CHICAGO GUITAR PHENOM Ryley Walker is amusingly complicated. Steeped in free jazz experimentalism and dream-folk whimsy, Walker’s work is a natural progression from artists like John Martyn and even John Coltrane, though he’s also a steadfast contemporary of Cian Nugent, Steve Gunn, and William Tyler.
“I don’t have a particularly extravagant life,” says Walker, “but if I can tell it in a way that makes it unique, I’m happy to do that.”
This summer he released his third album, Golden Sings That Have Been Sung, which finds a more nuanced palette from which to cull his heavily textured soundscapes. Working with friend Leroy Bach (Wilco) as producer, Walker utilized the same Chicagoland band from his brilliant sophomore LP Primrose Green in new ways, collaborating during improvisational live shows to shape the songs that ended up on Golden Sings.