About this item

Some words from M.C. Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger:

"I met William Tyler on a train going south out of London. He had a nervous and cryptic and welcoming aura and was the first Nashville native (there is such a thing) that I’d ever met. We both carried more than we could manage on that trip, and I realized later that his bags were full of books. Books about psychology, philosophy, the Civil War, and astrology. Books—I realize now as I write this—about measuring and deciphering the boundaries of kindness and cruelty. William and I bonded early in our relationship over Barry Hannah, a hellraising writer from Mississippi who practically reinvented the way that words could be assembled on a page. Like Hannah, William Tyler knows the South—as a crucible of American histories and cultures, an entity capable of expansive beauty and incomprehensible violence, often in the same beat.. In the music of William Tyler, the South is not apart from America; the South is America condensed. And like Hannah—and this part is important—William moved to California, where Goes West was written.

William’s new record, Goes West, is the best music that he’s ever made. I’m sure of this because I know and love all of his music intimately, and this album moves me the most, and the most consistently. The first time I heard it was in the late spring in the Texas Hill Country, rolling between limestone and scrub. I was on a cleanse then—no alcohol, no drugs, no evil thoughts—and was astonished at the emotional clarity that the album held. Goes West marks a sort of narrowing of focus for William’s music; it sounds as though he found a way to point himself directly towards the rich and bittersweet emotional center of his music without being distracted by side trips. Perhaps this is down to the fact that William only plays acoustic guitar on the album, a clear and conscious decision considering that he is one of Nashville’s great electric guitarists."

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: William Tyler definitely has an ear for a progression. Pitch-perfect guitar athletics, tempered by warming Americana vibes help to make what could easily have been a confusing ball of sound into a multi-layered, and beautifully textured tapestry. Undoubtably one of the greatest folk / Americana artists out there today. Superb

TRACK LISTING

1. Alpine Star
2. Fail Safe
3. Not In Our Stars
4. Call Me When I’m Breathing Again
5. Eventual Surrender
6. Rebecca
7. Venus In Aquarius
8. Virginia Is For Loners
9. Man In A Hurry 
10. Our Lady Of The Desert (features Bill Frisell)