When: 7.30pm on Sunday 19 April 2015
Where: Gullivers, 109 Oldham Street, Manchester, M4 1LW

PLEASE NOTE: Due to exceptional demand, Ryley Walker and Jenn Grant’s show at the Castle Hotel now takes place across the road at Gullivers. Original tickets remain valid, and all other show details remain the same.

We’re delighted to be welcoming back Ryley Walker – last in town with Angel Olsen!

Ryley Walker is a 24-year-old singer/songwriter and guitarist from Chicago. Having kicked around Chicago’s experimental free and noise music scene for several years, Ryley recently turned to a folk-rock sound inspired by some of his heroes, among them Tim Hardin, Tim Buckley and Bert Jansch.

The result is All Kinds of You, a poised and accomplished debut album, recorded in Chicago by Cooper Crain (guitarist/keyboardist in Cave). The album was released by Tompkins Square (James Blackshaw, Hiss Golden Messenger, Michael Chapman, William Tyler) in April 2014.

Ryley’s second long-player is due for release on Dead Oceans (Bowerbird, Califone, Phosphorescent) this March. Primrose Green begins near where All Kinds of You leaves off but quickly pushes far afield. The title sounds pastoral and quaint, but the titular green has dark hallucinogenic qualities, as does much of the LP.

‘With the charming swagger of jazz-folk troubadour Tim Buckley and the resonant, full picking style of Bert Jansch, The West Wind comes from Walker’s first widely available release, a three-song 12”. With acoustic guitar in hand and a voice like browned butter, Walker swings and sways in a lush string-and-piano arrangement right out of Buckley’s Starsailor; it slowly picks up to a swirling gallop without bucking the rhythm’ – NPR Music

‘Because he plays guitar so damn well, it’s tempting to lump Ryley Walker in with the growing number of pickers and strummers like William Tyler and Steve Gunn. That comparison isn’t too far off either, especially if you want to use a phrase like “post-American Primitive.” But Walker counts himself a Chicagoan, so it’s equally apt to align him with local post-rock outfits like Tortoise and the Sea & Cake‘ – Pitchfork

We’re delighted to be welcoming Canada’s Jenn Grant as guests for the show.

At the start of 2015 Sydney Morning Herald wrote ‘Jenn Grant’s dreamy, harp-and woodwinds folk is the work of a painter born in paradise’, while Grant’s latest offering Compostela has been hailed back home in Canada as her best work to date. It’s no wonder it’s just earned her two JUNO nominations. The album features an array of guest performers including Ron Sexsmith and Don Kerr, Doug Paisley, Buck 65, Sarah Harmer and Rachel Sermanni, to name but a few. Having just completed her debut Australian tour, Jenn will embark on a series of European and US shows between March and May.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to exceptional demand, Ryley Walker and Jenn Grant’s show at the Castle Hotel now takes place across the road at Gullivers. Original tickets remain valid, and all other show details remain the same.

This show has now sold out. For updates about future Ryley Walker shows, join our mailing list at the top of the site.

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