"Nobody wants to take an actor seriously as a musician. I'm totally expecting to get shit," Walters chuckles. "But if people listen to the album, they'll know that I'm not just some actor with a hobby. The songs stand up by themselves." And, as Jamie notes, the supporting cast on his self-titled Atlantic debut is also impressive, including such ace players as drummer Russ Kunkel, bassist Leland Sklar, guitarists Dean Parks and Michael Landau, percussionist Gary Mallaber, organ-master Mike Finnegan, and others; not to mention very special guest vocal appearances by Dr. John, Merry Clayton and Vonda Shepard.

"I see it as an arc," says Walters, "because the first three songs on the album are similar in feel to 'Talk To An Angel'. I co-wrote the opening track, 'Hold On' (the first single) with my producer, Steve Tyrell, his partner Stephanie, and Kevin Savigar, who also played keyboards on the album. The three of them wrote some other things together, and I wrote a song with a friend of mine, Zachary Throne. We also did a Graham Parker song, 'Release Me,' which Dr. John sang background vocals on." The entire set was produced in L.A. by Steve Tyrell, with mixing by Chris Lord-Alge.

Jamie describes his music as "straight-forward rock & roll," but his songs are also emotional and diverse. He's just as at home crooning a melancholy ballad like "The Distance" or the soulful "Hold On" as he is cutting loose on tunes like the uptempo "Why" or the rocking "I Know the Game." "We started out more toward that 'Angel' vibe," he comments, "and then slowly but surely drifted away from that and more into rock & roll. So the album really feels like a bridge."

Jamie Walters grew up in Boston, where he was a regular at All Ages shows. "I used to have this fantasy that I was Jimi Hendrix. When I was 11, 12 years old, I had this guitar, a copy of the natural body Strat he always played. And I'd steal my mother's big silk scarves and tie them around my head, and I had my cut-off army shirt and I thought I was just the baddest!" laughs Walters. "The only songs I knew were 'Hey Joe' and a couple of riffs from 'Purple Haze.' I had a wah-wah peddle, and I'd stick my little piece of shit amp out of my window facing the street and just make noise forever. The neighbors went crazy!"

By the time he was 13, Jamie was jamming around the Boston scene in various garage bands. Later, at high school, he was introduced to the virtues of Neil Young, Van Morrison, and "more rock & roll stuff." He continued to play music, but this time in a more alternative rock vein. He eventually went to New York University's film school, but dropped out after two years and ended up back in the local music scene playing in bands with some of the people he grew up watching.

It was around this time that an agent "discovered" Walters while he was working as a waiter, and cast him in a Levis 501 Blues TV ad. Next he landed the lead as a '50s rock & roller in Shout, opposite John Travolta, and then came his role in The Heights, which he got by going in and auditioning with his guitar.

"JAMIE WALTERS" is a collection of songs which incorporates the mood of "How Do You Talk To An Angel," while also revealing more sides of Jamie's musical personality. "My tastes have changed so much as I've grown up," he explains. "But at this point, this album is where I am at right now."

Though acting is still very much a part of Walters' life - in fact, he's just joined the cast of Beverly Hills 90210, on which he plays a "musically inclined" character - if it came down to choosing one career or the other, music would definitely triumph.

"Music has been my love forever," says Jamie. "Playing the guitar to me is like therapy. And that's how I write most of my songs, too; it's my way of working through experiences I've had, working them out. Acting is cool and I love to do it, but you don't get the same back from it that you do from playing music."