Walker was gracious enough to chat with KEXP after his performance, covering his addiction recovery, his love of Dave Matthews, and the joy of the big city.
(Both are out now via Dead Oceans.) Sadly, 2018 was also the year he began to self-destruct from drugs and depression, a pit he's since proudly managed to crawl out of. There was a point where it seemed like Walker and the drummer were improvising and playing off each other like jazz musicians. After the performance, walking back outside, I could hear attendees still marveling over what they just witnessed.ĭeafman Glance isn't the only thing Walker released last year he also released The Lillywhite Sessions, an irony-free cover album of an unreleased Dave Matthews Band LP. Throughout the entire performance, they were cheering before the songs were even over. He came out on stage sans shirt, saying it was just too hot, and proceeded to launch into a jaw-dropping set of tracks spotlighting his most recent release Deafman Glance. Instead of performing from one of the outdoor stages, he was booked in the intimate Wheeler Theater, which seats less than 300 people. In other words, Walker plays it exceedingly straight, even when he's delivering good-time numbers like "Kit Kat Jam." This po-faced sincerity winds up underscoring Walker's debt to Dave Matthews Band - they now seem like a clear influence on his adventurous folk-jazz - while also highlighting the imagination behind the original set of songs.One of the best kept secrets at THING Fest was Ryley Walker. At times, he ratchets up the darkness - "Diggin' a Ditch" opens with a furious open-string guitar drone, his "Bartender" veers into claustrophobia, "Monkey Man" is turned into a cloistered clutter - but he also keeps an eye on both Matthews' elliptical songs and DMB's loose-limbed jazz fusion. Certainly, that dark atmosphere - dubbed "sad bastard" by Matthews - drew Walker to the record, but his version of The Lillywhite Sessions isn't especially gloomy. Despite Busted Stuff featuring renditions that weren't dramatically different in arrangement, The Lillywhite Sessions retained a cult following because it had a downer vibe unique among DMB albums.
Eventually, drummer Carter Beauford instigated the shelving of The Lillywhite Sessions - so dubbed because it, like its three predecessors, was produced by Steve Lillywhite the record was never officially titled - but the group didn't abandon the material, choosing to revive nine of its 12 songs for 2002's Busted Stuff.īy that point, The Lillywhite Sessions became one of the first unreleased albums to leak on the internet, its circulation assisted by DMB fans who were already trading live tapes.
Matthews' love of drink isn't hidden - the man owns his own line of wine, Dreaming Tree - but he imbibed a little bit too much during the recording of The Lillywhite Sessions, a move that coincided with a general aimlessness within the ranks after the group vaulted to superstardom. Sobriety isn't a word associated with DMB at the dawn of the 2000s.
RYLEY WALKER THE LILLYWHITE SESSIONS CRACK
Walker may crack wise on Twitter, but he takes his music seriously, so his version of this shelved 2001 album is very sober indeed. Ryley Walker cultivated a reputation as an internet jester so news that he decided to cover the unreleased Dave Matthews Band album The Lillywhite Sessions initially seemed to be a prank.
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