Joshua Ray Walker brings his eclectic style to covers of timeless hits by iconic women
Joshua Ray Walker lends his animated voice to 11 tracks made famous by iconic female pop acts on his latest album, "What Is It Even?" He kicks off with Lizzo's 2019 bluesy pop anthem "Cuz I Love You."
He also covers Beyoncé, Cher, Whitney Houston, Dolly Parton and more.
"These songs spoke to me because I wanted to pay homage to songs to which I am connected personally," Walker says.
The songs, including Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U," also allow Walker to evolve past his previous hits like honky-tonk slow jam "Sexy After Dark."
In a conversation with the Tennessean, he dives deeper into his growing comfort in a rarefied creative space amid a growing class of new Americana and country stars with pop influences.
Prince — who wrote "Nothing Compares 2 U" — disengaged gender stereotypes from the male gaze. Walker extends the notion to apply to an artist described in a March 2022 Tennessean feature as "a pale mountain of a man — tall and broad in equal measure."
"Ever since I was a kid, I tried to sing along to some of these songs and still, to this day, their lyricism inspires the way I write," he says, crediting '90s female singer-songwriters like Fiona Apple and Alanis Morrissette with expanding his sonic palette.
Walker also says he's been deeply inspired by sensitive-hearted country artists like Guy Clark and Townes van Zandt.
"Imagine this album as a cool version of a CD you'd buy at a Starbucks register in the 1990s," jokes the performer.
However, no CDs sold alongside pumpkin spice lattes ever featured a chubby man in a white cowboy hat and a lush, faded pink fur coat.
"Leaning into the aesthetics of this album plays well with my flamboyance, plus also challenges my fanbase by merging conservative and liberal opinions regarding gender identity by broadening how I showcase myself," Walker says.
His voice is the wildly engaging star of the show on the new album, Walker says he "didn't know" wehther he could cover many of the songs on the release until he did. He pushed his capabilities to the limit to honor Beyoncé's gospel-inspired vocal runs on "Halo," the brassy breadth of Lizzo's performance on "Cuz I Love You" and the soulful wailings on Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody."
"My voice covers a broad range of notes along the scale, but completing this album was daunting. A note's delivery and tone don't matter if it doesn't sound right," Walker says.
in regards to the notion that when digging deeper into this album, songsmiths as diverse in background and vocal offerings as The Cranberries' Irish-born Dolores O'Riordan ("Linger"), Mississippi country yodeler LeAnn Rimes ("Blue") and Russian-born Regina Spektor ("Samson") are also included in the collection.
Tracks like Walker's cover of Sia's 2016 hit "Cheap Thrills" showcase his touring band's ability to dive into sounds and styles from Walker's established realms.
"Cheap Thrills" is transformed from a house track into a song that could appear in a spaghetti Western film. On the song, Walker combines house music, Tejano influences and sounds inspired by his grandfather's collection of '50s-era Flamenco records.
Walker's is the forefront of the Dallas' musical renaissance alongside artists like Abraham Alexander, Leon Bridges, Paul Cauthen and Charley Crockett.
"Whatever we're creating here, we're all creating it inspired by this blues-inspired, soulful country music spectrum," Walker says. "Dallas' cultural diversity exposes you to many people who proudly showcase their influences in a way that makes you want to embrace them yourself."
Walker sighs and smiles when asked to imagine how "What Is It Even?" will be received.
"This was a fun, lighthearted project that helped me relax after grinding so hard and having so much happen to and for me over the past few years. If it opens more audiences and doors for me, that's bada**."
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Joshua Ray Walker's 'What Is It Even?' covers pop hits by iconic women
