It was a 2012 bike accident that set Ryley on his current path. Both efforts were impressive displays of fingerpicking prowess though not fully elaborated documents. 'Evidence of Things Unseen' and 'Of Deathly Premonitions' (with Daniel Bachman) appeared briefly as limited cassette releases. By 2011, at age 21, he finally began issuing recordings from his already impressive catalog of compositions. He perfunctorily maintained day jobs with frequently amusing results, famously getting fired from Jimmy John’s for practicing in the walk-in freezer. Ryley transitioned slowly into the finger-style artist we know today in 20, still opening for synth nerds in basement venues, but growing by leaps and bounds in virtuosity. A few years of wasted finger-bleeding basement shows variably under the names Heatdeath and Wyoming (with requisite cassette-only releases) firmly established his name locally, if not always positively. Things start to pick up for young Walker when he moves to Chicago in 2007 and briefly attempts a collegiate lifestyle as he storms the always fecund local noise scene with his Jasmine-brand electric guitar just a cheap knock-off from which he could coax unearthly sound hallucinations. Raised on the banks of the ol’ Rock River in northern Illinois, Ryley’s early life doesn’t give us much more than Midwestern mundanity to speak of. His personal life might be tumultuous and his residential status in question, but his bedrock is disciplined daily rehearsal and an inexhaustible wellspring of songcraft.
Swap out rural juke joints for rotted DIY spaces and the archetype is solidly intact. That’s as much a testament to his roving, rambling ways, or the fact that his Guild D-35 guitar has endured a few stints in the pawnshop. Ryley Walker is the reincarnation of the true American guitar player.
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