Album Review: Paleo Sol - Barry Walker Jr

Released January 2026 through Thrill Jockey Records, Paleo Sol is the 6th album from pedal steel guitarist Barry Walker Jr. This is the first album of his I have experienced, but if this is anything to go by, then I have a whole back catalogue of incredible music to listen to.

The album has a twinge of country and americana to it, but with an emotional heaviness, like you’re the sole cowboy in the wilderness. From the opening notes of the first track, the pedal steel guitar sounds like it’s echoing across endless plains, swooping in and out like it’s travelling across rolling hills.

The harmonic moan of the pedal steel guitar, almost reminds me of a theremin, giving a cosmic flavour to the album. It puts me in mind of ‘Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating Through Space’ by Spiritualised. Like in that album, none of the tracks feel overcrowded yet you’re hit with such a wide, sweeping sound, imbuing everything from melancholia to bliss.

I would say each track was like a soundscape, but a landscape might be more accurate. Barry Walker Jr is a geologist, and that connection and fascination with nature comes through in his music. The album captures the awe and expansiveness of the natural world, whether that be the infinite depths of space, or the towering heights of a mountain range. It’s that moment when you’re confronted by the magnitude of nature, making you feel small yet at peace with your place in it.

While each track moves so effortlessly into the next, it is hard to view this as a collection of eight tracks and not one long one, there are some stand outs.

On the fourth track, ‘Trip To Town’, an intensely reverberant guitar takes centre stage, backed by the steady, plucked rhythm of another guitar. As the song progresses, the guitars break down into each other and the sounds swirl together, the disharmony created by the two feeling almost like the musical embodiment of disassociation.

The album was released after the birth of Walker Jr’s first child, and lullabies are cited as an influence. This can be heard in the track Under Leaf Hill, where the slow swelling of the guitar and scattered drum beat bring you to a gentle stillness, perfect for drifting off to.

This album is one I imagine I’ll keep returning to, and one I won’t stop recommending. If you’re looking for moving instrumentals and music that expands what ‘Americana’ means, you will not be disappointed by Paleo Sol.

Keep up to date with Barry Walker Jr's latest releases and gigs: https://www.instagram.com/barryalanwalker/?hl=en