Joshua Ray Walker See You Next Time (CD)

(State Fair Records) 10 tracks, digipack.
Like its predecessors, "See You Next Time" was created at Audio Dallas Recording Studio with producer John Pedigo and a top-notch cast of musicians, including pedal steel player Adam "Ditch" Kurtz and rhythm guitarist Nathan Mongol Wells of the Ottoman Turks (the country-punk band with which Walker is lead guitarist).

The album's pristine but timelessly vital sound provides a prime backdrop for Walker's narration, an element that blurs the lines between fabulous fiction and personal revelation.
"I learned a long time ago that writing from a character's perspective can tell you things about myself," he points out.

Through the tremendous loss he's suffered in recent years, See You Next Time is the strongest work yet from an extraordinarily gifted songwriter steeped in equal parts weary pragmatism and the kind of unabashedly romantic spirit that defies cynicism.