Joshua Ray Walker

1. 1. Welcome to Daytrotter
   2. Capital Letters
   3. Texas Sober
   4. Ain’t Dead Yet

I don’t know much about singing, at least not in the technical sense, but I’m pretty sure I can tell a good one from a bad one. Joshua Ray Walker’s got a good voice, maybe one of the best I’ve heard in a long time. I found an old record of his, What Is It Even?, around Christmastime last year and have held onto it tight ever since. Walker can spin a story, and his characters are compelling and familiarly flawed. They’re human portrayals of human people, though the particulars on his new tape, Ain’t Dead Yet, land closer to home for Walker than one might expect. “Human beings are super multi-faceted, and part of the reason I wrote about characters in the first place was because I could explore things about myself that I didn’t feel comfortable exploring if I were to admit that it was really about me,” he said. One cancer diagnosis later and Walker has emerged healthy and full of memories he’s asked us to step into alongside him. Ain’t Dead Yet isn’t just a declaration, but an earned occupation. Check out these tunes Walker recorded for Daytrotter. They’re powerful. 

Image by Johnnie Cluney