Joshua Ray Walker‘s songs would sound right at home on the classic country charts. At the same time, his sound is unmistakably his own. The artist, who wrote a trilogy of albums about the last night at a honky tonk – well-worn songwriting territory for the country genre – is an original. And now, he’s released this third album for Dallas’ State Fair Records, “See You Next Time.”
Walker joined Texas Standard to talk about his career and what he thinks was the turning point, when dive bar audiences started to pay attention to his songwriting. Listen to the interview in the audio player above or read the transcript below.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Texas Standard: You’re often introduced as an up-and-coming artist, but you’ve been at this for quite a while. How and when did you get started playing music?
Joshua Ray Walker: I’ve been playing these songs out for about 10 years after I started writing music. And then before that, I was playing lead guitar for other bands since junior high. I started playing guitar and banjo when I was about 6; I’m 30 now, so it’s all I’ve done as an adult. My whole adult life, I’ve been a working musician, so, long time.