Ryley Walker

An integral part of the alternative Chicago music scene, Ryley Walker has been making some serious waves with his gorgeous and elegant progressive and experimental folk-acoustica that contains hints of jazz, as well as many players from around the Chicago area, a place that has been wholly inspirational for him: “Chicago is in every fibre of my being. It’s a lovely place, full of creativity,” says Walker. “It shapes everything in my world. Down to what I’m eating for dinner…”
Prolific, he’s already released two studio albums and one live album since his 2014 debut ‘All Kinds of You’. And now he is about to unleash another record, the simply outstanding ‘Golden Sings That Have Been Sung’. “These songs were mostly written while touring last year,” says Walker. “Lots of experimenting with them live and working the kinks out. Others were fully crafted in the studio last winter. A much better version of myself all over this record. It’s mostly the same band from ‘Primrose Green’ [his previous studio album], plus Quin Kirchner, Ryan Jewell, LeRoy Bach.”
Already a fixture here in the UK, he played the Great Escape in May, and is back for further gigs here in August.
While ‘Primrose Green’ was the album that really caught the attention of the media and music lovers alike, ‘Golden Sings That Have Been Sung’ is set to catapult him further into the collective consciousness, thanks to its languid grooves, pleasing melodies, brilliant playing and warming glow. What does the title mean? “It think its a funny way to say ‘good times’.”