When it comes to cosmic and experimental pedal steel work that always delivers, there are few that match the quality and style of Barry Walker, Jr.

You may know of him from his outstanding performances with the Rose City Band, North Americans or Mouth Painter. His latest work, under the moniker Barry Walker Unit, finds Walker backed by fellow Rose City Band members, Ripley Johnson on guitar and John Jeffrey on drums, as well  as Mouth Painter’s Jason Wollmon on bass.With a generous amount of howling reverb and snarling fuzz, Johnson’s guitar and Walker’s pedal steel take the album’s first single, “High in the Hummocks,” into surreal dreamlike zones. Listening to this track, you can easily imagine neon colored clouds drifting overhead as you drive through a vast, barren landscape. The drums keep the tune chugging along as a meandering country instrumental, grounding it so the Pink Floyd-like vibes don’t pull the band too far out into space. This song (and much of the rest of the record) has a late night Neil and the Stray Gators bumming it out in a remote juke joint kind of ambiance, in full gritty, red-eyed glory. Cut live at the neighborhood pub in Portland that gave the album its namesake on the eve and anniversary of the May 1980 eruption of Lawetlat’la, you get the sense that perhaps not all of the smoke and debris have cleared in the PNW.

Fans of William Tyler, the Gunn – Truscinski Duo and BJ Cole will all find something to really love here. Preorder your copy on vinyl or digital ahead of its July 11th release date.

-KH