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 

these will automatically download when you click them:

  

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:

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 

Ryley Walker at the Empty Bottle in Chicago on March 5, 2022

After uploading my recording of openers Bitchin Bajas, the headlining act that evening is up next.

Ryley Walker is one of our best songwriters and performers in the US at the moment. Aside from the strength of his compositions, he makes an effort to improvise at each show so that each is unique. Add to the mix a rotating selection of all-star jazz musicians from the Chicago scene and it is an irresistible combination.

For many shows I upload here, I eliminate the stage banter, since I believe most of the time that what the performers say to the audience is more a reflection of what was happening in the moment and doesn't sound "right" to me to present it after the fact. Ryley is the exception. His between-song banter is better than most of what I have seen in comedy clubs.

I feel a strong need to mention Ryley's amazing band for this show -- the always-amazing Bill MacKay on guitar, wonderful bassist Andrew Scott Young, and versatile drummer Quin Kirchner.

Purchase Ryley's latest album here.

Recording details:

RYLEY WALKER
2022-03-05

Chicago, IL at the Empty Bottle

Ryley Walker: guitar, vocals
Bill MacKay: guitar
Andrew Scott Young: bass
Quin Kirchner: drums

Set list:
01 Banter - They Make Sausage Out of Opening Bands (0:56)
02 Striking Down Your Big Premiere (5:09)
03 Banter - Chili’s Was a Dark Zone (0:52)
04 The Halfwit In Me (15:10)
05 Banter - That Last Song Was a Ripoff of Jim O’Rourke (0:31)
06 Axis Bent (4:55)
07 Banter - I Was All Nervous (1:58)
08 Shiva With Dustpan (6:28)
09 Telluride Speed (7:59)
10 Opposite Middle (3:33)
11 Banter - Mom’s in Merch Mode (2:42)
12 The Roundabout (11:54)

Total time = 62:07

Source 1: mono SBD feed (shared with Quin Kirchner via XLR splitter cable)
Source 2: Stereo pair Beyerdynamic MC930 on 10 foot mic stand in NOS configuration, in front of mixing board.
Recorder: Sound Devices MixPre 6 at 24/96
Software: Audacity, Fission, xAct

downloads:

16bit, 44.kHz FLAC files (362 MB)

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

320 kbps mp3 files (144 MB)

highest quality lossy mp3 files possible 

Ryley Walker and Bill MacKay at Judson and Moore in Chicago on July 28, 2023

 We've covered several Ryley Walker and Bill MacKay shows here on the blog (going back to our first year of existence), so I was super excited to hear the news that they were reuniting for two gigs at the end of last July at Judson and Moore Distillery in Chicago.

Their two duo albums -- SpiderBeetleBee (2017) and Land of Plenty (2015) have become cult LPs because of their intricate interlocking finger style melodies. I told myself that Ryley returning to Chicago to perform again with Bill was heralding the onset of recording sessions for a third record, but it looks like that is still something for an uncertain future.

  

Judson can be a difficult place to present live music (and record it), given its narrow performance space, high ceiling and hard surfaces everywhere. Fortunately, this concert sounded delightful.

 

Buy their most recent album here.

Recording information:

RYLEY WALKER and BILL MacKAY

2023-07-28 

Chicago, IL
Judson and Moore Distillery

Ryley Walker: guitar
Bill MacKay: guitar

Setlist:
01 Grand Old Trout (9:27)
02 Pretty Weeds Revisited (4:45)
03 It Takes a Quilt -> Dragonfly (10:09)
04 Lonesome Traveler (6:16)
05 Promise Me (3:17)
06 Raga (9:32)

Total Time = 43:26

Source: SBD + Line Audio CM3 in NOS
Recorder: Sound Devices MixPre6ii at 32/96
Software: Audacity + Fission + xAct

downloads:

16bit, 44.kHz FLAC files (237 MB)

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

320 kbps mp3 files (180 MB)

highest quality lossy mp3 files possible 

 video of the concert the previous night at Judson and Moore:

Ryley Walker and Bill MacKay at the Fine Line Music Cafe, Minneapolis on April 23, 2018

I was visiting a relative in Minneapolis and flew in on April 23rd, not realizing when I booked the flight that I would be able to check out Ryley and Bill open for Calexico on the evening of my arrival. I was shocked to see what a large group of live music fans the Twin Cities were able to produce on a Tuesday night at one simple location (just one of four live music clubs which the "First Avenue" organization runs).

Photo uncredited. 

If you can help me identify the photographer, I would appreciate it!

I wasn't able to take any photos of this shorter opening set because I was not only using a stealth setup (even with permission to tape, I didn't feel like dealing with the notorious security guys at the Fine Line) but also using a new Shure MV88 microphone which is a sophisticated and quality microphone that is inserted into the lightning port of an iDevice and when used with the Shure Motiv app, produces some excellent sound for videos (such as this one of Steve Gunn). I was field-testing that particular setup for audio-only sound quality so I couldn't also snap photos.

The set of four songs was lively and had quite a bit of Ryley's trademark between-song goofy banter. For convenience I placed all the talking at the end of each file so each file will start with music.

setlist:

01 The Halfwit in Me (2018-04-23 Minneapolis)      13:08

02 Spoil With the Rest (2018-04-23 Minneapolis)     5:32

03 The Grand Old Trout (2018-04-23 Minneapolis)  13:30

04 The Roundabout (2018-04-23 Minneapolis)        12:44

This set was recorded after obtaining explicit artist permission by Richard Hayes using a modified pair of Audiotechnica AT853 cardioid microphones fed directly into a Sony M-10 recorder at 24/96 resolution. i stood 6 feet in front of the right stack (the room mix was in mono). The files were trimmed and gentle compression and careful EQ were applied using Audacity. The files were extracted to ALAC and mp3 format using xAct.

I will eventually add embedded links to souncloud so you can stream the whole show if you want, and also the show will be uploaded soon to Ryley's section of the (truly amazing) Live Music Archive on the archive.org website. In the meantime -- feel free to download the show from my server (see below)

Please support these fine artists and decent people by going to their shows, buying multiple copies of their merchandise (your friends need the music), and talking to them like they are real human beings after shows. If they don't mind.

https://www.ryleywalker.com

https://ryleywalker.bandcamp.com

http://www.dragcity.com/artists/bill-mackay-and-ryley-walker

https://billmackay.com

https://billmackay.bandcamp.com

http://www.dragcity.com/artists/bill-mackay

A guide to download formats:

WAV = files which are able to be burned as a CD without any conversion steps. This is the largest size of file on offer here.

ALAC = stands for Apple Lossless Audio Codec, which is a method of making a lossless copy of an audio file with about 50-60% of the space required with a WAV file. You can natively play these files on any Apple device and enjoy the same resolution and sound quality as a WAV file (it just takes up half as much space on your hard drive or device). 

mp3 - this is a lossy compression codec which utilizes psycho-acoustic "tricks" to drop certain audio information which is not noticeable under normal hearing situations. I am not a huge fan of mp3 but still find it useful because a high quality mp3 file will take up about 25% of the room on your storage device compared to a WAV file and about half as much as a ALAC file.

downloads:

16 bit, 44.1kHz WAV file (421 MB)

16 bit, 44.1kHz ALAC file (246 MB)

320 kbps mp3 file (103 MB)

Bill MacKay and Ryley Walker at Acme Records and Music Emporium in Milwaukee on October 20, 2017

This was a wonderful show. Ryley Walker and Bill MacKay have worked together for years, both as part of Ryley's touring band as well as a recording duo.

This concert was on the same day as the release of their most recent collaboration, SpiderBeetleBee on Drag City Records. Like the LP, this is an instrumental show except for one surprising cover song (I'll let you discover it on your own as you listen).

There has been a lengthy delay between recording the show and posting it, as I attempted to split the tracks and attach names to them. That is a much easier task when there are lyrics. I eventually decided to upload the show as two 40-minute sets. I think most people are going to listen to the concert that way anyway.

photos by Andrew Lyon

This performance was recorded with explicit artist permission by Richard Hayes using a pair of Beyerdynamic MC 930 microphones (which have a  cardioid pickup pattern) which were fed into a Tascam DR-70D recorder at 24/96 resolution. Audacity was used to provide very gentle EQ and minimal compression.

Please support these fine artists and decent people by going to their shows, buying multiple copies of their merchandise (your friends need the music), and talking to them like they are real human beings after shows. If they don't mind.

https://www.ryleywalker.com

https://ryleywalker.bandcamp.com

http://www.dragcity.com/artists/bill-mackay-and-ryley-walker

https://billmackay.com

https://billmackay.bandcamp.com

http://www.dragcity.com/artists/bill-mackay

A guide to download formats:

WAV = files which are able to be burned as a CD without any conversion steps. This is the largest size of file on offer here.

ALAC = stands for Apple Lossless Audio Codec, which is a method of making a lossless copy of an audio file with about 50-60% of the space required with a WAV file. You can natively play these files on any Apple device and enjoy the same resolution and sound quality as a WAV file (it just takes up half as much space on your hard drive or device). 

mp3 - this is a lossy compression codec which utilizes psycho-acoustic "tricks" to drop certain audio information which is not noticeable under normal hearing situations. I am not a huge fan of mp3 but still find it useful because a high quality mp3 file will take up about 25% of the room on your storage device compared to a WAV file and about half as much as a ALAC file.

16 bit, 44.1kHz WAV file (660 MB)

16 bit, 44.1kHz ALAC file (357 MB)

320 kbps mp3 file (179 mB)