Ryley Walker at Hare and Hounds in Birmingham, England on August 31, 2022

I'm taking the opportunity afforded by the recent announcement that Ryley Walker will be returning to Big Ears Festival next year (after an inexcusable 12 year absence) to look around on my hard drive for some vintage live Ryley shows to share.

This set was recorded at the wonderful Hare and Hounds club in Kings Heath -- a suburb just to the south of England's second largest city. The trio of Ryley on guitar and vocals, bassist Andrew Scott Young and percussionist Ryan Jewell took the stage after a wonderful opening set by force of nature Gwenifer Raymond (offered up here).

Despite not having access to a soundboard feed, I feel that this is a nice recording of this varied set. An unexpected treat here is a cover of an XTC song, but all the songs performed this night are wonderful -- and Ryley is in high quality banter mode.

Purchase his most recently released material here.

Recording information:

RYLEY WALKER

2022-08-31

Birmingham, England

Hare and Hounds 

Ryley Walker: guitar and vocals

Andrew Scott Young: bass

Ryan Jewell: drums

Setlist:

01 Banter - We Couldn't Find the Factory (0:52)

02 Striking Down Your Big Premiere (8:50)

03 Banter - We Listened to Black Sabbath the Whole Way Here (1:13)

04 The Halfwit in Me (18:01)

05 Axis Bent (4:41)

06 Banter - Thought I'd Hit You With a Little James Taylor (1:30)

07 Telluride Speed (9:58)

08 Knuckle Down [XTC](4:50)

09 Shiva With Dustpan (5:27)

10 Banter - Ticket Sales in Guildford Are What You Would Call Bleak (1:10)

11 Opposite Middle (3:47)

12 Banter - Yeah, The Kebab's Pretty Good (1:51)

13 The Roundabout (27:44)

Total time: 89:54

Recorded with permission by Richard Hayes for this blog

Microphones: Line Audio CM3 (ORTF)

Recorder: Sound Devices MixPre 6ii

Software: Audacity

There was cell phone interference from 14:00-14:50 of track 13 — I used a patch from the source by Dimeadozen user “auto_pilot” to repair.

audio downloads 

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24 bit, 48 kHz FLAC files (998 MB)

these are the highest resolution audio files which I was able to record at the time

320 kbps mp3 files (473 MB)

highest quality mp3 files possible

video of "Knuckle Down" from this performance:

Gwenifer Raymond at the Hare and Hounds in Birmingham, England on August 31, 2022

I spent the last few days of August and the first few of September of 2022 following both Ryley Walker and the Handsome Family as they toured around England. One big surprise of that trip was the fiery Welsh-born guitarist Gwenifer Raymond, who opened for Ryley at shows I saw in Exeter and Birmingham. She is much better known now, but for me at those shows she was a discovery. 

Buy her latest album here.

Recording information:

GWENIFER RAYMOND
2022-08-31
Birmingham, UK at Hare and Hounds

Gwenifer Raymond: acoustic guitar

Tracklist:
01 The Three Deaths of Red Spectre ~ Deep Sea Diver (11:03)
02 Worn Out Blues (6:10)
03 Gwaed am Gwaed (5:53)
04 Ruben's Song (4:20)
05 Hell for Certain (6:37)

Total time = 34:03

Microphones: Line Audio CM3 in NOS on stand
Recorder: Sound Devices MixPre6ii
Software: Audacity, Fission, xACT

downloads:

16bit, 44.1 kHz FLAC files (219 MB)

these lossless files can be burned to CDR, if you are into that sort of thing

320 kbps mp3 files (85 MB)

highest quality lossy mp3 files possible 

Gwenifer Raymond at the Phoenix in Exeter, England on September 2, 2022

I ran into Andrew Scott Young and Ryan Jewell in the street outside the Hare and Hounds in the King's Heath suburb of Birmingham, England on the last day of August, 2022. They were coming back from eating before the Ryley Walker show where they would provide the brilliant rhythm section. I greeted them cheerfully, and I think they may have been surprised at my American accent.

"Hey!" Ryan exclaimed and pointed at my Chris Forsyth t-shirt. "I played on that album!" I nodded and told him I wore it especially because he would be performing. With them, very quiet, was a young woman I would later find out was Gwenifer Raymond -- a Welsh acoustic guitarist who was opening for Ryley on that segment of his UK tour. I don't think I said hello to her, probably because half my brain was thinking about all the challenges I would have recording later that night.

When she did appear on stage that evening, barefoot, looking defiant yet confidently amused, I wasn't prepared for her powerful performance. There were elements of fingerstyle and blues, British folk and something else mixed in as well. Someone I met after the show said she had been a force of nature. I still feel that is an excellent description of what it is like to see her perform.

I'll be sharing my recording from that night soon, but first I wanted to share this performance from a few days later, in the very lovely town of Exeter at the Phoenix arts and performance center. For this performance I was able to obtain a mono soundboard feed to mix in with my trusty and compact Line Audio CM3 microphones. I knew what I was in for, and was happy to see that she had a 45-minute opening slot compared to the half-hour slot she was given in Birmingham.

Buy her most recent album here.

Recording information:

GWENIFER RAYMOND
2022-09-02
Exeter, England at the Phoenix

Gwenifer Raymond: guitar

Setlist:
01 The Three Deaths of Red Spectre (8:36)
02 Deep Sea Diver - Sometimes There's Blood (7:45)
03 Worn Out Blues (5:58)
04 Marseilles Bunkhouse, 3am (7:34)
05 Gwaed am Gwaed (5:23)
06 Ruben's Song (4:52)
07 Hell For Certain (6:54)

Total time = 47:02

Microphones: Line Audio CM3 in ORTF configuration
Additional source: mono SBD feed
Recorder: Sound Devices MixPre6ii at 32/96
Software: Audacity, Fission, xAct

https://gweniferraymond.com/
https://exeterphoenix.org.uk/

downloads:

16bit, 44.kHz FLAC files (293 MB)

these lossless files can be burned to CDR, if you are into that

320 kbps mp3 files (116 MB)

highest quality lossy mp3 files possible 

Ryley Walker at Strange Brew in Bristol, England on September 17, 2024

I was lucky to be able to catch Ryley Walker solo on the second date of what he is saying is his last major tour. This sold out performance was at a 350-capacity coffee shop / bar / performance space in Bristol, England with nice acoustics and a delightful sound engineer named Annalisa.

Ryley performed songs from his albums Primrose Green, Golden Sings That Have Been Sung, and Course in Fable, along with lovely covers of songs by John Martyn and Anne Briggs.

Purchase his most recent album here.

Recording information:

    

RYLEY WALKER

2024-09-17

Bristol, England

Strange Brew

Ryley Walker: Acoustic guitar and voice 

Setlist:

01 Rang Dizzy (4:40)

02 Banter - I Got Into Footie (1:13)

03 The Roundabout (10:37)

04 Striking Down Your Big Premiere (4:34)

05 Age Old Tale (4:22)

06 Over the Hill (John Martyn) (2:44)

07 On the Banks of the Old Kishwaukee (6:27)

08 Banter - In America We Call Fall ‘Brit Folk Season’ (1:47)

09 Go Your Way (Anne Briggs) (4:25)

10 Primrose Green (5:35)

11 Raga (6:17)

Total time = 52:41

microphones: Line Audio CM3 in ORTF

additional source: mono SBD feed

recorder: Sound Devices MixPre6ii at 32/96

software: Audacity, Fission, xAct

Recorded with explicit artist permission by Richard Hayes

Special thanks to Annalisa for the soundboard feed

Warm thanks to Ryley for being ardently pro-taper and for always doing his best to alleviate the obstacles which music preservationists often face

https://www.strangebrewbristol.com/

https://ryleywalker.bandcamp.com/album/course-in-fable

downloads:

24bit, 44.kHz FLAC files (521 MB)

these lossless files can be burned to CDR, if you are into that, using most burning software

320 kbps mp3 files (133 MB)

highest quality lossy mp3 files possible