Ryley Walker @ Norwich Arts Centre
Compelling to watch, and to hear.
Any lingering doubts about this being just another Americana folk gig are dispelled almost before the opener, On The Banks of The Old Kishwaukee has progressed beyond the first few bars. Introduced as “an ass-kicker..well, sort of...”, it starts slowly as Walker methodically builds up the complexity and momentum of the guitar, and the band wait for a cue to take up their parts. Those of the audience that have hooked their thumbs into the waistband of their jeans expecting a foot-tapping hoedown are going to be disappointed. Likewise, he ain't gonna be no folk troubadour either. Instead, what develops is a set that pushes the boundaries between 70's folk, jazz, country and blues, fuses them together again and spits out the result in a mesmerising display of musicianship and improvisation. The title track from his latest album Primrose Green is a worthy example.
When the band does leave the stage for the solo segment, we are treated to an homogenised solo version of the guitar duet It Takes A Quilt, recently recorded on an album with fellow Chicagoan Bill Mackay. This is then contrasted with a cover of Tim Hardin's If I Were a Carpenter, returning a Motown classic to its devotional folk origins. Later we get a version of the Cocaine Blues, as immortalised by Johnny Cash inside Folsom Prison.
Ryley Walker has an intense self-absorbed stage presence that suggests a man still exploring the extent of his own talent, a man who reacts by allowing himself and his songs to be immersed into his band whilst observing the result. It is almost as if he sees his latest album as history almost before it has been released. Compelling to watch, and to hear.
8/10
