Joshua Ray Walker is one of our newly found favourites here at Boon. Having just released his fourth album, we really are late to the party but then again, it’s never too late to join a party that’s going to keep on going for years to come. Walker is set for a huge career. His beautiful, unique vocals are sweet and peaceful to listen to. He is authentically country, and we love it!

What Walker has done with his new album What Is It Even? (His first album of covers, via Soundly Music) is nothing short of genius! An entire record dedicated to female singers who have inspired him over the years, Walker delivers a fresh take bringing a male voice to these well known classics and adding a bit of country to them!

What makes the album even more unique in the country music world, is that the artists he has covered aren’t all country singers, in fact only two are!!

The catalyst of What Is It Even? was sparked on the patio of the Tulsa, Oklahoma music venue and dive bar Mercury Lounge, a fitting origin story for any country record. But this is far from an ordinary country record. It was on that Tulsa patio, deep into tour, when Walker and drummer Trey Pendergrass were half joking about what their gospel jump blues version of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” would sound like, wondering “what if the Blues Brothers covered a Whitney Houston song?”

For someone who has made waves in country music for his vocal range, from energizing yodels to astonishing falsettos, Walker admits that what was required from this covers album was the hardest he’s ever pushed himself as a vocalist in the studio. Before this album was ever even an idea, these women – with their ability to create instant ear worms with their voices – helped Walker realize his vocal gifts when he used to sing a Beyonce or Sia song in the kitchen or the shower. He did what all of us do, only, unlike most of us, he discovered he could actually hit the notes.

Walker began his month-long, first-ever headline tour of Europe and the UK on August 11th. He’ll open for The Killers on September 18th and 19th in Reno, NV, then head out with The Mavericks for a run of Texas dates before opening Marcus King’s Fall tour.

Joshua was amongst the favourites at Long Road Festival with many attendees demanding he returns for a UK tour next year. His set on the Iconic Front Porch Stage is one to remember as it’s likely he will be playing larger stages by his next visit!

We caught up with Joshua not long after his set at The Long Road. Barely time to rest, Joshua had been travelling non-stop and then straight into his set then straight into interviews.

Joshua was so much fun to talk with. He made me feel very comfortable and his friendly persona invited a lot of off topic discussion which made him someone I could have talked to all day! In fact, I almost forgot it was an interview at all! We hope you find the off topic discussions interesting too!

Enjoy!

Hi, welcome to the Long Road, it’s good to have you here.

Thank you!

How long have you been here?

We flew here from Hamburg this morning and pretty much came straight to the stage to play!

Wow! Busy!

We left Denmark at Midnight, drove to Hamburg, went to the airport, had a 6am flight, landed here with a changeover in Frankfurt then drove straight here, so I haven’t really seen anything yet but I have been in Norway, Sweden and Denmark for the last two weeks!

I haven’t been to any of those places. What were they like?

Oh really? They were beautiful! Denmark has probably got the most similarities to the rest of mainland Europe. Norway has got the most natural beauty. I love it there! It was my second time touring Scandinavia.

I am jealous of you now haha! I want to go to Denmark and take the kids to the original Legoland.

I am a big lego fan!

Are you?

I grew up loving it but over the pandemic I got into loving it again because I was bored and it was calming. I got really into the lego Botanical collection. I love having plants around the house but I am gone too often to have them around the house and they would just die and so I covered my house in Lego plants.

Nice!!! I am trying to get my son into Star Wars Lego.

I built the Millennium Falcon when I was a kid, it’s one of the biggest sets.

That’s amazing !

Let’s go straight into What Is It Even because it’s such a great piece of art! In particular, I loved The Cranberries cover of Linger because I was a huge Cranberries fan growing up! What made you decide to feature that song?

I have always loved that song but I guess the catalyst that brought it on to the record is, I was driving back from a show with the band – Me and the band don’t really agree on anything to listen to in the van. Most of the time we don’t listen to anything and we all just put our earbuds in if we want to listen to music. So, it was the first time I remember listening to the radio and us all just spontaneously singing to it together. We were already in the process of making the record and so I felt like we had to add that one because all agreed on it!

It’s such a lovely version as well and I mean that because as a huge Cranberries fan, I am very judgemental haha!

Thank you! Getting Kyle Gass (Tenacious D) to play on the track was hilarious! He made friends with our bassist on an outlaw country cruise we were on earlier this year and he got asked to do it and agreed and I thought the recorder solo that he played on the song was pretty awesome.

What is the Outlaw Country Cruise?

Yeah so Sirius XM, you know they have the outlaw country radio station? They host a music cruise every year that leaves out of Miami. It lasts a week and there are like 70 bands or something like that on the cruise? Plus about 3500 passengers. There is music all day and every day on the boat. They are a lot of fun! You go into port every other day or so!!

Another Irish artist you have covered on the album is Sinead O’Connor. Again, what is it about the song that resonates with you?

I remember being a little kid and seeing the video for that song playing on MTV. I was really young! It was one of my first memories of seeing a television. I remember Jeopardy and I remember the Sinead O’Connor music video because it was so striking. It was black and white, she had the shaved head and she was crying for most of the video. As a little kid it was a pretty odd thing to see on the television. That visual just kind of always stuck with me. I am a really big fan of hers and of the rebel that she was. It made the shortlist pretty easily and once we worked it out with the band it all made sense.

That video means so much more now in many ways as it is so impactful!

She spoke out about mental illness and all these things that I find really important! Hindsight’s 20/20 right? It’s a shame what happened when she ripped up a picture of the pope on tv and got cancelled basically. If we could go back now and listen to what she had to say, who knows if it had gone the same way knowing what we know now?

I agree!

Do you have much involvement in the production side of your work?

Oh yeah very much so! I arrange all the songs and I have a pretty good idea of what I want from the production. I work very closely with one of my best friends, my Producer John Pedigo. We try to make the things I hear in my head come to life!

So I have been looking at your tweets. You were talking about Fudge Rounds and not really knowing what they were. Did you find out?

Oh yes, that was from when I was referencing a song that went viral, a week or two ago! There’s an Appalachian musician and he was singing about North of Richmond. It starts out as kind of a Woody Guthrie political song about the man keeping the people down and then it takes this weird turn in the second verse where he starts kind of complaining about fat people eating up all the welfare money. I mentioned it on socials a few times. I think the line is “if you’re 5ft 3 and 300 pounds, you shouldn’t be spending all your welfare check on fudge rounds”.

So I have actually never had one. You don’t have Little Debbie here or Hostess? They are like a snack cake brand. I don’t know what the equivalent would be here in the UK but I am sure you would have some sugary, really low quality treat like at a gas station. Because it was fat phobic, I wanted to make fun of it!

Well I am glad you did!

You also said you were hit by a bird in the Paris airport? What happened to the bird, in the Paris airport and is it ok and are you now ok?

Yeah I don’t know! It flew away. It hit me right in the forehead. I didn’t have a hat on and it flew right in my hairline. It skimmed off the front of my head and I didn’t see it coming?

Did it hurt?

It did hurt! I was looking for my gate number so I didn’t see it coming and I was walking full speed and all of a sudden there’s this bird, it was a small bird, like a Sparrow! There’s a few birds just flying around the airport.

Have you ever seen Disney’s The Rescuers? That kind of makes me believe that story is true haha! Mice flying on birds to get to different destinations haha!

Yeah! Hahaha! Maybe so! I forgot about that! Disney and Birds, have you ever been to Disneyland in L.A? The Tiki bird kind of thing?

Oh the Tiki room?

Yeah! That was one of my favourite parts of Disneyland!

Aww! Well you will have to go to Disneyland Paris next trip!

Yeah! I have had a lot of friends play there because apparently there’s like a fake Honky Tonk there!

Yes! Billy Bob’s. Have people actually played there? I go so many times and it’s a restaurant/bar that literally says Live Country Music on the building yet I have never seen anyone play there! Perhaps it stopped during the pandemic?

This would have been in the mid 2000’s probably! There were a couple of Texas bands that would go over there once a year for a residency. Eleven Hundred Springs, they were a big deal in North Texas and they would go and play a residency there.

That’s awesome! Well I hope they come back and more bands. Country Music in Disneyland Paris, you can’t get much better than that haha! So, again with reading your tweets. Big Hero 6 is one of my favourite Disney films…

That’s my favourite! You really were reading my tweets, that’s funny! That’s my “I’ve had an awful day and I just need to put something on that is nice”. If my girlfriend doesn’t have a terrible day, she’ll order up some Thai food and put on Big Hero 6.

Awww!

As you said in the tweet, I would also love for you to play Baymax!

Me too haha!

Thank you so much for talking today!

It’s been great talking to you

I hope you come back soon!

Me too, I would love to bring my band back!