joshua ray walker

Concept albums are a thing of the past in country music. High-minded conceits like Johnny Cash Sings the Ballads of the True West and Willie Nelson Red Headed Stranger were much en vogue in the 1960s and ‘70s. Today, an album like Sturgill Simpson’s The Ballad of Dood and Juanita are the exception, not the rule. Yet that’s exactly how Texas singer-songwriter Joshua Ray Walker came out of the gate. His third long-player, See You Next Time, completes a trilogy beginning with his 2019 debut Wish You Were Here that marks him as one of country’s most exciting storytellers. “I didn’t want to have that stigma of a concept album on my first releases,” Walker, sporting a cowboy hat, vest, and short-sleeve button-up, admits over Zoom backstage from the State Fair of Texas. The idea, revolving around...