The 1st clash of the necks from polymath guitarists MacKay & Walker, taped live at Chicago’s own Whistler bar for release on the Whistler label. Reissued by us ‘cause of these dudes’ uncanny alchemy and their constant, ever-melding flow. It’s an imperative: there’s not enough records around with such intense properties! Coincidentally, it came out 10 years ago. Big deal! We’d have done it when it was only 9 years old too – we just got busy, okay?
Drag City is pleased to announce the reissue of hypnotic syncretic guitar duo Bill MacKay & Ryley Walker’s recorded debut, Land of Plenty. And just in time for the 10th anniversary of the original release!
Not that it matters to us, but this is HISTORY in the remaking here, people! As well as some right stimulating music for you pure listeners out there — and some of the rest of you, too.
Now, who remembers where they were in January 2015? Bill and Ryley don’t need to, they’ve got Land of Plenty to remind ‘em. That’s when they made the record, but a scant year before, can you believe it — they barely knew each other! Once they met, though, they hit it off over mutual influences, like Albert King, Laura Nyro, Nick Drake, Bert Jansch, Ali Akbar Khan and Jimi Hendrix. Most of those folks are guitarists, just like Bill and Ryley. But Laura Nyro played piano and Ali Akbar Khan, sarod. Now maybe in your duo, one picker radiates that kind of diversity — but both? This was the first clue as to how heavy it might be if these two lads pooled their talents. They got to work. And play.
A year later, they were loaded into The Whistler every single Friday night on the calendar in January 2015. A residency, so called, but these resident players had designed not simply to entertain each night, but also to record the pool of material they’d woodshedded together in the recent months. Yeah! Bill and Ryley dared to dream, man. A record, of all new originals, recorded live. Then when they went back to review the tapes, they were reliving the dream! They’d achieved that finest of things, rendering their all-new material in ultimate form, live and in person.
Listening today, we’d hardly believe it, if it weren’t something we’d just typed above! While the two of them are generally divided up by speakers, which is a groovy old-school way to have stereo sound that we LOVE, their shared headspace is a constant flow of ever-melding play, ranging across all sorts of genres and geographies from east to west and folding them immaculately into each other, whether in moments of transition or extended meditation. Listening out for each other as they’re picking, these boys dance together and never land a foot wrong. They are ON. Whether head to head with six-strings or with Bill picking up his Requinto, or Ryley picking up his 12-string, these performances sound RICH. The live capture seems to enhance the sound in all sorts of unpredictable ways that activates with the chemistry in their playing, and ultimately serves to elevate Land of Plenty in its field! There’s very few acoustic guitar records that hit quite like this.
It was in August of 2015 that Land of Plenty was released, on Whistler Records. Ten damn years ago. Damn it! Time goes by and things change… it’s just crazy. But if crazy means we get to push out our own copy of this gorgeous Bill MacKay & Ryley Walker duo recital, then call us crazy. Please. Cause that’s what we’re only too happy to do. Plus, let’s get ‘em back in the clubs and get another one of these together! Lightning’s been known to strike twice! Wow! Yeah.
A1. It Takes A Quilt
A2. Rickshaw Waltz
A3. Gold Season
B1. Land Of Plenty
B2. Promise Me
B3. Blues For Arthur
B4. Silver Cup
