Acclaimed pedal steel guitarist Barry Walker Jr. has announced his debut album for Thrill Jockey, Paleo Sol, set for release on January 30th, 2026. Celebrated for his transportive playing in Rose City Band and collaborations with artists like Marisa Anderson, Walker introduces his new solo vision with three sublime tracks: the pensive “Quiessence,” the standout ensemble ramble “Leaving Lower Big Basin,” and the ambient tidepool “A Trip Into Town.”
Walker shared the following on the origins of the pieces:
“In human reckoning, the essence of the solid earth is mostly still. Those engaged in deep time inquiry recognize the vigor of Earth’s behavior, and quiescence is a small part of the action.
“The area in the Painted Hills called Lower Big Basin contains fantastic, bright orange to dark purple to red paleosols of the John Day Formation. These paleosol formations, in particular, erode into strange looking hills—bulbous and disorderly— in which orientation can become an issue. It’s a difficult place to leave for several reasons.”
‘”A Trip Into Town’ is about that feeling, of folding in on oneself, and then back out. Anyone who’s camped at length in the desert knows the feeling. When you exist in civilization, the desert is vast and uncertain. But when you live in the desert for some time, the town becomes the edge of consciousness, a dark transfer station.”
The album’s concept is deeply rooted in Walker’s dual life as both a musician and a geologist. Paleo Sol is named for paleosols—ancient soils, “variably rusted and leached of their original components”—which Walker has studied for years in Oregon’s John Day Formation. This deep-time perspective informs the music. Walker notes that while the “essence of the solid earth is mostly still,” in geological inquiry, “quiescence is a small part of the action.”
This geological scale is balanced by the profoundly personal. Paleo Sol was composed as Walker and his wife welcomed their first child, informing the album’s “serene, gentle passages”, inspired by “lullabies, twilight, and new life.”
This dynamic landscape is brought to life by a trio, featuring drummer Rob Smith (Rhyton, Pigeons) and bassist Jason Willmon (Mouth Painter). Together, their “aural ranges and basins” create a sound that, as Smith describes, “ignores property lines and takes its cues from the earth and the sky.”
The title also references the “ancient sun,” a dual meaning that captures the album’s scope. For Walker, there are parallels between his music and scientific exploration:
“The possibilities and uncertainty of pedal steel guitar often disorient me as a player and as a listener. The same is true for scientific exploration. Realizing the structural and harmonic components of a composition demands from me preparation, intense creativity, luck, and discipline, much like science.”
On Paleo Sol, he unearths new dimensions, fusing cosmic country and ambient minimalism with the profound patience of geology and the intimacy of new fatherhood.
Pre-Order Paleo Sol via: Thrill Jockey | Bandcamp
