Joshua Ray Walker at The Lower Third, London
Ever since I first heard him I knew that Joshua Ray Walker was one of the best singers and songwriters in the world right now. After seeing him live I am more and more convinced he is right up there with the very best active today.
Walker is a Texan country singer who has been performing for over 20 years and releasing incredible records for nearly a decade. This is country music in the more classic sense rather than the plastic sense – storytelling, heartache, humour and humanity. His records show country can still be as meaningful, immediate and vital as it has ever been, that it doesn’t need to be drenched in irony or faux-retro stylings or slick production.
More recently, Walker has faced a cancer diagnosis and treatment, that then progressed to a diagnosis of terminal cancer, followed by the miracle of that diagnosis being misplaced and him coming out the other side cancer-free. My family has had a similar story to tell in recent years so I feel a particular affinity for his work, especially what was produced around and after that terrible time. Surviving isn’t easy, being a survivor isn’t either, but as Walker’s latest album states, he “Ain’t Dead Yet”.
But before I get to his performance, a note for his support act – Malin Pettersen. She was the perfect opener, absolutely setting the scene and creating the right atmosphere for a very special evening. Her songs were a form of otherworldly americana, imitate yet powerful, and balancing both intensely personal moments and much bigger themes and ideas.
Pettersen has a rare voice, one that is technically flawless yet sounds totally effortless, switching from a tender, quiet head voice that transfixed the audience to the kind of looping jet-propelled melodies that filled the room. A really extraordinary artist, and an inspiring one too, someone not afraid to talk about the value of art and creativity in a harsh and unforgiving world.
She is back in London this October and I would very much recommend you getting tickets if you can.
And so to Joshua Ray Walker. Well. This was a real all-timer gig. One I will always remember. Just one man with a guitar commanding a room in the most human and wonderful way possible. I think “authenticity” gets used too much these days, either as some kind of short-hand for hoary old revivalism or as a simulacrum of real that is actually anything but. Yet, Walker is truly, properly authentic – this was a night of true soul, of someone reaching out and making a genuine connection with a room full of strangers.
We got the mind-blowing guitar playing and rattling rhythms of Bronco Billy, the sweetness of Dumpster Diving, the evocative storytelling of Boat Show Girl and Lot Lizard. There was the the tender ache of True Love and the playful arm around the shoulder of Texas Sober. Ain’t Dead Yet became an anthem, everyone encouraged to sing along. Capital Letters was a highlight, one of his greatest songs, one of a growing list of proper, honest-to-goodness country music standards that Walker is writing, the kind of song that gives you the best kind of shivers. Voices might have the been the standout performance, Walker’s voice and delivery literally stunning the audience into hushed awe. An intense, transcendent moment.
Walker is not just a great singer and songwriter but an amazing performer and engaging raconteur too – really funny, relatable, open, silly, heartfelt. With each introduction he brought us closer to the songs, giving them more context, more meaning – from explaining his medical history before Ain’t Dead Yet to the relationship with his grandfather that inspired Capital Letters. We heard how he has been inspired by truck stops and boat shows and rummaging around dumpsters, how he has been able to mine the specific (an overheard conversation, a difficult post-gig exchange, his grandfather’s handwriting in his toolshed) and create something truly universal. This is the alchemy of a truly special songwriter, to move beyond platitudes, to root songs in the real, but find something we can all relate to, whoever we are and wherever we are.
Steve Earle famously said “Townes Van Zandt’s the best songwriter in the world, and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.” Well, if I had a pair of cowboy boots I would do the same on behalf of Joshua Ray Walker. He just might be the best singer and performer out there too.
It is nights like this that remind me how important art can, and should, be. How important live music is, and especially live music that is accessible and intimate and isn’t just a once-a-year treat at some stadium where you realise you’re mainly watching a screen rather than the stage. We live in truly difficult times, politically and often personally, and great art helps you to realise that you are not alone, that there is something common in the human experience, there is something worth treasuring, something worth fighting for. Both Pettersen and Walker reminded me of all that, gave me a little comfort, a little hope, a little glimpse of how life is and how it could be. I was fortunate to be there. We are fortunate to have artists like this. We ain’t dead yet.
Wait until next year 