On April 16th, AMG had the opportunity to interview Ryley Walker, an indie-folk singer who hails from Rockford, Illinois. You’ll get to hear another side of Ryley Walker that has been never seen before. If you want to hear the interview then listen to the audio! Also, read the review of the show Ryley Walker did at the Soda Bar in San Diego below.
Ryley Walker made a triumphant return to San Diego. With a new album on the horizon for the singer-songwriter, Ryley Walker came back to San Diego to perform at the Soda Bar. His album which is set to be released later in May, Deafman Glance, is highly anticipated. I haven’t heard much of Ryley before seeing him live but when I listened to some of his songs on Spotify, my ears were hooked right away. There’s so much realness in his lyrics and his voice is fantastic. Listening to his songs cause me to paint such vivid images in my head of whatever he is singing about. This made me excited to see him perform.
The opener was a band called Ditches. The band was local and actually from Encinitas. Ditches hasn’t performed at Soda Bar in over a year so it was great to see them play there. I found out the band recently released an album back in late April too. Their performance was good but just stuck in my head was the thought of what Ryley’s set was going to be like. I just interviewed Ryley right before his set and he had such insightful answers and a great sense of humor. All of this made me wonder what his performance would be like after seeing his personality was as wonderful as his music.
Ryley Walker walked on to the stage and performed in front of the crowd alone. It was a shame to see him performing without a backing band but at the same time, it was interesting because it felt more intimate. He played many of his fan-favorites such as “The Roundabout” and “Telluride Speed”. The songs featured great guitar work and I my ears could not help but grip to every lyric he was belting out. He had some great banter in between songs as well. He had hilarious stories about the double-edged sword that are breakfast burritos and how he envied how schools in San Diego had outdoor lockers.
A highlight of the night was near the end of his set where he played “Opposite Middle”. It was a very touching song and caused me to come to the conclusion that he was one of the best acts i’ve ever seen at the Soda Bar. I was a bit bummed out that he did not perform one of my favorite songs, “Sullen Mind” but getting to see whole set more than made up for him not performing that song. There was just something about him singing his deeply introspective lyrics on the Soda Bar stage that was captivating. You could not help but ignore everyone surrounding you and just focus on Ryley Walker singing his beautiful songs. Ryley Walker is the real deal, and a treat if you have the opportunity to see him live.
Make sure to listen to his latest album, Deafman Glance, when it is released on May 18th!
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