Asheville’s Tyler Ramsey (a.k.a. the guitarist for Band of Horses) is set to release his third solo record, The Valley Wind, on Tuesday, Sept. 27. Xpress has an advance copy and we can reveal that, while Valley is not exactly a departure from either Ramsey’s self-titled debut or his sophomore album, the Echo Mountain released A Long Dream About Swimming Across the Sea, it’s something of a sum of those parts. Sparse, melancholy, rich with delicate guitar parts, it somehow echoes the grey-scale cover art: A single deer stopped at a lonely outcropping half way up a scrub-covered mountain.
One outstanding track is “1000 Blackbirds,” resonant with vocal effects that sound as if the song was recorded in a cathedral. Its rhythm comes from percussive guitar strumming, with cool washes of strings and the kind of aching lyrics that recall Ramsey’s earlier “Lost Girls,” if filtered through influences of Fleet Foxes, The Avett Brothers and, of course, Band of Horses.
“Ramsey wrote The Valley Wind while on and off the road over the past year, and recorded the album at Alex The Great studio in Nashville, Tenn. over six days in early January,” says press for the record. “Friend and bandmate Bill Reynolds (who’s worked with The Avett Brothers and Lissie) produced and aided on bass, while friend Seth Kauffman (Floating Action) sat in on drums and guitar, also singing background vocals.”
Record label Fat Possum, which also re-released Dream in January of this year, posted Valley‘s title track, which includes Kauffman on percussion:
The Valley Wind by tylerramsey
Tyler Ramsey will play a CD release show (and launch his fall tour in support of Valley) at The Grey Eagle on Thursday, Oct. 6.
awesome