DOUBLE-WIDE by Charles 'Poppy Bob' Walker

DOUBLE-WIDE—on Castle Dome Records—is the sophomore release from the late guitarist Charles ‘Poppy Bob’ Walker. Following 2024’s Dirt Bike Vacation (Worried Songs), a collection of haunting recordings made on a cassette field recorder in mid-1980s Yuma, Arizona, this collection navigates more cinematic terrain, creating a soundtrack for an acid western that never was. Here, Walker uses a Tascam 4-track recorder acquired toward the end of his life to create more expansive, overdubbed compositions.

“Creosote Wind” invokes the sparse lonesomeness of Ry Cooder’s Paris, Texas through meandering, overdriven slide guitar and synth textures, while “If My Banjo Was a Train” hints at the minimalism of Michael Hurley’s sonic world, featuring a solo banjo performance warped by analog tape delay. Other tracks, such as “Nameless Wash” and “Shorty’s Repair Shop,” are extended, lo-fi tape loops constructed from eerie source material found in the vast archive of dusty cassettes Walker left behind. As a whole, DOUBLE-WIDE further maps Walker’s hidden life in the Sonoran Desert, while framing his restless artistry as a bold new landmark in ambient and American Primitive guitar music.

Charlels Walker was an amateur guitarist who made the Sonoran Desert his home.