Ryley Walker

Born in Rockford, Illinois, and long associated with Chicago's indie scene, Ryley Walker has since the early 2010s developed a writing style that sits between psychedelic folk, folk-jazz, indie rock and acoustic song forms that are sometimes progressive. Guitarist and singer, he first drew attention with several self-produced or small-press EPs before releasing All Kinds of You in 2014, then Primrose Green in 2015, an album that more clearly established his taste for flexible arrangements, detailed guitar work and the intersections between American folk tradition, improvisation and electric textures. The rest of his career shows a constant evolution, with Golden Sings That Have Been Sung in 2016, Deafman Glance in 2018 and Course in Fable in 2021, where Walker further broadens his spectrum toward more moving forms. His career also includes several parallel projects that illuminate his relationship to the collective and to improvisation, notably with Bill MacKay on Land of Plenty in 2015 and Spiderbeetlebee in 2017, with drummer Charles Rumback on Cannots in 2016 and Little Common Twist in 2019, as well as with Kikagaku Moyo on Deep Fried Grandeur in 2021. Ryley Walker thus moves between clubs, indie scenes and more experimental contexts, with a playing style that favors oblique melodies, supple rhythms and instrumental developments.