Ryley Walker Stories

Musicians Unite To Offer 100 Days Of Tunes

Any new administrations first 100 days in office are heavily scrutinized, but the reckless policies of our latest adminstration have left many people feeling as nervous as ever.A new project, Our First 100 Days, is attempting to counteract this uncertainty and alienation by raising funds to support progress and...

Review / Audio | Ryley Walker @ SPACE 2/1/17

By: @WeirScrewedIn these uncertain days, we need escape more than ever.Few artists can elevate and transport the listener nowadays as much as Ryley Walker and the rotating cabinet of genius that accompanies him on stage. On the heels of his brief trio show over the weekend at The Hideout, Walker came to SPACE...

AUDIO | Ryley Walker / Bill MacKay / Michael Zerang @ The Hideout 1/28/17

Guitarist Ryley Walker hits Evanston's SPACE this coming Wednesday with his trio, but a trio of a different sort stopped by the The Hideout on Saturday night.  Joel Berk (@pfcidb) was on hand and captured audio of the appearance.  He has offered a stream of the show to accompany the download hosted at...

Tomorrow's Verse 2016 Album Of The Year Poll

So many publications offer so many end of the year album lists, so why do most of them look like they are written in a foreign language? Sure a handful of my favorites records find themselves in the "lists that matter", but even after looking at Rob Mitchum's incredible aggregation work, I still find myself...

LISTEN: Ryley Walker Plays New Tune, Explains Improv on NPR's World Cafe

Ryley Walker is a top contender for Tomorrow's Verse artist of the year in 2016.  Local, versatile, improvisation-loving and extremely prolific, we are so happy to see that he's still creating.In fact, he explains in interview bits between songs in this World Cafe performance, that he prefers to keep wriring to "keep his brain...

Review / Setlist / Video | Ryley Walker @ Empty Bottle 8/25/16

By: Alex WoodFollowing Ryley Walker somehow gives the feeling that youre on to something.Its not just that hes from Chicago, or that hes worked for years to make a name for himself. Its not just the timeless yet completely unique sound hes mastered by the age of 27. Its not just the sheer technical proficiency...

Beyondify In The Heat Of Summer

 Beyondify is our periodic feature which features new music before it hits Spotify.  As usual, we mine Bandcamp, Soundcloud, and YouTube for the goods. Here's what we came up with in the heat of the summer.  Father John Misty seems to be a bit divisive among our readers, but I...

The Golden Age Of Guitar Players: A Six Month Six String Odyssey

By: Aaron Stein (@neddyo)We are in the golden age of guitar players.Thats something Ive been saying/writing/tweeting for several years now, but its as true now as its ever been. For me, the first six months of 2016 has been a perfect distillation of this golden age: a steady flow of albums...

VIDEO | Ryley Walker & Charles Rumback @ Permanent Records - RSD 2016

The guitar/drums duo is a format that is finding all sorts of interesting permutations. Chicago has bred a pair of fine practitioners in Ryley Walker and Charles Rumback. Walker'sacoustic, and the sounds that hecoaxes out of it, set these guys apart -- briliant, exploratory, conversationaljams with just two instruments.Here's the duo at Chicago's...

Beyondify: More Great Under The Radar Tracks

Earlier this month, I had so much fun summarizing new tracksthat hadn't yet made it to Spotify, I've decided to make it a regular feature. I've even named it. I'm calling it Beyondify, and hope to publish every few weeks to let you know about under-the-radar tracks that you've got to dig a little to...