Joshua Ray Walker has announced a new album, set for release this fall, and if its lead single is any indication, it’s going to be a fun one. “Sexy After Dark” arrived on Friday (Aug. 13), and is available to hear below.
“There’s a deep history of sexy-crooner country songs played by dudes who were pretty unsexy by all accounts but still had so much swagger,” Walker explains in a press release. “”Sexy After Dark” was my attempt at writing a song like that, a fun song I’d want to crank up and party to.”
Horns highlight the grooving, soul-leaning song, in which Walker confesses to feeling a little more comfortable letting his hair down, metaphorically speaking, when night falls. An accompanying music video chronicles a wild night out:
“Sexy After Dark” is one of 10 songs on Walker’s next record, See You Next Time. Due out on Oct. 8 via State Fair Records, the project is the final installment of a trilogy that began with Walker’s 2019 solo debut, Wish You Were Here, and continued with 2020’s Glad You Made It.
“The whole idea with the trilogy was to use the honky-tonk as a setting where all these different characters could interact with each other,” Walker explains. “In my mind, this album’s taking place on the night before the bar closes forever — the songs are just me taking snapshots of that world, and all the moments that happen in it.”
Per the press release, See You Next Time explores “so many disparate moods — grief and celebration, sorrow and surrender.” Its song “Flash Paper” takes its inspiration from a moment between Walker and his late father, who died in November, after a four-year battle with lung cancer.
“Before he died, he gave me a cigar box full of notes and cards and lots of random little things, like a ribbon from a reading competition from when he was in elementary school. He also put in a flash drive with a video he’d recorded, which he told me not to watch until Christmas,” Walker shares. “My dad was from East Texas and kind of a good-old-boy type, and the video was really vulnerable for him. Some of it was similar to things he’d said over the years, as he dealt with his illness and the two of us grew closer, but that song’s mostly about me wishing I’d heard more of those things while he was still here.”
See You Next Time is available to pre-order via State Fair Records’ website. In addition to announcing his new album, Walker has also announced a fall headlining tour. The trek includes stops in Los Angeles, Calif.; Dallas, Texas; Nashville, Tenn.; Denver, Colo., and more. Fans can visit JoshuaRayWalker.com for more details.
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