Duncan Walters Proudly Announces Guardian
The Follow Up to His Critically Acclaimed Debut
Guardian Drops on August 21, 2007 with National Distribution.
"The Album is Awesome"
jpoet - Country / Americana Music Writer
San Francisco Weekly
"...one of this year's sleepers.
It's a gem of a record !"
Michael Lipton - For the Daily Mail
Charleston Daily Mail
"I was knocked out by it"
David McGee
Country and Americana Music Editor
Barnes & Noble.Com
"From honky tonk, Cajun to straight up country there is one word that sums up what Walters is about: sincerity.
"
David Cowling
Americana-UK.com
"Occasionally there is an artist who re-establishes and re-enacts
the innocence, integrity and simple joy that sometimes seems so lost [in
country music]. Duncan Walters is one of those artists."
Doug Floyd
Altcountrytab.com
Guardian, the second album by singer/songwriter Duncan Walters, displays the same passion and impressive musicianship that made his 2003 debut, Northern Rain, a critical favorite. Walters combines elements drawn from the worlds of singer/songwriter, folk, country, Cajun and honky tonk for an undeniably modern sound that¹s built on a bedrock of tradition. Like its predecessor, Guardian was produced by Walters and tracked live in the studio with his regular Austin, Texas sidekicks: B. B. Morse (Willie Nelson, John Arthur Martinez, Merle Haggard) on stand up and electric bass, Phillip Stevens on the Telecaster and Kevin Hall and Ron Irwin on drums. Guest players included five time Grammy winner Flaco Jimenez on accordion, Tommy Spurlock (The Band, George Jones, Emmylou Harris, Flying Burrito Brothers) on pedal steel and Bobby Flores (Ray Price, Willie Nelson, Doug Sahm) on fiddle and mandolin. All the players contributed their talents to the arrangements and the result is a real time, down home album. It¹s marked by Walters¹ sharp guitar work, first-rate melodies and his restrained baritone, a voice that recalls the weathered tones of Merle Haggard and Guy Clark.
The songs on Guardian retain the warmth, texture and live feel of Walters'
debut, but the new songs dig deeper into the heartache and sorrows of
everyday existence, shining a little bit of light into even life¹s darkest
corners. "Guardian of the Sky" is a slow, bluesy meditation on mortality and
aging that finds comfort in the love of children and family. Walters
delivers an aching, slightly ironic vocal complimented by Spurlock's weeping
pedal steel and the understated twang of Stevens' guitar. "Spin," the
album's most poignant love song, explores the inconsolable wound of jealousy and the insecurity and self-doubt it breeds. Walters almost whispers the distressing lyric as Stevens showers the background with shimmering fills as delicate as teardrops. "Greyhound" is an old fashion drinking song driven by Stevens' clanging guitar, bouncy Tejano meets Cajun accordion work by Flaco Jimenez and a lyric that details the hazards life in a post 9/11 world.
"Crystal White Girl" is a raucous, edgy honky tonk rocker with a snarling
vocal and abrasive guitar work that could be about a drug addled female or
maybe methamphetamine itself. "Dancing Girl" and "Standing in the Sun" are
seductive songs about love and redemption full of cryptic images that spin
subtle webs of mystery. "Talk Radio/Fly Away" has a jaunty beat and soaring
pedal steel guitar that provide a startling contrast to the song's
restrained anger. It's an anti-war song that laments the loss of innocent
life and the lies those left behind often tell themselves to get through the
day. The songs on Guardian aren't always an easy listen, but their telling
insight and innate musicality stir up the kind of profound emotions that
can't be faked. Walters may not be for everyone, but those who listen with
an open heart will discover an artist of rare compassion with an important,
affecting message.
Duncan Walters started life in a town in Southern Ohio near the Kentucky border, but grew up in the Green Mountains. He picked up the guitar in grammar school and, by the time he was in high school, was listening to the works of Townes van Zandt, Guy Clark, Ray Wiley Hubbard and other Texas mavericks - years before he made Texas his home. "While everyone else was listening to Led Zep I was listening to tunes by Bob Wills, Jerry Jeff Walker and Waylon and Willie."
After he got out of high school, Walters traveled up and down the east coast
playing music in honky tonks and biker bars as a duo ÂWalters on acoustic guitar with a bass player. He was also writing songs, but none he considered "keepers." I couldn't write serious songs about
life, because I didn't have any experience to draw upon. It's easier to write a
song like [Jerry Jeff Walker¹s] "Mr. Bo Jangles" if you have been in
jail with the brother."
After playing music seriously for about five years, Walters got sucked into the working environ when a German oufit started him off into his own busness. Six figure plus income at the tender age of 23 made it hard to ignore. "Besides music is a life style not a job" Say Walters. "The rest of you wish to classify yourselves, have fun. I live for the moment."
A few years ago, a Doc Watson performance he caught at a bluegrass
festival lit the fuse that led to the explosion of creativity that resulted
in Northern Rain, his 2003 debut. "I'd always wanted to make an album,"
Walters recalls. "Seeing Doc Watson made me remember how timeless a good song and good music can be." Walters sat down with his guitar and the tunes came pouring out, almost writing themselves. "I stopped listening to music, found my own style and wrote and recorded 11 songs in about seven months. The songs had ever been performed for anyone prior to recording them. The whole process was really spontaneous."
Northern Rain was recorded live in the studio, in glorious analogue sound,
with only a few overdubs. Most of the tracks went live from the studio board
to the mix down CD, with no computer intervention or editing. Walters used
the same technique during the production of Guardian. "We used computers as little as possible. Over the years, the music industry has desensitized
people to the power of a good song," Walters says. "I try to do just the opposite. Not to be different, it's just what I like."
So the new album is tracked, mixed, mastered and ready to go. So far we have received amazing support and comments from all that have listened. I wish to thank everyone that helped out and contributed. All my good friends in Texas and beyond. Thanks!!!
If anyone is interested in hearing the final mix, they can be heard in their entirety at my official website:
Thanks again and remember to support indie music. God Bless.
