Barry Walker - Diaspora Urkontinent (2018)

Barry Walker is a multi-instrumentalist blurring the lines of tradition and experimentation. His approach integrates elements of folk, country, drone, rock & roll, electronic, and exotica. Modes of melody, joy, and spiritualism are mingled with dischord, sadness, and impotence. Barry is a self-taught musician whose creative output is informed by the study of granite magmatism, geochronology, Ralph Stanley, Red Rhodes, Evan Parker, and more. His weapons of choice are the pedal steel guitar, guitar, and singing.

Barry grew up in Tennessee and moved west at age 25 to study geology at Oregon State University. He has conducted research on magma systems in eastern Oregon, southern Nevada, Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile, spending large stretches of time in the field. The meditation of fieldwork and the expansive mood of the geologic continuum deeply permeates his musical work.

Since arriving in Corvallis, OR, Barry has released three solo LP’s, lead a rock and roll-country band, Barry Walker and the Tanks, and played pedal steel in numerous bands, including Roselit Bone, Mouth Painter, Hearts of Oak, SPUR! and Osprey Sisters. He has also accompanied many a great Northwest musician, such as Michael Hurley, Marisa Anderson and more. He spent 2016 and 2017 touring across the U.S. with Roselit Bone and in 2018, he will release his debut solo LP on Driftless Recordings, Diaspora Urkontinent. The ten tracks are a meditative exploration of pedal steel sounds and hypnotic melodies, reflective of his meticulous and deliberate study of the natural world around him.

Diaspora Urkontinent, Barry Walker’s debut solo LP on Driftless Recordings, is a meditative exploration of pedal steel sounds and hypnotic melodies, reflective of his meticulous and deliberate study of the natural world around him.