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Apr 05, 2018 Ryley Walker By Christopher Roberts

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Ryley Walker is releasing a new album, Deafman Glance, on May 18 via Dead Oceans. Previously he shared the album’s lush flute-backed six-and-a-half-minute long first single, “Telluride Speed” (which was one of our Songs of the Week). Now he has shared another song from the album, “Opposite Middle.” Listen below, followed by Walker’s upcoming tour dates.

Walker had this to say about the song in a press release: “‘Opposite Middle’ was the last tune written for the record. At first it was slow. Like crawling pace. What a bummer that would have been, yeah? Somehow it worked itself out to become the only bonafide fast jammer on the record. I was thinking a lot about making my brain work better and the guitar playing of David Grubbs and Steve Hackett. I can’t play as well as either of them but I was thinking about it. Thank you for scoping this out. Really appreciate it. This one is fun to play live. Really can’t wait for the gigs.”

Deafman Glance is the follow-up to 2016’s Golden Sings That Have Been Sung and 2015’s Primrose Green. Walker produced the album with LeRoy Bach, recording it at the Minbal (now JAMDEK) Studios in Chicago, at USA Studios, and in LeRoy’s kitchen. Cooper Crain (Bitchin’ Bajas, Cave) recorded and mixed the album and played synths on it. Bach played some guitar and piano on the album. Deafman Glance also features 6-string players Brian J Sulpizio and Bill Mackay, Andrew Scott Young and Matt Lux on bass, Mikel Avery and Quin Kirchner on drums/percussion, and Nate Lepine on flute and saxophone.

Walker previously issued this statement about the album: “I think more than anything the thing to take away from this record is that I appreciate what improv and jamming and that outlook on music has done for me, but I wanted rigid structure for these songs. I don’t want to expand upon them live. There’s a looseness to some of the songs I guess, but I didn’t want to rely on just hanging out on one note.

“I was under a lot of stress because I was trying to make an anti-folk record and I was having trouble doing it. I wanted to make something deep-fried and more me-sounding. I didn’t want to be jammy acoustic guy anymore. I just wanted to make something weird and far-out that came from the heart finally. I was always trying to make something like this I guess, trying to catch up with my imagination. And I think I succeeded in that way - it’s got some weird instrumentation on there, and some surreal far-out words. And it’s more Chicago-y sounding. Chicago sounds like a train constantly coming towards you but never arriving. That’s the sound I hear, all the time, ringing in my ears.”

Ryley Walker Tour Dates:

Tue. Apr. 10 - Columbia, MO @ Cafe Berlin
Wed. Apr. 11 - Oklahoma City, OK @ 89th Street Collective
Fri. Apr. 13 - Marfa, TX @ Ballroom Marfa (Marfa Myths Fest)
Sun. Apr. 15 - Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress
Mon. Apr. 16 - San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
Tue. Apr. 17 - Los Angeles, CA @ Resident
Thu. Apr. 19 - El Paso, TX @ Tricky Falls *
Sat. Apr. 21 - Tulsa, OK @ The Vanguard *
Sun. Apr. 22 - St. Louis, MO @ Blueberry Hill *
Mon. Apr. 23 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Line Music Café *
Wed. Apr. 25 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall *
Thu. Apr. 26 - Cincinnati, OH @ The Woodward Theater *
Fri. Apr. 27 - Washington, DC @ Lincoln Theatre *
Sat. Apr. 28 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg *
Sun. Apr. 29 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom *
Mon. Apr. 30 - Woodstock, NY @ Colony
Tue. May 1 - Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair *
Wed. May 2 - Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live *
Thu. May 3 - Charlottesville, VA @ Jefferson Theater *
Fri. May 4 - Asheville, NC @ The Mothlight
Sat. May 5 - Raleigh, NC @ Kings
Sun. May 6 - Columbia, SC @ IF Art Gallery
Mon. May 7 - Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West *
Mon. May 8 - Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge *
Fri. May 18 - Chicago, IL @ Hungry Brain (Record Release Show)
Sat. May 19 - Chicago, IL @ Hungry Brain (Record Release Show)
Sun. July 15 - Bruges, Belgium @ Cactus Festival
Wed. July 18 - Helsinki, Finland @ G Livelab
Thu. July 19-Sun. July 22 - Salisbury, UK @ Larmer Tree Festival
Sun. July 22 - Leeuwarden, Netherlands @ Welcome To The Village Festival
Tue. July 24 - Munich, Germany @ Milla
Thu. July 26 - Ravenna, Italy @ Hana-bi
Wed. Sept. 12 - Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone Café
Thu. Sept. 13 - New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa
Fri. Sept. 14 - Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
Sat. Sept. 15 - Dallas, TX @ The Foundry
Tue. Sept. 18 - Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
Fri. Sept. 21 - San Francisco @ The Chapel
Sat. Sept. 22 - Big Sur, CA @ Freaks of The Festival
Mon. Sept. 24 - Portland, OR @ Bunk Bar
Tue. Sept. 25 - Vancouver, BC @ Wise Hall
Wed. Sept. 26 - Seattle, WA @ Sunset Tavern
Thu. Sept. 27 - Boise, ID @ Idaho Botanical Gardens - Great Escape Series
Fri. Sept. 28 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
Sat. Sept. 29 - Denver, CO @ Globe Hall
Sun. Sept. 30 - Fort Collins, CO @ Downtown Artery
Tue. Oct. 2 - Omaha, NE @ Slowdown
Wed. Oct. 3 - Sioux Falls, SD @ Total Drag
Thu. Oct. 4 - Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry
Fri. Oct. 5 - Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon
Sat. Oct. 6 - Milwaukee, WI @ The Backroom @ Colectivo
Tue. Nov. 6 - Berlin, Germany @ Frannz Club
Wed. Nov. 7 - Aarhus, Denmark @ Atlas
Thu. Nov. 8 - Copenhagen, Denmark @ Vega
Fri. Nov. 9-Sat. Nov. 10 - Wangels, Germany @ Rolling Stone Weekender
Tue. Nov. 13 - Brussels, Belgium @ Botanique
Wed. Nov. 14 - Köln, Germany @ Artheater
Thu. Nov. 15 - Bern, Switzerland @ ISC Club
Fri. Nov. 16 - Zurich, Switzerland @ Bogen F
Fri. Nov. 16-Sat. Nov. 17 - Rust, Germany @ Rolling Stone Park
Mon. Nov. 19 - Barcelona, Spain @ Sidecar
Tue. Nov. 20 - Madrid, Spain @ El Intruso
Wed. Nov. 21 - Sevilla, Spain @ Sala X
Thu. Nov. 22 - Lisbon, Portugal @ ZDB
Sat. Nov. 24 - San Sebastian, Spain @ Badabada
Tue. Nov. 27 - London, UK @ Scala
Wed. Nov. 28 - Bristol, UK @ The Fleece
Thu. Nov. 29 - Manchester, UK @ Band On The Wall
Fri. Nov. 30 - Brighton, UK @ The Old Market
Sat. Dec. 1 - Paris, France @ Point Ephemere
Sun. Dec. 2 - Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso Noord

* w/Calexico

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