BEHIND THE MASK

“Holy shit this place is insane.” Sunday lunchtime and Ryley Walker, not long awake after a Saturday night in Kilkenny, Ireland, is already on-stage in John Cleere’s bar, a central hub of the annual Kilkenny Roots Festival. Little in life fazes the 27-year-old Chicago-based guitarist and singer. Folky, jazzy, bluesy, he’s a man of no fixed abode, forever on tour and embracing whatever the road throws in his path. Freewheeling, borderless, largely making it up as he goes along, Ryley Walker’s music is most often compared to such similarly restless spirits as John Martyn, Tim Buckley and Van Morrison. Kilkenny on a Saturday night, however, is something even he is agog with. “I was walking down the street about 1am, and there’s 18-year-old kids in polo shirts who look like they want to kick my ass,” he tells the audience while retuning his guitar. “But they’re so drunk they’re just puking in the street. And they apologise to me. Man I love this place!” Kilkenny is indeed a place to love. For the last 19 years, weaving between supremely pissed stag nights and hen parties, Kilkenny Roots has filled the Marble City’s pub back rooms and theatres, establishing itself as the heart and soul of Americana, country and folk in the British Isles. Bands plan their tours around it, from the sweet harmony folk of Teddy Thompson& Kelly Jones, to future country stars Cale Tyson and Barna Howard, scene stalwart John Murry (who loves the city so much he’s relocated from San Francisco), Southern firecrackers the Delta Spirit and venerable Richmond Fontaine, who chose two nights here as their European swansong before splitting for good. The weekend’s highlight, however, was Walker’s trio with the Norwegian jazz pair of drummer Ståle Solberg and upright bassist Julius Lind. Loose as the likes of lush and bucolic Primrose Green are on record, it’s nothing compared to their uncharted flights on-stage. Walker’s extreme picking makes

Live at Kilkenny Roots, unfettered improv-guitar wiz Ryley Walker talks self-doubt, origins and bringing it all on.