He has since continued to record and tour, both solo, initially under the name Catfish and as Tex, Don and Charlie, and worked as a songwriter for others.

"[10][11] He owned a cane farm on Rita Island on the Burdekin River, where Walker lived until the age of 4.

[12] His family later moved to Grafton, where a local piano teacher, Dot Morris, taught him, "a little bit of Chopin.....a lot of Fats Waller repertoire, and also Winifred Atwell.

His songwriting credits include the hit singles "Flame Trees," "Saturday Night," "Choirgirl,""Goodbye (Astrid Goodbye)", "Cheap Wine," and the Australian Vietnam war song "Khe Sanh" (voted the 8th greatest Australian song of all time by the Australasian Performing Right Association in 2001).

[16] During his time with Cold Chisel, Walker produced his first work outside the band, the soundtrack of the Australian movie Freedom, directed by Scott Hicks.

Catfish featured various backing musicians, such as Charlie Owen, Ian Moss, Ricky Fataar and harmonica player David Blight.

The first album, Unlimited Address, released in 1989, showed a jazzier, Eastern European side to Walker's songwriting, reflecting his travels during the previous years.

In early 1992, Walker featured in an acoustic live performance for alternative radio station JJJ with Charlie Owen, James Cruickshank and Tex Perkins.

The record, an acoustic country-tinged affair, returned Walker to some level of popular awareness and received rave reviews in magazines like Australian Rolling Stone.

[23] The trio continue to release music, including their 2017 album, You Don't Know Lonely, which peaked at number 14 on the ARIA Charts.

"[24] Rehearsal sessions were held over four afternoons in Walker's lounge room, and all songs were recorded in 3 takes or less.

Commencing in 2005, Walker toured Australia occasionally with his backing band, The Suave Fucks (named after a line from Blue Velvet).

[28] Shots received a number of positive reviews:[1][29] The Age described the memoir as "a whip crack across a landscape of rural Australia, lonely highways and endless gigs;"[30] in the Australian Book Review it was called "a quite wonderful book [that] blasts away every last vestige of the crude, boozy, foot-stomping, flag-waving Australiana that has until now enveloped the Cold Chisel story like a filthy smog, leaving behind only the simmering highways, the trashy motels, the dank pubs and the monotonous suburbs of a nation slouching apathetically through the remnants of the 20th century."

[36] In April 2022,[37] Walker was presented the Doctor of Letters honoris causa degree from his alma mater, the University of New England, for contributions to Australian music.

[38] Walker released Lightning in a Clear Blue Sky in 2023, followed by two East Coast Australian tours.

[39] Walker has worked with many other artists, most notably with song writing credits on Ian Moss' hit album, Matchbook and Jimmy Barnes' top ten single "Stone Cold".

He has written with or had songs recorded by TOFOG, Jimmy Little, Kate Ceberano, Wendy Matthews, Wes Carr,[40] Troy Cassar-Daley, Graeme Connors, Anne Kirkpatrick, Mick Harvey, Missy Higgins,[41] Busby Marou,[42] Melinda Schneider, Sarah Blasko, Katie Noonan, Jeff Lang, Normie Rowe and Adam Brand.

Two Walker-penned songs appeared on The Very Best of Slim Dusty, which stayed in the Australian country charts for over 15 years.