Country singer Joshua Ray Walker already released one great album this year with Tropicana–a self-proclaimed “beach country” album that he said was inspired by when he was (successfully!) undergoing chemotherapy, and all he wanted to do was be on a beach and see palm trees (if you listen to just one song on this album, “Keys to the Tacoma” is a certified banger)–and now he has already announced his second album of the year! Joshua is truly back in more ways than one.
His upcoming album Stuff (due out October 17 via East Dallas/Thirty Tigers) goes in a much different direction than Tropicana. It’s quieter, more stripped-back, and was inspired by “the indie music he listened to as a teenager like Bon Iver, Beirut, and The Postal Service,” according to a press release. Like Tropicana, Stuff was written while Joshua was undergoing chemo, and the announcement of this album also reveals that Stuff and Tropicana are actually two of three albums that Joshua pushed himself to write when he was briefly misdiagnosed with stage 4 cancer and feared he didn’t have much time left. While Tropicana captured the escapism he sought in those dark moments, Stuff captures the more contemplative side of his journey. Here’s more:
Reckoning with cancer treatment and his own mortality, Walker grieved his creative life that could potentially be cut short. Much like the items abandoned at an estate sale, he knew he too had more worth. “Both my grandparents found value in things that had life left in them,” Walker says. “At the time of writing these songs, I was really hoping that I had a second shot, some more life left in me, and I think that I projected that on a lot of these characters.”
To make the album, Walker and long-time producer and friend John Pedigo locked themselves in Pedigo’s backyard studio for a week. The pair set strict ground rules: everything on the album had to be found in the studio, and the pair would play all the instruments, many of which have never been used before on any of his records— including toy reed organs, synthesizers, banjolele, melodica, and other found objects used for auxiliary percussion.
Walker hopes that by relating to these inanimate characters, listeners will learn to better connect to living ones, too. “It’s probably lofty to think that an album about bowling balls and Barbie dolls is going to make people think about their relationship with their neighbors or community,” he says. “But maybe subconsciously, if people can connect with these things that aren’t even people, it’ll make them a little better at connecting with people.”
The newly-released title track is a gorgeous song that’s very much in the vein of the indie-folk influences namedropped above, and it also reminds me a little of Jason Isbell’s indie-friendly country songs. Check it out below. Joshua also has an upcoming tour with Molly Tuttle (who put out her new album So Long Little Miss Sunshine last week) and those dates are listed below as well.
I recently caught Joshua’s set at Honky Tonkin’ In Queens, and I recapped that show and talked about Tropicana on the ‘Best Albums of 2025 So Far’ episode of BV Weekly, streaming wherever you listen to podcasts.
Tracklist
1) Stuff
2) Brick
3) Barbie
4) Perfume
5) Bowling Ball
6) Suit
7) Shears
8) Telephone
9) Radio (Cuchiarella / Banjo / Magic Set)
10) Home
Joshua Ray Walker — Tour Dates
8/22 – Nashville, TN – Grand Ole Opry
8/23 – Macon, GA – Grant’s Lounge
8/24 – North Charleston, SC – Marcus King Band Family Reunion
9/11 – Nashville, TN – Brooklyn Bowl (Official Americanafest Showcase)
9/23 – Hopwell, VA – The Beacon Theatre #
9/25 – Wilmington, NC – Greenfield Lake Amphitheatre #
9/26 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle #
9/27 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel #
9/28 – Knoxville, TN – Tennessee Theatre #
9/30 – Savannah, GA – Victory North #
10/1 – Orlando, FL – The Plaza Live #
10/2 – Clearwater, FL – The Nancy and David Bilheimer Capitol Theatre #
10/4 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse #
10/6 – Dallas, TX – State Fair of Texas
10/10 – St. Louis, MO – The Hawthorn #
10/11 – Lawrence, KS – Liberty Hall #
10/12 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown #
10/14 – Bozeman, MT – The ELM #
10/16 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox #
10/17 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater #
10/18 – Medford, OR – Holly Theatre #
10/19 – Redding, CA – Cascade Theatre #
10/24 – Salt Lake City, UT – The CommonWealth Room #
10/25 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre #
11/12 – Appleton, WI – Poplar Hall #
11/13 – Wausau, WI – Grand Theater #
11/14 – Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater #
11/15 – Stoughton, WI – Stoughton Opera House #
11/16 – Iowa City, IA – The Englert Theatre #
# – with Molly Tuttle