Ryley Walker | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Ryley Walker is an accomplished fingerstyle guitarist, singer, and songwriter from Chicago whose music and evolution as an artist have proven mercurial. After spending a few years cutting his teeth on the citys indie and experimental music scenes, he began giving solo live performances on acoustic guitar, drawing the inevitable comparisons to his peers, from William Tyler and Glenn Jones to British Isles guitarists ranging from Bert Jansch and John Renbourn to Davy Graham and Martin Carthy. For his part, Walker proved delightfully unpredictable, shapeshifting styles from blues and folk to pop and experimental sounds. The first recorded aspect of his complex musical persona arrived with the cassette-only EP The Evidence of Things Unseen, issued in a limited edition from Plustapes in 2011. Its artwork was deliberately reminiscent of John Faheys Death Chants Breakdowns & Military Favorites, and inspired by the American Primitive lexicon of Takoma Records. Later that year he released -- again via cassette on Plustapes -- Of Deathly Premonitions, a four-song collaboration with fellow fingerstyle guitarist Daniel Bachman. Walkers first widely circulated recording was a vinyl-only three-song 12" entitled West Wind from Tompkins Square Records in 2013. His debut album, All Kinds of You, was issued by the label in April of 2014. After intensive touring and playing on others records, he signed to Dead Oceans in the fall. Recording in Chicago with a cast of improvisational and jazz session aces (including cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz), Walker completed Primrose Green, issued in 2015. It was the first of his recordings to feature his own vocals. Musically, it blurs the lines between folk, rock, jazz, and new music. After nearly ten months of touring Primrose Green, Walker returned to Chicago and set about writing and recording his third album. Inspired in part by the Windy City and local musical heroes Tortoise and Gastr del Sol, the eight-track album, Golden Sings That Have Been Sung, was released in August 2016. The following year he and frequent touring partner Bill MacKay issued SpiderBeetleBee, a collection of guitar duets described as "slide blues, Baroque dance, percolating Latin, and deep-focus space" on Drag City. Walker returned in the spring of 2018 with his own recording entitled Deafman Glance. The set was recorded in Chicago at Minbal (now JAMDEK) Studios and USA Studios with co-producer Leroy Bach (who also contributed guitar and keyboards), and featured regular Walker collaborators Brian Sulpizio and Mackay on electric guitars, Mikel Avery and Quin Kirchner on drums, Andrew Scott Young and Matt Lux on bass, Nate Lepine on flute and saxophone, and Cooper Crain (who also recorded and mixed the record) on synthesizers. Later that year, Walker issued The Lillywhite Sessions. A lifelong music fan, Walker was a devoted Dave Matthews Band follower in his formative teens. The Lillywhite Sessions was the title of an unreleased album that DMB recorded with producer Steve Lillywhite. RCA disliked its dark songs so much, they shelved it and the band quickly cut and dropped the poorly received Everyday instead. Some of the songs from the unissued date -- all of which surfaced during the Napster era -- were re-recorded for Busted Stuff. Walkers versions are radically reworked, playing the dual role of a loving tribute to DMB and reflecting his screwball sense of humor. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 8 Title: All Kinds of You Released: 2014-04-15 Tracks: 9 Duration: 35:43 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 The West Wind (05:17) 2 Blessings (05:26) 3 Twin Oaks, Part I (03:24) 4 Great River Road (02:47) 5 Clear the Sky (04:54) 6 Twin Oaks, Part II (05:06) 7 Fonda (02:08) 8 On the Rise (03:02) 9 Tanglewood Spaces (03:39) |
| All Kinds of You : Allmusic album Review : After two limited-edition cassettes, a single, and 2013s fine West Wind EP, fingerstyle guitarist, singer, and songwriter Ryley Walker delivers All Kinds of You, his debut full-length for the discerning Tompkins Square. Produced and mixed by Caves Cooper Crain, Walker fearlessly navigates musical traditions in bracing, seductive, and adventurous ways with the self-assuredness of an artist far older than his 24 years. His influences are on his sleeve: the British fingerstyle folk of guitarists Davy Graham and Bert Jansch, American primitive guitar soli à la Takoma Records, the delirious psychedelic folk of Tim Buckley, and the bluesy jazz-folk of Tim Hardin and more. But Walkers sound reaches deeper and wider; it cannot be reined in by them. Set opener "The West Wind" juxtaposes jazz drumming, modal blues, classical viola, and raga-esque drones in an intoxicating meld. "Blessings" pairs viola and guitar in a lilting display of early Celtic folk, Baroque classical music, and jazz with his blues moan on top. Walkers baritone may be limited in range, but it is clear and expressive; the grain in his voice inhabits his lyric with commitment, but not overstatement. "Great River Road" is a driving country blues that recalls Hardin, but its turnarounds are tight and knotty, and the Gypsy swing in the bridge moves it outside that frame. Instrumental "Twin Oaks, Pt. 1" is a riveting guitar breakdown with a throbbing bassline, soaring viola, and post-bop drums. "Clear the Sky" recalls the guitar style of early John Martyn, though the the elegant instrumental arrangements and open vocal recall Tim Buckleys Happy Sad era -- though Walker ultimately slips both restraints and delivers something more mercurial. The guitar soli in "Twin Oaks, Pt. 2" is a gorgeous meditation on minor-key patterns, while "Fonda," another instrumental, contrasts ragtime and Appalachian-style guitar with neo-classical piano in a haunted round. "On the Rise" is an uptempo modal blues that features Brian Sulpizios neo-psych electric guitar duetting with Walkers fluid fingerstyle acoustic. Closer "Tanglewood Spaces" is a gorgeous round that reflects both Graham and Jansch, but draws from the rural American South in its melody. All Kinds of You may not contain new sounds -- they werent new for his influences, either. But Walkers harmonic sensibility is vast. With his idiosyncratic compositional method and stunning -- yet emotionally resonant -- playing technique, he is able to dissect, distill, recombine, and, just like his predecessors, reshape the music that inspires him in his own image. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 8 Title: Land of Plenty Released: 2015 Tracks: 7 Duration: 46:28 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 It Takes a Quilt (11:37) 2 Rickshaw Waltz (03:46) 3 Gold Season (08:12) 4 Land of Plenty (03:58) 5 Promise Me (03:50) 6 Blues for Arthur (08:47) 7 Silver Cup (06:18) |
 | Album: 3 of 8 Title: Primrose Green Released: 2015-03-27 Tracks: 10 Duration: 44:44 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Primrose Green (04:06) 2 Summer Dress (05:10) 3 Same Minds (04:19) 4 Griffiths Bucks Blues (02:47) 5 Love Can Be Cruel (05:03) 6 On the Banks of the Old Kishwaukee (05:00) 7 Sweet Satisfaction (06:23) 8 The High Road (04:48) 9 All Kinds of You (04:36) 10 Hide in the Roses (02:32) |
| Primrose Green : Allmusic album Review : Guitarist Ryley Walker follows All Kinds of You, his 2014 debut full-length, by delving deeper into some of the abstract jazz and psych-inflected folk-rock that permeated several of its tracks. On Primrose Green -- his debut for Dead Oceans -- he doesnt worry about putting his own signature on his tunes; this record is all about playing music he loves with people he respects. Though these are original songs, their inspirational roots lie in late-60s and early-70s sources. Hes found a host of willing Chicago collaborators from the worlds of jazz and improv to assist, including cellists Fred Lonberg-Holm and Whitney Johnson, vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, drummer Frank Rosaly, keyboardist Ben Boye, upright and electric bassist Anton Hatwich, and electric guitarist Brian Sulpizio. Less than a minute into the opening title track, one can hear the very spirit of Tim Buckley -- one of several Walker muses here -- coming through the ether (or smoke, such as it were, since it is titled for a particular strain of pot). Eastern modes and droning psych are rung out on a 12-string, piano, electric guitars, vibes, and upright bass (the latter recalling Danny Thompson, who played with Buckley on the London concert issued as Dream Letter). Walkers voice swoops and sails, floats and hovers through his words about getting high. "Summer Dress" moves on (a bit) to widen the circle and embrace John Martyns early-70s sound inside Buckleys elastic chamber jazz approach. Sulpizios guitar and Adasiewiczs vibes send this one into a darkly grooving stratosphere. "Same Minds" is so silvery and mercurial, one can feel Martyns ghost in the mix. The instrumental "Love Can Be Cruel" evokes Brian Augers sense of space and motion with wafting electronic noise grounding the tune in the 21st century. Speaking of Auger, the twilit psych-jazz of "Sweet Satisfaction" recalls the keyboardists Trinity band with singer Julie Driscoll (now Tippetts), though Buckleys sense of elongated glossolalia still holds sway over the singers vocal. Walkers killer fingerstyle guitar artistry isnt left off this record; its present to stellar effect on "Griffiths Bucks Blues," "On the Banks of the Old Kishwaukee," "The High Road" (a duet with Lonberg-Holm), and the closing "Hide in the Roses." The latter track is informed by Bert Janschs and Davy Grahams readings of the British Isles folk tradition. Its these rootsier tunes that add glue to the sensual, stoned, free-spirited cuts to make this a cohesive album. With its ready absorption of, homage to, and engagement with the past, Walkers skills as a guitarist and arranger make Primrose Green as musically compelling as it is willfully indulgent. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 8 Title: Cannots Released: 2016-04-16 Tracks: 5 Duration: 06:42 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Dhoodaan (06:42) 2 Cannots (?) 3 River Limmat (?) 4 Oft Rift (?) 5 Middle Atlas (?) |
 | Album: 5 of 8 Title: Golden Sings That Have Been Sung Released: 2016-08-19 Tracks: 8 Duration: 40:41 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 The Halfwit in Me (05:54) 2 A Choir Apart (03:11) 3 Funny Thing She Said (06:26) 4 Sullen Mind (06:32) 5 I Will Ask You Twice (02:02) 6 The Roundabout (04:41) 7 The Great and Undecided (03:39) 8 Age Old Tale (08:12) |
| Golden Sings That Have Been Sung : Allmusic album Review : When singer, songwriter, and guitarist Ryley Walker released 2014s All Kinds of You, his playing style openly referenced Jack Rose, the "American Primitive" Takoma sound, and British innovators such as Davy Graham and Bert Jansch. His musical structures were loose and full of improvisation. A year later, on Primrose Green, the American primitive notions slipped from the radar, but the Brit folk had been fully integrated, and his love of Tim Buckley, John Martyn, and Terry Callier were woven into more expansively textured songs. Golden Sings That Have Been Sung offers another change-up. These eight songs offer more proof of Walkers evolution as a writer, and his referential focus has shifted again. Hes not showcasing his playing abilities as much here, but readily evokes the Chicago scene of the 90s that gave us Gastr del Sol, the Sea and Cake, and Tortoise. The set was produced by multi-instrumentalist/arranger Leroy Bach (Wilco, Liz Phair, Rob Mazurek). Most of the remaining cast (also Chicagoans) have worked with Walker before. Opener "The Halfwit in Me," with its deadpan title and lyrics, underscores the influence of Jim ORourke and Gastr del Sol. The vibe is breezy, quirky, lithe pop with tight charts offering interlocking grooves in shifting time signatures. Clarinet, electric piano, and lap steel guitar (all from Bach) wrap themselves around gentle percussion and fingerstyle acoustic guitar. "A Choir Apart" offers a shifting dynamic with its ominous tom-toms that bridge modal psychedelic chamber pop and more experimental rock terrain (à la Tortoise). "Sullen Mind" is a more full-bodied articulation of sounds Walkers explored before, and features stellar interplay between electric piano, droning acoustic guitar, and Brian Sulpizios poignant electric lead lines. "The Roundabout" is a midtempo folk-rock tune built around a single -- and yes, circular -- guitar vamp. Walkers lyric juxtaposes pain disguised as self-deprecating humor (think Mark Eitzel) at a local watering hole: "Can I buy you a drink/Though my credit is quite shit...And you cry like youve never seen water/And come to think of it I think my dad wanted a daughter...." Closer "Age Old Tale" is the longest and loosest thing here, with jazz overtones and sweeping autoharp -- evoking Alice Coltranes early Impulse! recordings -- and engages Anton Hatwichs rumbling bassline as strummed electric and acoustic guitars move at a cough syrup pace. Its a modal vamp that doesnt really go anywhere -- though there is a nice clarinet interlude near the end -- but it doesnt need to; its deep-nod vibe is enough. There are a couple of duds here, including the dirge "The Great and Undecided" (that pays self-indulgent homage to Mark Kozeleks journal-entry confessional songwriting). On one level, Golden Sings That Have Been Sung delivers the most advanced music Walkers released to date. That said, despite his growing confidence and excellent production and arrangements, the singing and lyric writing still need work. This is a snapshot of where he is at the moment. Its a solid effort even with its flaws. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 8 Title: Hypnotic Pulse of the Reindeer Range Released: 2017-12-25 Tracks: 1 Duration: 27:52 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Hypnotic Pulse of the Reindeer Range (27:52) |
 | Album: 7 of 8 Title: Deafman Glance Released: 2018-05-18 Tracks: 9 Duration: 41:33 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 In Castle Dome (05:35) 2 22 Days (05:59) 3 Accommodations (03:04) 4 Can’t Ask Why (05:41) 5 Opposite Middle (03:35) 6 Telluride Speed (06:27) 7 Expired (05:41) 8 Rocks on Rainbow (01:45) 9 Spoil With the Rest (03:42) |
 | Album: 8 of 8 Title: The Lillywhite Sessions Released: 2018-11-16 Tracks: 12 Duration: 1:14:32 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Busted Stuff (05:54) 2 Grey Street (08:07) 3 Diggin a Ditch (03:17) 4 Sweet Up and Down (04:24) 5 JTR (10:50) 6 Big Eyed Fish (03:49) 7 Grace Is Gone (06:14) 8 Captain (05:56) 9 Bartender (10:30) 10 Monkey Man (05:08) 11 Kit Kat Jam (05:36) 12 Raven (04:42) |