Paleo Sol

Barry Walker Jr. Is a pedal steel guitarist whose technical prowess is rooted in traditional forms and whose compositions push into entirely new frontiers. Rooted in country and folk traditions, his playing explores minimalism, ambient and spiritual music. The Portland-based instrumentalist's playing is in high demand: in addition to his six solo records recorded under various monikers and collaborative projects Mouth Painter and North Americans, Walker has appeared on dozens of records and performed live with fellow Portlander Marisa Anderson and the late Michael Hurley. - Paleo Sol was composed during a monumental shift in Walker's own life as he and his wife, Valerie, welcomed their first child. The compositions are informed by those early nights, aiming for more serene, gentle passages and taking inspiration from lullabies, twilight, and new life blossoming, like the elves of Cuiviénen, despite what came after. Walker, a geologist, named the album in part after rocks called paleosols, which are ancient soils that are variably rusted and leached of their original components, plentiful in the John Day and Clarno Formations Walker has studied for years. The name takes on a dual meaning that reaches for an even deeper history, that of the ancient sun (the sun that broke apart the ancient water vapor, the sun that bore down on the Eohippus, the sun that brightens the tail of the comet, the sun that will be recycled billions of years hence). Walker's approach to interrogating the earth and it's shifts runs parallel to his approach to music: "The possibilities and uncertainty of pedal steel guitar often disorient me as a player and as a listener. The same is true for scientific exploration. Realizing the structural and harmonic components of a composition demands from me preparation, intense creativity, luck, and discipline, much like science." On Paleo Sol, Barry Walker Jr. #unearths new dimensions of his singular voice as a composer and as pedal steel player.