Carey, Beck, Rihanna and Jay-Z to Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Michael McDonald, George Duke, the Chicks and gospel greats Kirk Franklin, Beverly Crawford and Shirley Caesar. And those Grammy wins? Walls got them for his session work on huge albums by Beyoncé (Lemonade) and John Legend (Bigger Love).