AmericanaFest 2021: Best Things We Saw

By Jon Freeman & Joseph Hudak 

Annual roots-music gathering returned to Nashville with a festival and conference that highlighted the scene’s diverse sounds

Below is an excerpt from “AmericanaFest 2021: Best Things We Saw” that features Joshua Ray Walker: 

“Joshua Ray Walker’s Texas Range Stuns.

With his “Sexy After Dark” baseball hat and dye-job hairstyle sticking out underneath, Texas songwriter Joshua Ray Walker was hard to miss this year. He was also everywhere, playing gigs in sweaty clubs and on hotel rooftops. His Thursday afternoon set at the Bobby Hotel was mesmerizing, with Walker hushing the outdoor crowd with songs about his strained relationship with his late father (“Flash Paper”) and suicidal ideations (“Voices”). But Walker, one of the most promising of new songwriters, wasn’t afraid to have fun either: Every performance he gave of “Sexy After Dark” played up the song’s inherent swagger.”

Read Rolling Stone’s full article on AmericanaFest 2021 HERE.