The origin of Brian Walton’s “What the Hell!” traces back to 2009, when composer Adam Berry—who had previously collaborated with Brian on several independent films—reached out unexpectedly. Berry was struggling with a segment for the soundtrack of the documentary “Boobs: An American Obsession” and asked Brian to create an upbeat, blues-infused chorus. Brian readily agreed, went straight into his studio, and recorded the snippet for “What the Hell” in under an hour, delivering it to Berry that day.

At the time, Brian was also taking on more work in Hollywood while reinventing himself as a blues-rock artist. Part of that transition included hiring a new A&R agency, and the ink hadn’t even dried on the contract when K&P Enterprises insisted Brian write an original blues song for the upcoming tour they had planned for him. Stunned, Brian had never written in the blues-rock genre before, and all he had remotely similar was the little ditty he wrote for the “Boobs: An American Obsession” soundtrack. In desperation, Brian took the 60-second segment, locked himself in his studio, and roughly 8 hours later emerged with “What the Hell!”

The song’s storyline stems from a real-life situation involving a bass player friend of Brian’s who was struggling with his very rigid girlfriend. She disapproved of his friend’s lifestyle, so whenever they played together, Brian would ask how he was doing, and the bassist would reply, “In the doghouse again,” which became the song’s underlying theme.

What nobody expected, least of all Brian, was that his first foray into the genre would tear up the charts, debuting at No. 438 on the blues charts and reaching the top 20 in just a week. Simultaneously, the Society of Composers and Lyricists (SCL) and the Songwriters Guild of America (SGA) added the song to their nomination boards, and the Blues Foundation took notice as well. Today, “What the Hell!” is Brian’s third gold-selling single and has been featured in hundreds of television shows and motion pictures worldwide, including Disney’s “The Mandalorian,” “Andor,” and “The Hangover Part 2 and 3″.