It’s hard to fathom what the Appalachian musical landscape must have been like in the early 1900s when musicians would sit on their front porch surrounded by family and friends while they picked away, but we here at Plustapes have long extolled the virtues of that missing link in guitar wunderkid Ryley Walker. It was thanks to a chance encounter while Daniel Bachman (a.k.a. Sacred Harp) was on tour through the Midwest that their collaborative effort, Of Deathly Premonitions, came to be. Walker was excited to meet this fellow fingerstyle guitar traveller of comparable age and equal ability – the first thing they talked about was a shared love for Loren Connors and Sandy Bull. Not long after, they were talking record collections and collaborations. Of Deathly Premonitions is the result, four songs birthed from a relaxed session in the middle of the week during a trip Walker made to Bachman’s hometown of Fredericksberg, Virginia this past spring. With a few beers and a bit of ambition, the pastoral past meets the fingerstyle future.

Hear the bridges for yourself.