![]() On the studio versions of “Primrose” songs, Walker recorded with a band of miraculously practiced Chicago jazz players. Despite the obvious debts, though, he’s developed his own ideas. Celebrating both instrumental prowess and pastoral simplicity, Walker drew on the ideas of artists including John Fahey, Joni Mitchell, John Martyn and inheritors such as Glenn Jones and James Blackshaw. Across that and other pastoral originals and a choice take on Van Morrison’s “Fair Play,” Walker created music with rolling momentum, one that required he maneuver through rhythmic patterns.įed through a pick-up, this guitar work was steeped in the 1960s folk guitar movement and the stylistic offshoots that arrived after. A few minds were blown, though, especially during “Griffith’s Buck’s Blues,” a work that weaved an Irish-accented melody through a stream of start-and-stop chords. Luckily, no bones were broken across an hour-long set that showcased Walker’s deft hands and solo guitar illuminations. Who knows what carnage could have ensued? To hit a mid-song bum note would have been like puncturing a tire while accelerating into a hard speedway turn. Throughout his set Tuesday night at the Echo, the Chicago artist, touring in support of his new album, “Primrose Green,” precisely maneuvered his fingers to strike notes with an undistorted clarity. It was necessary that he hone the machine. “It’s all part of the act,” he joked while tweaking tones across the dozen strings for a few minutes, ringing each note until, with an angel-heralding strum, they hummed in sweet harmony. ![]() The folk guitarist Ryley Walker sat alone on a stool, legs crossed, a sound system well-balanced at the edge of feedback and a spotlight directed on him, tuning his 12-string acoustic.
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