RYLEY WALKER - Primrose Green

"Bert Jansch (and Pentangle), Tim Buckley, Nick Drake, John Martyn, Tim Hardin: these are just some of the ghosts that haunt the fringes of Primrose Green, the excellent second album from Chicago guitarist and songwriter Ryley Walker. Whilst his debut showed promise, not least in his tumbling, cascasing acoustic guitar playing, Primrose Green performs an impressive double stunt in better showcasing both his songwriting and singing on one hand, and his ambition to create something looser, freer and more spontaneous on the other.

To achieve the latter, Walker has employed a high level, fluent and creative band of seasoned Chicago jazz players. Walker understands the John Martyn of Inside Out as much as he understands the John Martyn of Bless The Weather, yet the songs here are also richly melodic, evocative and pastoral. The combination of inspired writing and productive improvising results in something freewheeling, psychedelic and fluid, music that is proud to wear its influences on its sleeve, but which also seems in its own way daring and personal." - MusicOHM