Welcome to our coverage of Deep in the Valley 2023! The second year of our favorite Hudson Valley fest was again held at beautiful From the Ground Brewery in Red Hook, NY and hosted by our friends at Raven Sings the Blues. Thanks to everyone involved for their hospitality. I can’t wait to see you there next year. In the meantime, relax and enjoy some tunes from the day…
First off here’s the day’s headliner Ryley Walker, playing in duo configuration with Ryan Jewell. While not quite full-band, seeing Ryley and Ryan together is always magical and this performance doesn’t disappoint in the least. Ryley-classics “The Halfwit in Me” and “The Roundabout” take center stage here with the jams and detours we love from these songs. I’m a massive fan of Course in Fableand consider it Ryley’s finest, so I was glad to hear “Rang Dizzy” from that one. The last song is an instrumental which I’m sure has a title that is escaping me. Listening back I almost feel like I’m in a field in Red Hook, New York with some apple trees off to the side. This one’s the highlight of a nearly perfect day.
I recorded this with the MBHO omnis at the stage lip, combined with a board feed courtesy of engineer Daniel Stout. The sound quality is outstanding. Enjoy!
Ryley Walker
2023-08-19
Deep in the Valley
From the Ground Brewery
Red Hook, NY
Recorded and produced by Eric PH for nyctaper.com
Soundboard + MBHO KA100DK/603A (stage lip) > Naiant PFA >> Sound Devices MixPre-6 > WAV (24/48) > Adobe Audition CC + Izotope Ozone 5 > Audacity 3.0.2 > FLAC
Tracks [43:52]
01. The Halfwit in Me
02. Rang Dizzy
03. The Roundabout
04. Instrumental
Ryley Walker offers plenty of reasons to see him any chance you can. His guitar playing ranges from intricate to brain bending, his songwriting is constantly evolving in creative ways and his stage banter is always great. His willingness to chase creativity and always try something new keeps me coming back. As he said at the beginning of the night, “We play Avant Garde music!”
The set was billed as the Ryley Walker/JR Bohannon Duo but we were lucky enough to have Ryan Jewel (complete with “Jazz Machine” t-shirt) join for 2 of the 3 improvisational pieces. The first piece is a beautiful excursion into blissed out guitar and pedal steel zones and Ryan adding drums and percussion to the remaining two. A case point for seeing music that sits at the edges of rhythm and melody can be found around the ninth minute of the last piece. From seemingly nowhere they find a groove so sharp Slint would be jealous. They ride that just long enough to let you know they recognized it and then immediately push past; audience and band both in search of what’s next.
I’ve been reading and following the NYCTaper site as a fan for many years but my first actual contribution was a little over a year ago when AcidJack and I recorded Ryley with the “Course In Fable” band at Tubby’s. It was a nice little anniversary for me to be able to record this set from my usual perch in the back of the room by the sound board. To really tie the anniversary theme together, I used a set of MBHO 603A/KA200 mics and a clamp borrowed from AcidJack. Tubby’s excellent FOH engineer Will provided the board patch. Enjoy!
Way back in September, which is about a decade ago according to my experience of time, David Grubbs and Ryley Walker got together to release a fantastic collaborative album, A Tap on the Shoulder, via Ryley’s Husky Pants label. The album brings the two former Chicagoans together for the first time for seven loose, explorative guitar tracks with Grubbs also contributing some piano.
Though the pair won’t be touring behind the record (for now, anyway), they did get together last month for a one-off record release show at Public Records in Brooklyn. For fifty minutes they alternate between ruminative wanderings and dizzying freakouts, neither soloing or overwhelming the other. It sounds like they’re listening to each other just as much as they’re playing their own guitars. You don’t see two performers of this caliber get together very often, and I’m glad we were there to capture it.
Since my last post here (on March 9, 2020) New Yorkers have sought refuge in all kinds of places and a bewildering number of distractions. Vinyl record sales surged even more, Instagram overflowed with DIY baking, sedentary people discovered hiking, gym rats discovered the joys of being sedentary. New Yorkers moved to the Hudson Valley, New Jersey, Florida or farther-flung destinations.
Ryley Walker ended up in Vermont, running his nascent but growing label, Husky Pants and, as is his norm, recording and releasing a slew of new music. Course In Fable, the follow-up to 2018’s Deafman Glance, represents another stunning evolution in his sound. Prog-rock courses through its compositions, recorded with pristine sonics by Tortoise vet John McEntire. If anyone worried whether Ryley’s first post-sobriety album would lose the magic of his blurrier past, the answer is not only no, but the exact opposite. This is Walker’s most self-possessed work to date, bringing all of collaborators Ryan Jewell, Andrew Scott Young, and Bill McKay’s musical strengths firmly under one voice, with lyrics that can be evocative but obtuse as well as devastatingly direct. If Course In Fable is remembered as the finest album of Walker’s career, it will be worthy of the title.
It made sense to see these songs in the tiny but welcoming back room of Tubby’s, a venerable Kingston bar reinvented as a serious live music venue. The space itself feels like a refuge; its size compels an intimacy and familiarity that have been hard to come by for most of us in this part of the world recently. I’m not sure I’ve been to another venue of its size that has bookings at the level they do, and I hope Tubby’s keeps it up.
This show featured most of the Course In Fable lineup, with Walker joined by Jewell and Young, and the trio moved through this set of later-period (Course and Deafman Glance) tunes with aplomb. The Course tunes stayed fairly true to their original arrangements, with “The Halfwit In Me” serving as the 18-minute improvisational centerpiece of the set. While I’d love to hear some of those talents applied to the live new songs eventually, for this go, the thrill came in hearing the original arrangements live in a room, that special kind they were written for.
Ryley is on a west coast swing right now, and will be back east supporting Dinosaur Jr. to close out the year, followed by… well, his usual slew of tour dates in 2022. Just how it should be. See his tour dates here.
This recording was an extra-special collaboration between Kliked and I, using a combination of my Schoeps omnidirectional mics up front, his MBHO’s at the soundboard, and Zoots’ feed of the (mostly) vocals. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!
Personnel:
Ryley Walker
Ryan Jewell – Percussion
Andrew Scott Young – Bass
Tracks [Total Time:59:28]
01 Striking Down Your Big Premiere
02 Rang Dizzy
03 [banter1]
04 Opposite Middle
05 [banter2]
06 Telluride Speed
07 [banter3]
08 The Halfwit In Me
09 [banter4]
10 Shiva With Dustpan
11 [banter5]
12 22 Days
In the very few gigs I’ve been to since the return of live music, I’ve met a lot of new people. This is somewhat surprising since in the last year our worlds have become so much smaller, interacting only with those in our bubbles. But nature heals. Here we have long time friend-of-NYCTaper Ryley Walker meeting some new people for a jam session at Nublu: multi-instrumentalist Stuart Bogie, bassist Spencer Zahn, and drummer Kevin Raczka. The core quartet was augmented with an astounding group of musicians, including: Dave Scalia (drums), Chris Bullock (sax), Domenica Fossati (flute), Jake Pinto (keys), Eric Biondo (trumpet/keys), Raymond Mason (trombone), Jackie Coleman (trumpet), and Billy Austick (trumpet). Many of these folks are members of Antibalas, who by the way have a few gigs coming up including Central Park Summerstage and a couple nights at Brooklyn Bowl. I really can’t do justice to all these musicians in writing so I encourage you to listen for yourself to explore these new and exciting encounters.
I recorded this from our usual location at Nublu and the sound is excellent as we’ve come to expect. Shoutout to Nublu and Chris Tart for being such great hosts. Enjoy!
“I don’t think Steve Gunn forgets his lyrics,” Ryley Walker wondered aloud midway though “The Roundabout” this past Saturday. He was performing in front of a small backyard audience in Flushing, Queens. We’re all a little rusty, performers and audiences alike, as live music returns to New York. But as we experienced this weekend, everyone’s quick to rediscover the well-worn grooves. In this hour and a half set, Ryley touches on his entire catalog, from Primrose Green to his outstanding new album, Course in Fable. A few covers complete the afternoon, including a lovely take on “There’s Hell in Hello, But More in Goodbye” from Jim O’Rourke’s Bad Timing record.
I recorded this show with a pair of MBHO omnidirectional mics positioned up front and overhead. Despite the windy day, the sound is superb. Enjoy!
Thanks to Ryley Walker for playing; and to Mark and Kim for hosting. You can purchase all of Ryley Walker’s albums, including Course in Fable, at Bandcamp. He’ll be on tour this fall with a full band opening for Dinosaur Jr. That tour wraps up November 20 at Brooklyn Steel. More immediately, Ryley will be joined by Stuart Bogie, Spencer Zahn, and Kevin Raczka for a sesh at Nublu 151 this coming Thursday, June 10. See you there!
Tracks [1:34:05] 01. On the Banks of the Old Kishwaukee 02. The Roundabout 03. Rang Dizzy 04. Promise Me 05. Telluride Speed 06. Shaking Like the Others 07. The Halfwit in Me 08. If I Were a Carpenter [Tim Hardin] 09. Improvisation 10. Primrose Green 11. Summer Dress 12. Over the Hill [John Martyn] 13. There’s Hell in Hello, But More in Goodbye [Jim O’Rourke] 14. Fair Play [Van Morrison] 15. The Grand Old Trout [Bill MacKay]
What else to say about Ryley Walker? We first saw the champ at this festival, Hopscotch, way back in 2014. In that span of 5 years, he’s expanded his sound, produced definitive records (and the definitive Dave Matthews cover album), gotten wild, gotten sober, and hit stages all over the world. As much has changed, his essence hasn’t — a relentlessly searching, gifted musician who doesn’t pause his growth to keep his audience comfortable, but gives that audience his very best every night. If being the top card late at night at Nash Hall wouldn’t seem like the right opportunity for a wild 90-minute set, you need to know more about Ryley.
Beautifully recorded by our bud Randy Hoke, this set has all the elements — some inside-baseball music biz comedy, classic songs (“On the Banks of the Old Kishwaukee”), and of course, long-form improvisation, in particular, the closing “Primrose Green,” which Ryley seemed determined to push as far from its roots as possible. I think he agrees with us that among his many performances this year, this one was a particular winner. Have a listen and I think you’ll agree.
In a useful piece of Ryley news, he’s launched his own private press label, which includes a sold-out LP pressing of his Walker/Jewel/Gunn trio performance from Union Pool back in March. If you’re lucky, you might find a copy out on tour…
Randy recorded this set with a soundboard feed, AKG shotgun mics at the back of the room, and onstage AKG mics. Even though this room is a challenge, he made an outstanding recording. Enjoy!
Tracks [Total Time 1:24:06] 01 [intro banter] 02 Telluride Speed 03 [banter/tuning] 04 The Halfwit In Me 05 [banter2] 06 Spoil With the Rest 07 [banter3] 08 22 Days 09 [banter4] 10 On the Banks of the Old Kishwaukee 11 [banter5] 12 Opposite Middle 13 [banter6] 14 Primrose Green
We’ve seen our man Ryley Walker hit the stage with David Grubbs as recently as the final night of his Union Pool residency earlier this year — that night with Ryan Jewell and C. Spencer Yeh also in the mix. But as we all know, one Ryley show rarely bears much resemblance to another, particularly when it comes to the panoply of collaborations in which he engages. If RW isn’t the hardest working man in music, he’s got to be up there, touring constantly, opening for other acts, playing band gigs, solo gigs, and stuff like this — all within the span of a week or even a single day.
This set at Trans-Pecos came just a few days after his sojourn at Hopscotch Music Festival (look for those shows soon) where played yet another collab show followed by a full band set within a span of hours. Walker is a professed fan of Grubbs, and the mind-meld between the two musicians easily bridged any generational divides on this night, as they took turns leading and following, creating a dual-guitar piece that kept the packed room in contemplative silence.
Speaking of Ryley Walker and collaborations, he has a record coming up on Thrill Jockey on November 8 with Charles Rumback. I think you should buy it.
This recording is straight off the Trans-Pecos digital soundboard, and it’s clean as a whistle. Enjoy!
Not much left to be said here at NYCTaper about our bud Ryley Walker, except that he’s a good reason to keep going out and recording shows. Always different, always the same? Anyway this one’s got a beautiful “Spoil With the Rest” (personal fav) and an epic take on “The Roundabout.” Never one to take a break, Ryley’s got a ton of upcoming shows including a tour with Black Mountain and more. For locals, there’s a can’t-miss duo set with David Grubbs coming up on September 12 at Trans-Pecos. See you there!
I recorded this with a pair of MBHO hypercardioid mics positioned at our usual spot at Brooklyn Bowl. The sound is excellent. Enjoy!
Tracks [56:24]
01. [Intro]
02. Telluride Speed
03. [Traumatized by bowling]
04. The Halfwit in Me
05. [Zoot suit revival]
06. Spoil With the Rest
07. [Oh yeah by the way]
08. Opposite Middle
09. [Ryley on shuffle]
10. The Roundabout
When you’re already committed to playing a show on a low-ceilinged boat with stripper(?) poles and questionable stabilizers, you might as well take some risks musically, too. Last Saturday’s Rocks Off Concert Cruise with Garcia Peoples (recorded live by yours truly, natch) was a choppy-watered success, but I didn’t expect to be back on that boat quite so soon.
But the return of Ryley Walker to a New York stage (even if a floating one), coupled with the fact that his backing band would in fact be Garcia Peoples, was more than enough justification. If the weather outdoors was a bit more inconsistent this go round, the water presented fewer challenges and the vibes onstage were good as ever.
What we got here were two extended solo versions of “Summer Dress” (firmly back in the rotation, it seems) and “The Roundabout,” including an expanded take on Ryley’s hilarious Nick Drake imitation (practically daring him to turn this thing into an actual song). Walker looked strong and in command up there after a little time off, and in excellent spirits even when some rough water stumbled him away from the mic once or twice. After that set, the boat-tested crew from GP came and joined Walker for a thirty-five minute collab of psychedelia, drone, and other genres that Ryley’s Twitter will surely make jokes about this morning. The jam made an already-unusual show completely one of a kind, and yet another example of how with Ryley on center stage, you really don’t ever know quite what you’re gonna get.
Given the challenging acoustics of the boat, I recorded this set up close with Schoeps MK4V microphones in a mobile setup. That turned out to be a good decision — the sound quality is excellent. Hope you dig it!
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