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Artist
Ryley Walker
12+ albums
folksinger-songwriteracousticfolk rockUSA
about
Ryley Walker is an accomplished fingerstyle guitarist, singer, and songwriter from Chicago whose music and evolution as an artist have proven mercurial. He moved from noisy avant-garde work in his nascent stages into virtuosic guitar playing and floating spiritual pop that traced lines between Bert Jansch, Van Morrison, and somehow even the Dave Matthews Band. Walker's love of the DMB was highlighted in his dark interpretations of their songs on the 2018 covers album The Lillywhite Sessions. A series of adventurous collaborations followed before Walker returned to original solo work on 2021's Course in Fable. After spending a few years cutting his teeth on the Chicago indie and experimental music scenes, Walker 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 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 by Plustapes in 2011. Its artwork was deliberately reminiscent of John Fahey's 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 P
