Ryley Walker, live at Ball Hall

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A few months ago I received an e-mail from Dustin Drase of Plus Tapes. “I've got this guitar wunderkid that we're putting out. The kid is incredible, I really want to chronicle what he's doing. He's like a young John Fahey or Tim Buckley.”

Already a fan of Ryley Walker, I kept a more keen eye on when he was playing, and tried to attend every time. If I did have my cameras, most of the shows were entirely dark and unfilmable affairs, like a full-band warehouse show, or the new back room of the Burlington, bathed in black and red.

After an almost pitch-black set by Jake Acosta, the space enthusiastically produced at a lamp that fit well with the warmth of this show. Julie Byrne followed, opting for the side of the room, in a warming setup of lights and candles. Bill Satek (Lechuguillas) gave a solo noise-guitar-sampler freakout that ended with rapping from the audience. Bones supposedly finished this night out, but I was on the road by then. It seemed like a good place to end an extremely enjoyable Solid Melts tape release show for Julie Byrne.

Andrew Scott Young of Mines/Tiger Hatchery joins on bass.