One of those records that impressed me much this year was Ryley Walker's
Primrose Green. My place is a really desert for live acts - especially when they mostly unknown and new. So I was lucky that he appeared in a small club a few days ago. So I decided to give myself a pleasure and join this concert. The distance to the venue was only 12 miles away but I had an endless journey going by public transport. It would be easy to go there by car - if you have one. A couple of weeks ago I sold my 14 year old car. It was a Volvo running by diesel and no carbon-particulate filter. In these times it is hard to drive to different cities with an automobile that hasn't a reduced emission. If you do it and the police will grab you you'll get a penalty about 80 EURO. In addition I live in the center of our town, go to work with public transport and don't use the car very rarely. Counting the miles I used the car for the last two month I added the miles and the result was the I drove almost 100 miles in this time. That was the last fact that I decided to sell this car because I think it is not necessary to have a own car, paying fees, insurance and taxes and don't use it. A friend of mine who is reselling cars made me a good offer and I sold my old car. That are the facts when I went to the gig. Moving 35 minutes from the middle of Stuttgart to a far away destination in the small mountains beside my hometown. I came easily to the place where the concert should take place. I arrived one hour before and there were not more than 15 people waiting for the artist to start. While I was sitting outside for a beer and a cigarette Ryley Walker appeared and I sat down with him to a pint of beer. It was a well conversation about the Chicago music scene. Then he left to get the gig done. I've been to many concerts during the last decades but less grabbed me the way he did. The show was awesome and I stood there and almost couldn't believe what I've seen. Ryley is an artists that treats his guitar like less people before. He played it with his fingers like a hurricane and I got a feeling right back in the late 70s where artists like Bert Jansch or Nick Drake showed up. He and his band played not that sound that's everybody's cup of tea. Listening to his very intimate song he some artists came up my mind: Tim Buckley, Van Morrison and especially Tortoise. Yes, Tortoise, a Chicago based band which combined rock, ambient and jazz in a very unique sound. I was so grateful that I took the travel to watch the show. Maybe the highlight of this year.
This is an edit of a live taped show by
acidjacknyc who gives us maybe the best live taped music at all.
