Bill MacKay and Ryley Walker's inspired collaboration continues with a 2nd volume of freshly baked tunes: they call it, SpiderBeetleBee! It's been nearly two years since their much-admired 2015 debut, Land of Plenty (Whistler Records), and SpiderBeetleBee more than makes up for the long wait with a rich, resonant batch of performances that elevate the guitar duo's sound into an ever-widening panorama of styles. 

Their first album was developed over a month-long live residency at Chicago's Whistler, reflecting MacKay and Walker's joy in their newly found playing relationship. As kindred spirits, they found in their playing the ability to wordlessly finish a phrase or suggest a direction while speaking solely through their guitars. SpiderBeetleBee continues fluidly through and beyond a similar path of psych-folk-blues-raga, brewing further explorations in mixed-and-matched idioms, turning composed melodies inside-out via improvisation, and finding in the blend a shared Walker/MacKay pasture, serendipitously located somewhere between Appalachia and the Highlands. 

SpiderBeetleBee radiates forth with equal parts austerity and whimsy, as evidenced in the lead single "I Heard Them Singing". Generating a nimble tempo with the aid of MacKay's requinto (a kind of 5-string Mexican guitar), Walker's rolling chords and the percolating tabla of Ryan Jewell, "I Heard Them Singing" suggests an unknown short-cut from Brazil to India!  

SpiderBeetleBee is out October 20th (preorder it, yo!), with a U.S. tour to follow! But before that, on a related and sufficiently important note, Bill MacKay tours the UK on the back of Esker for the first time later this month! And dig this, all dates are solo, supporting Ryley Walker! Makes ya think what may happen, don't it? Well, don't think any longer, feel it out and get yourself to those shows, mates!

WALKER/MACKAY TOUR!

October 20 at ACME Records in Milwaukee, WI 
October 25 at The Mothlight in Asheville, NC 
October 21 at Constellation in Chicago, IL (Record Release)
October 22 at Magnetic South in Bloomington, IN 
October 23 at Al's Bar in Lexington, KY 
October 24at Pilot Light in Knoxville, TN 

BILL MACKAY UK TOUR:

August 25 at The Musician in Leiscester, England
August 27 at The Band Room in Farndale, England
August 28 at Stereo in Glasgow, Scotland
August 29 at St. Mary's in Chester, England
August 30 at The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge, England
August 31 at Mama Roux's in Birmingham, England