I was thinking about a bar just outside of Appleton, Wisconsin, called The Roundabout, that I’d sometimes go to with my parents.” What is ostensibly a song about “any of those bars in the mid-West where the beer is $2 for a giant glass of beer, and they’ve got chicken fingers and fries for $5” opens a portal into Ryley’s own blue-collar psychogeography, with inspired gambolling double bass from Anton Hatwich to help propel us there. All I had was ‘You could find me at the Roundabout’. “I didn’t really have any lyrics at that point. In September, over 1500 people turned up to watch Ryley and his band at Amsterdam’s legendary Paradiso club. Over the ensuing months, Ryley’s increasing desire to push himself beyond the strictures of songs he had already recorded, increased his hunger for concocting new material before ever increasing audiences. And a Christian education isn’t likely to save you from that.” Of “Sullen Mind”, the song which grew out of those improvisations, Ryley explains, “I felt like I wasn’t raised to have to deal with negative, dark things in my life, but the reality is that I do. Last May, before an audience of “about four people” in Cleveland Ohio, Ryley remembers springing a new riff upon long-time guitar foil Brian Sulpizio, over which he found himself singing the line, “I only have a Christian education.” Over a period of successive nights, this riff, attached to a single lyrical fragment, broadened out into what would become one of the signature songs on the next record – with Ryley as much a fascinated witness to its creation as those who saw it taking shape. Word of mouth and critical acclaim ensured sell-out audiences at his British shows, whilst a sprawling tour of the USA around 'Primrose Green' presented a perfect chance to workshop ideas for what would eventually become his third studio album, 'Golden Sings That Have Been Sung'. By the time of his 26th birthday last summer though, it became increasingly clear to Ryley that his recorded work was becoming less and less representative of the directions he and his close-knit group of musicians were taking in the live shows. Indeed, anyone who caught his performances throughout the course of 2015, will attest to Ryley’s apparently effortless facility to conjure a breath-taking spectacle from a standing start. After a year spent on the road, all that Ryley could associate with Chicago was the emotional debris he had left behind. For all of that, a holiday was the last thing on Ryley’s mind – and certainly not a holiday in his adopted hometown. Robert Plant declared himself a fan – as did double-bass legend Danny Thompson, with whom Ryley would later embark on a British tour.

In March, his second album 'Primrose Green', emerged to critical hosannas from the likes of NPR, Village Voice, Uncut, and Mojo – in the process, earning admiration of musicians who had chalked up no shortage of turntable miles in Walker’s life. The preceding months had been extraordinary. However you wished to measure it, he was surely due some sort of holiday. So, when deciding where to shoot the video for 'The Roundabout' with director Joe Martinez Jr., it's no surprise that Walker chose a uniquely Chicago locale: the Independence Day celebration in the West Side neighborhood of Pilsen.In November 2015, at the end of a ten month period which saw him play over 200 shows, Ryley Walker decided that he should probably head home. Recorded in Walker's adopted hometown of Chicago after a grueling year on the road, the album is entwined with the Windy City. Golden Sings That Have Been Sung is a homecoming album of sorts. Jovial new fathers-to-be, generous types who can't afford to buy a round, patrons who lament the diminishing returns of a $10 lotto ticket - you can find them all in 'The Roundabout.' One part Galileo and one part Charles Bukowski, the characters in Walker's song revolve like celestial bodies around a neighborhood dive bar. The result is a lovely summertime canvas that allows Walker to captivate the listener with sparse but vivid lyrics. Walker's virtuosic guitar work is muted on this track, joined by subtle but bubbly piano and keys under the direction of producer and former Wilco multi-instrumentalist LeRoy Bach. Ryley Walker, Golden Sings That Have Been Sung

Ryley walker the roundabout lyrics